Head of Operations

About deltaflare

deltaflare is a category\-leading UK company delivering a secure, scalable OT cybersecurity platform for essential service operators through phoenix. Built for the gas, water, electricity, renewables, and transport sectors, phoenix provides a trusted digital foundation for long\-term operational resilience, secure transformation, and regulatory alignment.

deltaflare is scaling from approximately 20 toward 30 people over the next 18 months, with a partner programme launch, multi\-sector commercial expansion, and a defined route to a sale event. The Head of Operations is the role that ensures the operational and people infrastructure can absorb that pace without the COO becoming a permanent bottleneck.

Role Purpose

The Head of Operations is the accountable owner of deltaflare's operational backbone: people processes and HR infrastructure, employment administration, finance operations, legal administration, HR systems, and the cultural and physical environment in which the team works. The role consolidates a set of responsibilities that currently sit with the COO by default, and which the May 2026 leadership offsite confirmed must transfer cleanly and durably to this position by Q3 2026\.

This is not a back\-office function. It is the role that allows every other Head to execute their function plan without being slowed down by employment friction, hiring delays, contract ambiguity, or operational drag. The Head of Operations is the single accountable point for the operational layer of the business across all functions, with the exception of internal IT, which remains with the COO.

HR is a core part of this remit, not an adjacent responsibility. Recruitment, HR administration, people systems, and the employee lifecycle all sit here. The role is titled Head of Operations to signal the operating breadth (finance, legal, supplier, office, and sale\-process readiness alongside the people layer), but the operational and HR work is treated as a single, integrated remit.

The role reports to the COO. The Office Manager reports to this role. The Head of Operations works closely with all Heads, the CEO, and external accountants and solicitors as the in\-house counterparty to those relationships.

The Five Imperatives

These five principles define the standard this role is held to. They are the lens through which every decision, every priority, and every use of time should be measured.

I. The operational backbone must work without leadership input.

The May 2026 offsite identified the COO as the single largest operational bottleneck in the business. This role exists to remove that. Once embedded, contracts, payroll, hiring administration, onboarding, offboarding, employment queries, supplier management, expense workflow, and people\-data accuracy must not require COO involvement. Escalations are by exception, not by default.

II. Talent acquisition is a commercial discipline.

Every unfilled role carries a cost. Recruitment is treated with the same operating rigour as a sales pipeline: defined stages, weekly velocity, candidate experience that closes offers, and a clear default route (Indeed first for four to six weeks, recruiter only when justified). Hiring decisions sit with the CEO and COO; the process, the throughput, and the candidate quality sit here.

III. The working model must be defined, not improvised.

deltaflare's working pattern is role\-dependent: assurance, technology, and lab\-access roles are on\-site; development and marketing are more flexible. This role owns the working\-model policy by role, ensures it is encoded in offers and contracts before advertising, and reserves the right to adjust during probation. Ambiguity here is a culture risk and a recruitment risk; both must be designed out.

IV. Employment infrastructure must be audit\-ready.

deltaflare is preparing for a sale process. Employee handbook, contracts (employee and contractor), IP assignments, EMI documentation, GDPR posture for people data, employment policies, and HR systems must withstand due diligence scrutiny. This role is the in\-house owner of that readiness, working with external solicitors on execution and external accountants on payroll integrity.

V. Culture is built through operations, not pronouncements.

How people are hired, onboarded, paid, recognised, and offboarded is what culture actually is. This role is responsible for the lived experience of working at deltaflare, including perks, benefits, team events, and the office environment, in concert with the Office Manager and the COO.

Key Responsibilities

1\. People strategy and organisational design

Translate the company plan into a 12\-to\-18\-month people plan. Maintain the live organisational design, including reporting lines, span of control, role boundaries, and trigger thresholds for new hires. Own the headcount budget reconciliation in partnership with the COO, post each RACI review. Surface organisational risks early (overload, overlap, unclear ownership) and propose structural fixes.

