Operations Head (Executive) - Hospitality & Travel, Sandton
Headhunters · Sandton, Johannesburg, Gauteng
Overview
A global hospitality and travel brand is looking for an Operations Head to lead their executive team in Sandton. You will take charge of contact centres, shared services, customer experience, facilities, and IT across multiple markets. This senior role is ideal for an experienced operations leader with 10+ years under their belt who wants to shape strategy for a well-established international company. Competitive executive package with medical aid, provident fund, and bonuses.
About the role
Our client, a globally recognised leader in Hospitality, Travel, and Tourism, needs a dynamic Operations Head to join their executive team in Sandton. This high impact leadership role is all about driving efficiency, lifting the customer experience, and leading several core business functions for a well established international brand.
You will give strategic direction and operational leadership across contact centres, shared services, customer experience and service delivery, facilities management, and IT. The role also involves standardising processes, benchmarking best practices, and working with global and local stakeholders to keep everything aligned with international standards.
Application note: If you have not heard back within 2 weeks of applying, please consider your application unsuccessful.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Operations Management, or a related field (a Master’s degree is advantageous)
- 10+ years of progressive experience in operations, with at least 5 years in a senior leadership role
- Proven experience overseeing multiple operational functions in a customer focused environment
- Strong background managing large scale, multi market contact centres
- Demonstrated track record of driving operational improvements
- Experience in project management, change leadership, and people development
- Strong financial acumen with proven budget planning and cost optimisation experience
- Familiarity with governance, compliance, risk, and crisis management frameworks
Responsibilities
- Standardise policies, procedures, and processes across departments
- Continuously streamline operations to boost efficiency, consistency, and integration
- Benchmark and implement internal and external best practices
- Collaborate with global and local stakeholders to align with international standards
- Provide strategic and operational oversight of large scale contact centres across multiple markets
- Implement KPIs, SLAs, and NPS frameworks to monitor and improve service levels
- Lead and develop managers and teams, covering recruitment, training, and high performance
- Drive customer and guest experience initiatives and embed a culture of customer centricity
- Champion service excellence through training, performance measurement, and feedback
- Build a high performance culture focused on collaboration, engagement, and accountability
- Lead cross functional projects, ensuring technology adoption and operational readiness
- Analyse data to evaluate operational performance and implement improvements
- Manage risk, crisis response, compliance, and disaster recovery planning
- Oversee IT asset management, systems resilience, and facilities management
- Ensure safe, secure, and efficient operational environments across all business areas
Benefits
Medical Aid Contribution, Provident Fund Contribution, Annual Bonuses
Job details
- Organisation
- Headhunters
- Location
- Sandton, Johannesburg, Gauteng
- Job type
- Full time
- Experience level
- Executive (10+ years)
- Education
- Bachelor
- Category
- Hospitality & Tourism
- Application Method
- Apply manually
Success Guide
This is a senior executive role, so your application needs to show more than just experience. Highlight the scale of the operations you have managed, especially multi market contact centres, and bring concrete examples of how you improved efficiency or customer experience. The hiring company is a recruitment agency working with a global hospitality brand, so keep your CV professional and focused on leadership outcomes. Prepare for competency based questions around change management, financial planning, and leading large teams. Also have your degree certificate ready. If you do not hear back within two weeks, consider it unsuccessful, but do not let that stop you from applying to similar roles.
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