Jack Short
Operations Director
Sheffield
Summary
Goal-oriented Operations Director with a proven track record of streamlining procedures to optimise productivity and revenue. Well-organised and proactive with a hands-on and resourceful style. Knowledgeable about people, telecommunications, programme management and agile working in a fast paced environment
Overview
8
8
years of professional experience
Work History
Operations Director
Svella Connect
01.2023 - Current
- Lead a business unit with a c£25m Turnover from a loss making business to profitable across all 3 regions within a year by initiating change management strategies and increasing governance and employee engagement
- Managed financial resources with a focus on cost control, leading to significant savings (£100k a week in direct cost savings) without compromising service quality.
- Built a successful relationship with our key client Virgin Media O2 , regularly hitting key metrics which enabled a commercial upside for our business
- Analysed performance metrics and identified key areas for improvement, leading to optimised processes across the organization.
- Integrated teams across all regions and work streams to build a skilled workforce with the agility to deliver in both peaks and troughs
- Oversaw a reduction in Health and Safety issues with increased compliance, process and rigor
Head of Programme & Network Delivery
Virgin Media O2
01.2020 - 01.2023
- Led a team of Project Managers, Engineers and Build Partners to deliver 45k premises across the West Midlands in 2021 within budget and at a cost of £18.7m
- Drove the transformation in the Midlands across both contract build partners and in house engineers to pivot from tradition FTTP self-dig (civils) to utilising the BT PIA network to save on our time and cost to deliver
- Embedded a programmatic approach to delivery on both large Infill and B2B work streams whilst migrating the East and West Midlands regions to perform as one efficient super region
- Built a national resource model for all the network expansion delivery teams taking into account the c350k premises we had to pass with FTTP services in 2021 with a forward look and resource projection to our 700k plan for 2022
Build Support Operations Manager
Virgin Media O2
02.2018 - 01.2020
- Delivered Superfast FTTP services to 30k premises a year through a Demand led Infill initiative by using key penetration and demand data nationwide to scope out and build out to areas where customers had low broadband speeds and wanted Virgin Media’s superfast services
- Led on of the first Robotic Automation Processes (RPA) within Virgin Media to reduce the admin heavy repetitive tasks within the team and increase the efficiency of the remaining resource
- Rebuilt a failing team consisting of people across 3 different sites (Scotland, Sheffield & Birmingham) consisting of 50+ internal staff by reviewing and updating/upgraded processes and key roles and accountabilities
Opportunity and Strategic Planning Manager
Virgin Media
01.2016 - 02.2018
- Built the Network Expansion Opportunity Planning team, which is now responsible for locating the optimum areas for VM02 to expand their network
- I set up an initial team of 12 people, built processes, implemented training and worked with external software companies to develop an award nominated mapping tool
- The foundations of this team were pivotal in securing £4.5bn in external investment to further expansion our network
- Developed and rolled out of governance templates and metrics to support the business's need to control longer term strategic plan and individual projects budgets through a 2 stage 'approval to plan' and 'approval to build' gateway
- Implemented Opportunity Launch Interlocks to engage all the necessary regional stakeholders for each project to ensure valuable input is captured in the projects infancy to highlight any key risks or quick
Education
Bachelor of Arts - Business Economics
Sheffield Hallam University
Sheffield 04.2001 -
Skills
Strategic Leadership
Financial Management & Cost Reduction
Telecommunications Expert
Commercial Acumen
Governance Implementation
Employee Engagement
Data Analysis
Networking
Project Planning
Professional Summary
A highly motivated and hands on Operations Director with a proven track record of developing and implementing policies, procedures and plans to enhance business performance and continued improvement.
Successful background growing revenue, allocating resources and coordinating plans by utilising excellent communication, program management and team leadership abilities gained during over 10 years in Telecoms and 8 years of people leadership
Current Goals
Seeking a new challenge within the Telecoms sector after 10 years at Virgin Media working within engineering and leadership roles. I’m looking to use these developed skills to help build and/or grow internet Service Providers (ISPs), contract build partners who are supporting the role out of superfast broadband to customers, both residental and business to business
Timeline
Operations Director
Svella Connect
01.2023 - Current
Head of Programme & Network Delivery
Virgin Media O2
01.2020 - 01.2023
Build Support Operations Manager
Virgin Media O2
02.2018 - 01.2020
Opportunity and Strategic Planning Manager
Virgin Media
01.2016 - 02.2018
Bachelor of Arts - Business Economics
Sheffield Hallam University
04.2001 -