DOLRIDGE BARRETTO

General Manager – Operations, UK, Ireland & Cyprus
VFS Global | July 2024 to present

· Lead end-to-end regional operations for UK, Ireland and Cyprus, managing approximately 3,000 applications daily across Schengen client governments, IRCC (Canada), South Africa visa and passport services, and Philippines passport applications.

· Own full regional P&L with accountability for EBITDA delivery, staff cost optimization and sales turnover growth, ensuring sustainable profitability while maintaining contractual service and quality standards.

· Directing multi-layer organization (Managers, Deputy Managers, Senior Officers and front-line staff), driving workforce planning, performance management, succession planning and capability building across all centres.

· Implement capacity planning, rostering and process optimisation to maximise centre utilisation, reduce turnaround times and protect SLAs and customer satisfaction.

· Acting as senior operational interface for all client governments in the region, leading governance reviews, handling escalations and ensuring consistent delivery of agreed service levels.

· Lead onboarding and go-live of new client governments and services, including solution design, transition planning, UAT, training, change management and stabilization.

· Support commercial teams with operational inputs for bids, renewals and expansions, including cost modelling, implementation plans and operational risk assessment.

· Monitor and improve staff cost ratios and productivity through automation, cross-training, multi-skilling, lean initiatives and process re-engineering.

· Driving growth in regional sales turnover by optimizing service fee performance, developing value-added services and identifying new revenue opportunities within existing centres.

· Manage and support cross-regional projects such as new centre openings/closures, technology rollouts, appointment platform changes and digital transformation initiatives.

· Overseeing compliance with client contracts, audits, data privacy, health & safety and business continuity requirements, including regular audits and compliance checks for all centres

· Using MIS, dashboards and KPI reviews to track volumes, SLAs, quality, customer satisfaction and error rates, initiating corrective and preventive actions where required.

Responsible for leading end‑to‑end operations for Joint Visa Application Centres (JVAC) across UK and Ireland for multiple Schengen client governments, covering visa, D‑Visa and passport services for approximately 27 missions. Manages a workforce of around 150 employees across front office and back office functions, ensuring service level adherence, cost efficiency and strict compliance with VFS Global and client government standards.linkedin+3

Key responsibilities include:

• Overseeing daily operations of all VACs for Schengen, D‑Visa and passport portfolios, ensuring smooth customer flow, accurate documentation and timely file transmission to missions.
• Managing performance, staffing, rosters and development for around 150 staff, including Managers, Deputy Managers and Officers, to achieve productivity, quality and customer satisfaction target
• Acting as primary operational contact for approximately 27 client governments, supporting relationship management, escalations and implementation of new processes or products in line with each mission’s requirements
• Driving process excellence, risk control and compliance (data protection, security, audit readiness) across all centres in the UK and Ireland network
  
• Monitoring KPIs and SLAs, analysing trends, and preparing management reports to support decision‑making and continuous improvement
• Ensuring revenue integrity, oversight of cash/fee handling processes, and support for new business or scope expansions within the Schengen and passport portfolio

• Responsible to manage approximately 1000 daily application volumes across Manchester & Edinburgh and London JVAC Operations.
• Managing 26 government missions for JVAC missions across UK.
• Monitoring the overall functioning of London JVAC and overall Manchester & Edinburgh business by identifying areas of improvement and implementing adequate measures to maximize customer satisfaction level and voice of mission.
• Constantly liaising with Consul General / Visa Heads to calibrate with processes and incorporation of new learning’s. Thus ensuring reduction in application errors, embassy complaints and simultaneously managing good association with the client.
• Steering efforts to pitch for new businesses and consular services with Consulates & Embassies.
• Leading a team of 45 submission officers and 3 Deputy Manager across London, Manchester & Edinburgh.
• Mentoring & monitoring the performance of team members to ensure efficiency in process operations and meeting of individual & group targets.
• Organizing skip meeting with the team and regular one-on-ones to ensure employee satisfaction and help overcome any challenges they may in meeting their own & teams scores.
• Setting out quality standards for various operational areas and ensuring a high-quality customer experience while adhering to SLAs & work processes
• Guiding service operations for rendering and achieving quality services; providing first line customer support for the mission by answering queries & resolving their issues while ensuring minimum TAT.
• Preparing MIS reports, Manpower Planning and Budgets with a view to apprise management on operational progress across London, Edinburgh & Manchester VAC’s.
• VFS Global is the world’s leading outsourcing and technology services specialist for governments and diplomatic missions worldwide. The company manages non-judgmental and administrative tasks related to applications for visa, passport, identity management and citizen services for its client governments, enabling them to focus entirely on the critical task of assessment.

• My role comprises of managing entire Joint Visa Application and South Africa Visa Application Center Operations for VFS Global – Manchester. This includes managing all day to day administrative and functional activities.
• Managing 12 government missions which included most of the Schengen Joint Visa Applications and South Africa Visa Application.
• Managing approximately 250 applications a day across 12 missions with 8 submission officers for JVAC and SAVAC. This count accounts for visa submission processing time, biometrics and data entry.
• Cross trained and up skilled submission officers to take visa applications across all missions. This helped the Manchester team gain strong gamut of knowledge and simultaneously this program acts as a contingency in case of staff attrition.
• Ensure regular Error Monitoring for all missions. This has helped in increasing accuracy while processing application and reduction in embassy complaints on the quality of application delivered.
• Time and motion compliance check conducted for all missions to check adherence on processing time for each mission.
• Responsible for handling cash and financial transactions for Manchester Applications Center.
• Coordinating with third party vendors on the administrative front for the VAC.

• Responsible to process short stay visa applications for the German mission and cross skilled to process visa application for other mission like Netherlands and Austria.
• Job involved reviewing and scrutinizing of documents and simultaneously providing high quality, efficiency and non-discriminatory visa application processing.
• Advising applicants on all short stay visa documentations, policy and procedures related to Schengen immigration laws while processing applications.
• Proactively notifying the mission of any discrepancies or document omissions on visa applications by an applicant.
• Processing approximately 30 applications on an average per day along with data entry, scanning and uploading.
• Preparing day to day reports like the fee list, end of day application tally report and few self-study reports to understand & compare variations for any seasonal trends.
• Calibrate with embassy’s application resubmission cases and ensured learning’s are shared within the team to reduce errors and improve efficiency.

• Operations Team Manager for National Rail Enquiries - Rail Process
• Operations Team Leader for Barclays Service Point - Banking & Helpdesk Process
• Team Leader Operations for Cingular Wireless - Telecom Process