2\. Recruitment and onboarding

Run end\-to\-end recruitment for all team\-level hires; support Head\-level hires where the COO and CEO retain decision rights. Own the standard hiring process: JD templates, advert placement, sourcing channels, screening, interview coordination, offer management, and candidate experience. Default route is Indeed first; recruiter engagement only on clear evidence of failure. Manage the people side of onboarding (contracts, induction, policy walkthrough, 30\-60\-90 expectations) and co\-ordinate with the COO, who retains ownership of equipment, accounts, and IT provisioning, to ensure every new starter is productive within the first month.

3\. HR operations and employment infrastructure

Own all HR administration: contracts, variations, policies, employee handbook, absence, disciplinary, grievance, probation, performance management framework, exits, and references. Ensure full compliance with UK employment law and GDPR for people data. Manage the HR systems stack following the failure of the previous Xero HR rollout; ensure data integrity, single source of truth, and head\-level visibility of team contracts and structure.

4\. Working model, culture, and engagement

Own the working\-model policy by role, including office requirements, hybrid eligibility, probation conditions, and contractual change rights. Own perks and benefits administration, team events, and the social and cultural cadence in partnership with the Office Manager. Run engagement signals (pulse surveys, exit interviews, retention analysis) and report findings to the COO.

5\. Finance operations

Own day\-to\-day finance operations as the in\-house counterparty to deltaflare's external accountants: accounts receivable (customer invoicing, payment chasing), accounts payable (supplier invoicing and payment), payroll processing through BrightPay, expense management and approval workflow, and function budget tracking. Support the COO on monthly financial reporting, R\&D claim preparation, and cash flow management. Tax, VAT, statutory reporting, and audit remain with external accountants under COO oversight; this role manages the relationship and the data flow.

6\. Legal administration

Act as in\-house owner of the legal administrative layer: employment contracts, contractor agreements, NDAs, insurance renewals (employer liability, professional indemnity, cyber, D\&O), DPA tracking, and people\-data GDPR compliance. External solicitors execute complex legal work; this role owns the day\-to\-day administration and the relationship.

7\. Office Manager line management and office operations

Line\-manage the Office Manager. Set the standard for the Richmond office environment, health and safety compliance, supplier relationships (cleaning, maintenance, security, kitchen, post), and visitor management. As deltaflare scales, evaluate satellite office options against the offsite test: a satellite office is only viable when a full function can be anchored there under a lead.

8\. Sale\-process readiness

Maintain the people, employment, and operational evidence base required for due diligence. This includes the employee handbook, standardised contracts, contractor agreements, EMI scheme documentation, IP assignments, and HR data integrity. Work directly with the COO on the people and operations sections of the DD checklist.

9\. Cross\-functional partnership

Partner with each Head on team\-level hiring (JDs, advert wording, interview design, offer construction), on team performance management (framework, review cadence, calibration), and on training and development resources. Heads are accountable for their team's performance; this role provides the framework, the templates, and the operational support that makes that accountability executable.

30\-60\-90 Day Plan

First 30 days

Embed with the COO and each Head; map every operational, HR, finance admin, and legal admin activity currently sitting with the COO; confirm the order of transfer; audit the HR systems; meet external accountants and solicitors; review the live RACI and flag any ambiguity in Operations accountabilities.

First 60 days

Take ownership of the standard hiring process and onboard the next team\-level hire end\-to\-end in partnership with the COO on the IT and equipment side; assume AR, AP, payroll, and expense workflow ownership from the COO; publish the working\-model policy by role; complete an HR systems integrity review; line\-manage the Office Manager.

First 90 days

Operate the full operational backbone (excluding internal IT, which remains with the COO) without sustained COO involvement; publish a refreshed employee handbook and policy set; complete an audit\-readiness review against the DD checklist; present a 12\-month people plan to the leadership team aligned to the company strategy and the RACI.

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