About Ardent Expert Chambers
Ardent Expert Chambers is a fast-growing medico-legal practice management business supporting more than 130 expert witnesses across the UK.
We provide the operational, administrative, financial, marketing and business development support that enables our members to build successful expert witness practices.
As we continue to grow, we are looking for an experienced Head of Operations to take ownership of day-to-day operational performance and help us build the management structure, commercial discipline and systems needed for the next stage of growth.
The Role
This is a senior leadership role reporting directly to the Founder.
It is for someone who wants to help build and scale a growing service business, not simply manage an existing operational team.
You will initially take responsibility for a 16-person PA team and Team Leader, with the Head of Marketing and Head of NMAP also reporting into you as the role and relationship develop.
Your first priority will be to understand the business, build strong working relationships with the Team Leader and wider management team, and take full ownership of day-to-day operational performance.
As trust and understanding of the business grow, so will your influence over commercial performance, organisational structure, contracts, systems and the wider direction of the business.
We are looking for someone who combines strong people leadership with genuine commercial thinking - someone comfortable considering revenue, margin, capacity and scalability as well as service delivery and team performance.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead, support and develop the operational team and senior managers, creating clear accountability and stronger management capability.
- Take ownership of operational performance, service delivery, capacity planning and scalability.
- Use KPIs, dashboards and management information to identify performance gaps, operational risks and commercial opportunities.
- Improve productivity and capacity through better processes, technology, automation and ways of working.
- Drive initiatives to increase member productivity, instruction volumes and average invoice value.
- Ensure new expert members are onboarded efficiently and supported to develop successful practices.
- Use operational and financial insight to protect gross margin and ensure growth remains commercially sustainable.
- Identify underdeveloped client and instructing-party relationships and opportunities to expand work across the wider member base.
- Take increasing responsibility for key relationships and contracts with agencies, solicitors, suppliers and strategic partners.
- Help shape the management structure, processes and systems required as Ardent continues to grow.
- Challenge existing ways of working where appropriate, while protecting what already works well.
About You
We are looking for a commercially minded senior operations leader who has helped a growing service business scale, professionalise or materially improve performance.
You are likely to have operated across more than one part of a business, with responsibility extending beyond day-to-day service delivery into areas such as P&L, budgets, margin, capacity, productivity, systems, contracts, client relationships and organisational structure.
You will be an excellent people leader, with experience developing managers and Team Leaders rather than personally solving every problem yourself.
You should be comfortable using data and financial information to make decisions, identify opportunities and challenge assumptions.
We are particularly interested in people who can demonstrate that they have personally identified and delivered improvements to revenue, margin, cost, productivity or scalability.
This role is unlikely to suit someone whose experience has been limited primarily to running a single operational function, contact centre, clinical service or administrative team without broader commercial responsibility.
Relevant backgrounds may include professional services, legal services, insurance, financial services, recruitment, outsourcing, consultancy or other people-led B2B service businesses.
Sector experience is less important than evidence of broad operational and commercial ownership.
Why Ardent?
You will work directly with the Founder, with genuine autonomy and influence that grow as you prove yourself. This is an opportunity to take ownership of an operation that already works well and help build what it becomes next.
Ability to commute/relocate:
- Manchester M8 4JY: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)
Application question(s):
- What is the largest team or operational function you have been directly responsible for? Please briefly describe the size and management structure beneath you.
- Briefly describe the commercial and financial responsibility you have held within an operational role, including responsibility for areas such as budgets, P&L, revenue, margin or cost control.
- What are your salary expectations for your next role?
Experience:
- Operations management: 3 years (required)
Work Location: In person
