Operations Manager

About the John Locke Institute

The John Locke Institute is an independent educational organisation dedicated to inspiring and equipping exceptional students for academic and intellectual success. Through our prestigious summer schools, essay competitions, and residential courses in Oxford, Princeton, Georgetown, Singapore, Nanjing, Dubai, and Hong Kong, we cultivate a rigorous learning environment that fosters critical thinking, intellectual humility, and open-minded discourse.

Our programmes bring together talented students and distinguished faculty, offering a unique platform for academic challenge and personal growth. By engaging with complex ideas and refining their reasoning skills, students develop the confidence to excel in their academic and professional journeys.

Position Summary

The John Locke Institute seeks an Operations Manager to ensure the orderly, reliable, and timely functioning of the John Locke Institute’s operations across all programmes, annual cycles, and compliance obligations; to protect the organisation from operational, legal, reputational, and safeguarding risks; and to ensure that no critical processes or deadlines are overlooked.

Key Responsibilities

Organisational Rhythm & Calendar Governance

• Own the master annual operational calendar.
• Sequence and enforce deadlines for summer schools, essay prize, marketing phases, recruitment, annual reviews, and compliance cycles.
• Issue timely reminders and escalate emerging risks.
• Build systems so that processes do not rely on personal memory.

Risk Management & Compliance

• Oversee safeguarding, child protection, data security, insurance, legal filings, regulatory documentation, health & safety, and incident reporting.
• Ensure all compliance reviews and renewals occur early and accurately.
• Maintain and iterate the institutional risk register.

Policy & Process Stewardship

• Maintain and update operational policies and SOPs.
• Identify procedural gaps and design systems to improve reliability and reduce exposure.
• Store and version-control all operational documentation.

Programme Operations (Annual & Recurring)

• Oversee logistical sequencing for all summer schools and events, including date selection, venue reservation, and marketing launch coordination.
• Maintain alignment across Oxford, Princeton, Sydney, Singapore, and other locations.
• Support the Acting Global Director of Events (Marie Loubeyre) in ensuring operational readiness.

Supplier, Vendor & Partner Operations

• Ensure that venues, accommodation, insurance, IT/security services, and compliance arrangements are confirmed and in place.
• Review and confirm that contract renewals and all required documentation have been completed.

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Internal Operations & HR Cycles

• Track and coordinate annual performance reviews.
• Ensure staff training, documentation, and compliance requirements are monitored and completed.
• Support recruitment workflows and onboarding processes.

Critical Path Ownership

• For every recurring process, own the full lifecycle: define sequences, identify bottlenecks, monitor progress, and escalate early.
• Ensure that every operational process has a documented, repeatable system.

Working Relationship with the Chief of Staff

• The Operations Manager owns systems, cycles, compliance, and operational risk.
• The Chief of Staff owns strategy, alignment, new initiatives, and cross-cutting priorities.
• Roles are collaborative but not overlapping.

Bookkeeping & Financial Operations Oversight

• Oversee the bookkeeping function, with the bookkeeper reporting directly to the Operations Manager.
• Ensure financial records, reconciliations, and reporting are accurate, timely, and usable for management decision-making.
• Address and systematise financial processes to replace ad-hoc or fragmented practices.

Budget Ownership & Performance Review

• Coordinate the annual departmental budgeting process, ensuring that all departments submit budgets on time and in line with agreed parameters.
• Review performance against approved budgets, requiring departments to submit periodic performance reports.
• Monitor and analyse key operational and financial metrics (e.g. cost per student, cost per acquisition, application and conversion ratios).
• Convene follow-up discussions with department leads to review performance against budget and flag variances or emerging risks.
• Ensure financial discipline and visibility across the organisation, in coordination with senior leadership.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent professional experience) in Operations Management, Business Administration, Public Administration, Law, International Relations, or a related field.
• 7+ years of experience in operations management, chief-of-staff support, programme management, or senior executive support roles within complex organisations.

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• Demonstrated experience owning organisational calendars, compliance cycles, and recurring operational processes end-to-end.
• Proven track record of risk management and compliance oversight, including safeguarding, data protection, contracts, insurance, or regulatory documentation.
• Experience operating in multi-jurisdictional or international environments, with sensitivity to differing legal, cultural, and operational requirements.
• Strong experience building and maintaining systems, SOPs, and documentation that reduce reliance on individual memory.
• High proficiency with operational tools (e.g. project management platforms, document version control systems, shared calendars, CRM/HR systems).

Skills & Attributes for Success

• Exceptionally organised and intolerant of slippage.
• Strong operational judgment; proactive risk awareness.
• Skilled at building systems and codifying processes.
• Calm, reliable, discreet, and detail-oriented.
• Capable of maintaining order in a high-velocity, multi-jurisdictional organisation.

What We Offer

• Fully Remote Role

Work from anywhere in the world (except the British Virgin Islands).

• Global Opportunities

Potential travel to our international summer programmes in prestigious locations.

• Inspiring Work

Engage with bright students and leading academics from top universities worldwide.

• Mission-Driven Work

Be part of an organization dedicated to inspiring the next generation of thinkers.

• Supportive Team

Work alongside a highly competent and motivated team dedicated to your success.

• Creative Freedom

Your ideas and initiatives are valued—we encourage innovation.