Head of operations

About the Role

You will play a key role in leading and managing Professional Services (PS), Customer Care (CC) teams spanning customer project delivery, product engineering support, customer systems support, and relationship management within the Rail customer market sector across Australia and New Zealand.

You will ensure successful delivery of projects and ongoing support of solutions, maximising customer satisfaction, driving revenue growth, and contributing to the company's strategic direction. A core focus of the role is delivering value to our clients, transitioning project delivery into long-term partnerships, ensuring seamless handovers, continued engagement and client satisfaction.

This role requires effective cross-functional collaboration with global R&D and engineering teams to ensure software quality, timely delivery, and complete documentation. The ability to influence, elevate, and hold accountable stakeholders outside the direct reporting line is critical. To be successful in the role, you will need to demonstrate resilience, composure under pressure, and the ability to sustain high performance in a complex and evolving operational environment.

The role also works closely with Sales and contributes to pre-sales and proposal development activity (such as requirements discovery to build SOWs) and with other Functional Leaders to co‐ordinate any resource for successful project implementations or existing customer sales.

The most important duties of the role are

Strategy & Leadership

• Contribute to the development and execution of Zelra's strategy to achieve business objectives.
• Monitor and manage the overall performance of the professional services and customer support engagements by tracking and analysing statistics and trends, providing reporting to the Senior Leadership Team.
• Manage risk within the PS and CC functions, ensuring compliance with company policies and legal guidelines.

Service Delivery & Project Execution

• Oversee customer implementations and project work (including enhancements) to guarantee on‐time, on‐budget and to scope delivery.
• Lead the transition of projects from active delivery into steady‐state support, establishing robust support processes including release management, SLA frameworks, and customer communication protocols.
• Manage the working relationship with global R&D and engineering partners, assuring software quality, complete release documentation, and adherence to delivery commitments.
• Oversee the Jira service desk to manage customer issues and requests, ensuring SLAs are met and reported on.

Customer Relationship & Success Management

• Establish and maintain effective links with customers, decision makers and key stakeholders to ensure that Zelra is providing services in line with customer expectations.
• Manage stakeholder involvement in all projects through the creation of productive partnerships, proactive follow up, strong communication and issue management.
• Develop, implement, and manage Customer Success Plans for all existing ANZ clients, ensuring proactive engagement, value realisation, and long‐term retention.

Commercial & Contract Management

• Ensure accurate financial management of services engagements, monitor performance against forecast, agreed targets and budget, and actively drive monthly and quarterly review processes.
• Oversee the contracting process for new agreements and ensure project deliveries align with the terms of customer contracts.
• Actively manage profitability of support contracts and their renewals and suggest and implement strategies to improve profitability and in line with performance ratio expectations of the business.
• Drive revenue growth by expanding PS or CC services while supporting new product and customer sales to meet or exceed commercial targets.

People Leadership & Development

• Build, lead and drive a team within the PS and CC department who are empowered to deliver customer focused outcomes with professionalism, commercial awareness and urgency.
• Foster the personal and professional growth of the Operations team by setting scorecards, key performance indicators (KPIs), and Learning and Development Plans, regularly monitoring progress, and providing ongoing feedback, coaching, and guidance.
• Ensure the recruitment, retention, and development of the right talent in key roles, fostering a motivated, well‐trained team to achieve business objectives.

Operational Excellence & Continuous Improvement

• Work with the PS and CC Team to discuss, plan, and implement continuous process improvements.
• Leverage technology, including AI tools and agents, to drive operational efficiency, improve decision‐making, and enhance team productivity.
• Ensure accurate forecasting across all delivery and support functions and consistently deliver against commitments. Proactively identify and elevate roadblocks early when delivery is at risk.

Sales Support & Revenue Growth

• Actively contribute to the creation of statement of work and project plans, ensuring delivery expectations are agreed during pre‐sales.
• Support the sales team by providing a clear solution definition and accurate project estimation for the preparation of quotes or tenders including demonstrations, requirements definition, project planning and costing.

Success in the Role Requires

• Proven experience leading professional services and/or customer support teams within a commercial software solution company.
• Demonstrated experience in managing customer project implementations, service delivery and customer care for enterprise‐level clients.
• Knowledge of ITIL frameworks and service delivery principles.
• Strong financial and commercial acumen, with experience in budget management and revenue generation.
• Strong experience in people management skills, including demonstrated team leadership experience, motivating individuals and/or teams to excel.
• Expertise in customer engagement, account management, and internal / external relationship management.
• Ability to manage complex projects, ensuring alignment with contractual agreements and business objectives.
• Strong analytical and problem‐solving skills, with the ability to make data‐driven decisions.
• Excellent leadership and people management skills, with experience in developing high‐performing teams.
• High degree of personal resilience, stamina, and composure — able to sustain performance and maintain wellbeing in a demanding, high‐pressure operating environment.
• Demonstrated ability to hold cross‐functional teams and external partners accountable for delivery commitments, including escalating issues early and decisively when required.
• Comfort and curiosity with technology, including AI tools, to identify and implement operational efficiencies.
• Ability to thrive in a multi‐tasking, multi‐project environment and be able to adjust priorities on‐the‐fly.
• Effective communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to engage customers, partners, and internal teams at all levels.
• A passionate 'can‐do' mindset focused on understanding and addressing customer and internal business needs.
• Bachelor's degree in Business, Engineering, Management, Information Technology or a related discipline.
• Familiarity with project management tools (e.g., Jira, ServiceNow).
• Experience working in the passenger transport or rail industry is highly regarded but not essential.
• Project or programme management qualifications are preferred but not essential.