At MHR, our employees are central to our success and play a key role in helping customers achieve sustainable high performance. With a team of over 900 professionals, we work to make things flow smoothly, whether it’s for large organisations or individual employees. As businesses face rapid changes in the world of work, our team is here to help them adapt and thrive.
By focusing on the core needs of efficiency, productivity, growth, and impact, our employees use their expertise to deliver real solutions through our People and Finance platform. This system, which covers finance, HR, payroll, and learning, helps businesses run more smoothly and make better decisions in real time.
With over 40 years of experience behind us, MHR’s track record as a high-performance organisation is built on clear goals, a shared vision, and strong communication – all of which we pass on to our customers.
MHR is more than just a place to work; it’s a platform for empowerment. Joining us means bringing innovation, technology, and teamwork seamlessly removes obstacles, enhances your skills, and allow you to focus on what’s most important to you- work that matters.
With us, you’ll grow, find your flow, and make a lasting difference in your career, your team, and your impact.
MHR is looking for an accomplished Chief Operating Officer to lead our end‑to‑end customer operations and service delivery model.
This is a significant leadership role with accountability for Professional Services, Managed Services, Service Desk, Service Management, Customer Success and Service Design. You will bring these teams together through one integrated operating model, ensuring customers receive consistent, high-quality outcomes throughout their relationship with MHR.
As a member of the Executive Leadership Team, you will help shape and deliver MHR’s strategy, strengthen operational discipline and build the capabilities required to scale sustainably. You will balance customer value, service quality, commercial performance, operational efficiency and colleague engagement while maintaining a strong customer‑first culture.
Operational leadership
- Own the performance and continuous improvement of MHR’s customer-facing operating model.
- Establish clear objectives, operating rhythms, governance and performance measures across all areas within the remit.
- Ensure effective collaboration between Professional Services, Managed Services, Service Desk, Service Management, Customer Success, Service Design, Product, Sales and other corporate functions.
- Translate business strategy into practical operating plans, priorities and measurable outcomes.
- Build an efficient, scalable and resilient organisation capable of supporting growth and changing customer needs.
- Maintain appropriate operational controls, risk management, business continuity and regulatory compliance.
Professional Services
- Lead the delivery of implementation, consultancy, configuration, transformation and other professional services engagements.
- Improve project predictability, delivery quality, utilisation, margin performance and customer outcomes.
- Strengthen delivery methodologies, resource planning, capacity management and portfolio governance.
- Ensure effective management of delivery risks, dependencies, scope and customer expectations.
- Develop a high‑performing professional services organisation with the skills and capabilities required for future growth.
Managed Services
- Provide strategic and operational leadership for MHR’s managed payroll services.
- Ensure payroll services are accurate, timely, secure, compliant and consistently delivered.
- Maintain strong controls around payroll processing, data protection, operational risk and service continuity.
- Improve scalability, automation, productivity and service quality across the managed services operation.
- Ensure the service evolves in response to customer requirements, legislation, technology and market expectations.
Service Desk & Service Management
- Create a joined‑up support and service management experience for customers.
- Improve incident, request, problem, change and major incident management practices.
- Drive measurable improvements in service availability, response times, resolution times, first‑contact resolution and customer satisfaction.
- Establish effective service governance, reporting, escalation and communication processes.
- Ensure service issues are addressed at root cause and that learning is translated into preventative action.
- Strengthen collaboration between support, engineering, product and delivery teams.
Customer Success
- Lead the development of a proactive customer success model focused on adoption, value realisation, retention and advocacy.
- Ensure customers have clear success plans, appropriate engagement and effective executive relationships.
- Use customer insight, service data and feedback to identify risks, opportunities and improvement priorities.
- Improve onboarding, adoption, renewal readiness and the overall customer experience.
- Embed customer outcomes and lifetime value into operational decision-making.
Service Design
- Own the design and continuous improvement of MHR’s services and customer journeys.
- Ensure services are designed around customer needs, operational feasibility, commercial value and measurable outcomes.
- Connect customer research, service performance, process design and technology enablement.
- Introduce consistent service design principles, standards and governance across the organisation.
- Identify opportunities to simplify journeys, reduce friction, increase self‑service and improve the experience for both customers and colleagues.
People & culture
- Lead, develop and inspire the organisation across multiple operational disciplines.
- Create a culture of accountability, collaboration, customer focus, continuous improvement and operational excellence.
- Ensure the organisation has the right structure, skills, succession plans and leadership capability.
- Support effective workforce planning, career development, performance management and colleague engagement.
Act as a visible and credible leader across MHR, building trust with colleagues, customers and partners.
What You’ll Bring
- Significant senior leadership experience across customer operations, service delivery or a comparable operational environment.
- Proven experience leading Professional Services, programme delivery and/or managed services.
- Experience operating in a SaaS or technology-enabled services business.
- A strong track record of improving operational performance, customer experience, revenue and profitability.
- Excellent strategic, commercial and financial awareness.
- Strong leadership and team-development capability, with experience leading through complexity and change.
- Demonstrable experience of service transformation, continuous improvement and organisational change.
- The ability to build effective relationships and influence across executive, commercial, technical and operational teams.
- Excellent communication, planning and organisational skills.
- A customer-focused, data-informed and commercially pragmatic approach to decision-making.
This is an opportunity to shape how MHR delivers value to customers, strengthen our operating model and build an organisation equipped for sustainable growth.
Benefits To Support You Personally And Professionally
- Access to over 60 internal training courses, professional qualifications, and cross-departmental mentoring and coaching programs
- 24/7 access to a GP through Help at Hand for you and your family, confidential mental health support, and paid sick leave
- Ability to purchase or sell additional holiday days beyond 25 days and bank holidays
- Enhanced Family leave
- My MHRewards offering discounts at over 900 retailers
- Monthly employee recognition program and departmental awards
- Referral bonus scheme of up to £2,000
- Employee‑led social events such as running clubs, football teams, book clubs, and bake‑offs
- On-site subsidised restaurants offering a variety of fresh meals daily
- Opt‑in benefits schemes such as private medical insurance and dental coverage
We value the well‑being, financial stability, and inclusivity of our employees, and strive to provide a supportive working environment.
At MHR, we’re completely committed to creating a supportive and inclusive workplace where all voices are heard, and everyone feels valued and supported.
Whatever your background, abilities and experiences, if you’re excited by this role we want to hear from you. If you require assistance for an interview, please let us know and we’ll make sure your needs are met when you arrive.
If we receive an exceptionally high volume of applications, we reserve the right to close this vacancy earlier than originally advertised.
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