Strategy & Operations Manager

We are looking for a Strategy & Operations Manager to act as an independent execution and problem-solving partner to the business leadership team. This is not a traditional PMO role. The mandate is broader: create transparency, challenge performance, solve cross-functional problems, and make sure our most important initiatives actually get delivered.
You will work horizontally across Product, Operations, Commercial, Finance, Legal, and other functions, with visibility across the full portfolio of strategic initiatives. Your job is simple to describe but difficult to execute: know what matters, know what is happening, identify what is not working, and drive it to resolution.

1. Own strategic execution
Maintain an end-to-end view of the business's most critical initiatives and their performance.
Translate strategic priorities into clear projects, milestones, owners, KPIs, and deadlines.
Drive high-priority projects directly when dedicated ownership is missing or additional execution power is required.
Ensure commitments turn into measurable outcomes-not just meetings, updates, and presentations.
Step into stalled or ambiguous initiatives and drive them back to execution.
2. Act as an independent performance partner
Build a fact-based view of whether projects, teams, and initiatives are delivering against expectations.
Challenge assumptions, timelines, priorities, and reported progress when necessary.
Identify gaps between reported status and actual business impact.
Diagnose underperformance and distinguish between strategy, execution, ownership, resource, and capability problems.
Escalate material risks early and ensure corrective actions are defined and executed.
3. Solve cross-functional problems
Step into the "messy middle" between functions where ownership is unclear and execution gets stuck.
Structure ambiguous problems quickly and turn them into actionable decisions.
Align Product, Operations, Finance, Legal, Commercial, and other stakeholders around a single execution path.
Identify blockers, resolve dependencies, and drive decisions with pace.
Act as a neutral partner focused on the overall business outcome rather than the interests of an individual function.
4. Build execution discipline
Establish a lightweight but rigorous operating rhythm for strategic initiatives.
Create a single source of truth for priorities, status, decisions, risks, and dependencies.
Ensure every critical initiative has clear ownership, measurable outcomes, and transparent progress.
Run project and portfolio reviews focused on decisions and actions rather than status reporting.
Continuously improve how the organisation manages projects and executes strategic priorities.
5. Support strategic decision-making
Turn complex operational and performance data into clear management insights.
Build business cases and conduct quantitative and qualitative analysis for major strategic decisions.
Evaluate new opportunities, growth bets, and operating-model improvements.
Prepare concise, decision-oriented materials for senior leadership.
Connect strategy with execution: understand not only what we should do, but whether and how the organisation can actually deliver it.
What success looks like Success in this role is not measured by the number of projects tracked or meetings facilitated. It is measured by:
Transparency - leadership always knows the real status of critical priorities.
Accountability - every important outcome has an owner, deadline, and measurable result.
Speed - blockers and unresolved decisions do not remain unresolved for weeks.
Execution quality - strategic initiatives move from discussion to implementation.
Business impact - the portfolio delivers measurable improvements in growth, efficiency, quality, or scalability.

You should be:
Extremely structured and comfortable bringing order to ambiguity.
Strong in project and program management, with the ability to lead multiple critical initiatives simultan