Chief Operating Officer
St Joseph Catholic Multi Academy Trust
Salary: EPR 13-22 (£108,202/£134,860) – Starting salary will be determined based on experience and track record
Shape the future of a growing Catholic Trust
St Joseph Catholic Multi Academy Trust is based in the Liverpool City Region with six primary and four secondary academies. As a united family of academies, we are fully aligned around our central mission to transform children’s lives by providing them with a world-class Catholic education.
This is a rare opportunity to join a mission-driven organisation with an unrelenting pursuit of excellence and a clear trajectory for substantial growth. With the Trust set to expand to include 66 schools and 28000 children by 2031, the COO will play a critical role in building the infrastructure, systems, and capacity required to support a larger, more complex organisation.
Working closely with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Finance and Strategy Officer (CFSO), you will lead the operational strategy of the Trust—ensuring that all non-educational functions are aligned, efficient, and fit for scale.
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The Role
As COO, you will provide strategic leadership across key operational areas, including estates, HR, IT, governance, compliance, and risk. You will:
- Develop and implement a scalable operating model to support the Trust’s growth plan
- Lead operational due diligence and onboarding of new schools, ensuring seamless integration into the Trust
- Lead on organisational design and infrastructure, ensuring readiness for new schools joining the Trust
- Drive operational excellence, embedding efficient, consistent systems and processes across all academies
- Work in close partnership with the CFO to ensure strong alignment between financial planning and operational delivery
- Oversee estates and capital strategy, supporting both expansion and sustainability
- Strengthen governance, compliance, and risk management frameworks
- Build and lead a high-performing central services team
- Develop and evolving a high-performing shared services model, ensuring central functions deliver efficient, consistent, and value-adding support across all academies
- Lead and embed a culture of operational excellence, driving continuous improvement, standardisation, and high-quality execution across the Trust
- Ensuring that all operational activity is delivered in line with the Trust’s agreed values, behaviours, and culture, role-modelling and reinforcing these across the organisation
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The Candidate
We are seeking a strategic, experienced leader with a strong track record of delivering operational excellence in a complex, multi-site organisation.
You will bring:
- Proven experience in a senior operational leadership role (COO, Director of Operations or equivalent)
- A track record of leading organisations through growth, transformation, or scale-up
- Exceptional interpersonal skills
- Strong commercial and organisational acumen, with the ability to translate strategy into delivery
- Experience of working alongside finance leadership to drive integrated decision-making
- The ability to lead diverse functions and build cohesive, high-performing teams
- A commitment to the values and ethos of Catholic education
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How to apply
To request an application pack or to arrange a confidential conversation, please email [email protected] or call 07860966343. Apply via https://recruit.sampeople.co.uk/Jobboard/Vacancy/Details?campaignRef=SCH-SJCMAT-0126
Pay: £108,202.00-£134,860.00 per year
Work Location: In person
