Operations Manager

Job title: Operations Manager

Location: London (3 days in the office)

Contract Type: Permanent, Full-Time

Salary: £45,000 - £60,000

About you

You take the mission personally. That means fully committing even when the picture is incomplete, delivering value incrementally and urgently, and holding yourself – and others – to a high standard. You don’t accept mediocre work, but you also don’t faff around: you’re biased towards action, and you know the difference between rigour and unnecessary process.

This is a compliance and governance-heavy role, and you’re comfortable with that – but you approach it with a lowest-effort/highest-impact mindset. You look for ways to make things repeatable and scalable, not to build bureaucracy for its own sake. You’re self-aware: you give and receive feedback well, know your strengths and gaps, and make confident decisions despite uncertainty.

You like to win as a team. That means collaborating effectively, pivoting quickly when the mission demands it, and staying laser-focused on what actually moves the needle. You thrive under pressure, lean into change, and bring optimism and curiosity to problems that don’t have obvious solutions.

About the role

The Operations Manager is a key member of the Operations team, responsible for keeping some of TransitionZero’s day-to-day operations running with minimum friction. The role spans governance, grant management, vendor and contract management, compliance, travel, insurance, and office management – a broad remit that requires someone equally comfortable reviewing a contract, project managing, and sorting out a broken laptop.

Reporting to the COO, you’ll work across the organisation and need to build strong working relationships with teams at all levels. You’ll be expected to bring a continuous-improvement mindset to your work, and flag issues early rather than let them escalate.

Responsibilities

Compliance, Governance & Legal - 30%

You own the infrastructure that keeps TransitionZero legally sound and operationally resilient. This isn’t a role for someone who hides behind process – it’s for someone who understands the rules well enough to apply them with judgement.

• Keep TransitionZero’s legal entities in good standing, working with our Financial Controller to ensure filings, corporate records and administrative infrastructure are maintained.
• Review vendor and funding documentation (contracts, NDAs, grant agreements) against established playbooks, flagging issues and owning straightforward negotiations.
• Set up a program of light-weight but impactful training on key topics like data protection and information security.
• Maintain TransitionZero's internal policy library - keeping documents current, accessible, and actually used.
• Support the Financial Controller and COO on audit preparation and budget development.

Grant Management - 25%

Grants are central to how TransitionZero operates. You’ll own the process that kicks off once we renew or sign a grant, to keep tabs on deliverables and reporting to ensure we stay on track. You don’t need a background in grant management to do this work - it’s project management by another name.

• Own the grant reporting process – coordinating cross-team inputs, managing deadlines, and ensuring narratives clearly demonstrate impact.
• Maintain oversight of project plans across all live grants, flagging risks and keeping stakeholders on track.
• Manage grant travel approvals, reviewing requests against funder requirements and internal policy.
• Ensure partner paperwork and documentation is accurate, complete, and up to date.

IT and vendor management - 25%

You will develop TransitionZero's internal operations tech stack, including project management tooling, workflow automation, and integrations between systems. On the vendor side, you’re the person who makes sure we’re getting value and staying compliant.

• Act as the internal point of contact for evaluating and onboarding new tools - running lightweight assessments against cost, security, and fit before anything gets procured or embedded.
• Identify where new tooling might not be needed but manual processes can be automated. Build the solutions, experimenting with AI technology to reduce human effort.
• Oversee our vendor list, ensuring the right people have access to tooling and our vendor relationships are managed proactively.
• Lead our relationship with our external IT helpdesk provider, and ensure new starters are set up properly from an IT perspective on day 1.
• Oversee IT security, cyber compliance, and data protection, embedding a culture of proactive risk management.
• Own the annual insurance renewal cycle, maintaining a clear picture of coverage and flagging gaps in good time.

Office & team operations - 20%

You’re the person who makes the day-to-day work for everyone else. That means keeping the office running and creating the conditions for a connected, well-functioning hybrid team.

• Manage the office environment and the relationship with our workspace manager – handling day-to-day issues and leading on lease or renewal negotiations.
• Own hardware: coordinating repairs, replacements, and equipment procurement so staff are never blocked by broken kit.
• Maintain and improve Notion as TransitionZero's operational backbone - including travel workflows, policy libraries, and project tracking - ensuring it reflects how the organisation actually works.
• Develop and improve our cross-functional processes to ensure we operate effectively and keep continuously improving.
• Organise monthly team socials and lead the planning and logistics of the annual company offsite – venue, travel, budget, and agenda coordination.

Skills and experience

Essential

• 2–4 years of experience in an operations, business operations, or adjacent role.
• Proven ability to make good judgement calls - able to apply learnings in one area to another.
• Project management skills - understanding of how to set up a project both from a management and reporting perspective but also how to organise the project team.
• Strong organisational skills – able to manage multiple workstreams and balance the reactive work while keeping the proactive projects moving forward
• Clear, confident communicator with internal and external stakeholders, including vendors, auditors and funders.
• Loves change and thrives with automation; building and maintaining automated workflows is part of the job
• A bias to action – you spot problems early, take ownership, and don’t wait to be told.
• Process-oriented – you look for the lowest-effort/highest-impact way to make things work, and you build for repeatability.
• Comfortable with feedback – you give it, receive it, and act on it.

Desirable

• Experience with contract drafting, review, or negotiation.
• Experience with IT security, cyber compliance, or data protection frameworks.

About us

TransitionZero is a climate tech non-profit founded in 2021. TransitionZero builds software to reduce the time to build clean energy at scale. We pioneer open-access and open-source tools that make electricity system modelling more transparent, accessible, and actionable for governments, financiers and grid operators worldwide.

Our flagship tool, Scenario Builder, enables policymakers, planners and investors to rapidly build, analyse and share energy system and electricity grid models without coding expertise or external consultants. Supported by model-ready datasets, training and market insights, our tools strengthen in-house capacity and support resilient, affordable and locally-led energy transitions.

At TransitionZero, we understand that diversity is an essential component of a successful team, whether that be diverse ways of thinking, personal or professional backgrounds, or skills. We aim to be the most talented non-profit in our vertical through our culture of ownership and adaptability.

Benefits

• Enhanced competitive pension scheme - auto-enrollment from day 1
• 25 days annual leave (excluding UK public holidays) and additional discretionary days off such as over the festive period
• 20 days of annual allowance to work from anywhere in the world
• Hybrid working and core working hours model
• Allowance to set up your home office
• Annual budget and dedicated leave time for relevant training courses
• Enhanced gender-neutral parental leave (16 weeks fully paid)
• Private healthcare following the successful completion of the probation period
• Yearly team offsites

Our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion

Studies have shown that some people from marginalised or underrepresented groups are less likely to apply to a role unless they meet all of the hiring guidelines or qualifications. Whoever you are, even if you don't meet all of the criteria, if you can demonstrate a variety of skills and experience relevant to this role, we encourage you to apply as you might just be the candidate we hire! At TransitionZero, we're looking for people who are genuinely passionate about what they do, and we welcome all people, regardless of their background.

If you would like to discuss any reasonable adjustments to the application or hiring process that may better facilitate your participation, please contact our People Team (people@transitionzero.org) for an informal chat. We will make every effort to respond to your request for assistance as soon as possible.