Senior Head of Service Delivery & Operations

Senior Head of Service Delivery & Operations

Industry

Digital Marketing, Technology & Web Services

Location

Remote - Australian Digital Marketing Agency

Employment Type

Full-Time, Permanent

Annual Remuneration

18 LPA (CTC)

Experience Required

1015 years

Team Size

Approximately 20 employees, with capacity to scale

Reporting To

Chief Executive Officer / Executive Management

Departments

SEO, Digital Marketing, Web Development, Graphic Design, Technical Services, Hosting, Website Maintenance and Related Service Delivery Functions

1. Position Overview

We are seeking a highly experienced, commercially minded and results-driven Senior Head of Service Delivery & Operations to assume complete operational leadership of our digital marketing and technology service delivery departments.

This is a senior leadership position requiring exceptional organisational ability, strong people management skills, technical understanding, operational discipline and a proven record of managing multidisciplinary teams.

The successful candidate will be responsible for approximately 20 employees across SEO, web development, design, technical support, hosting, website maintenance and other digital services.

The position requires an individual capable of independently managing departmental performance, employee productivity, project execution, resource allocation, recruitment, workforce performance, quality assurance and operational efficiency.

This is not a conventional project manager or task coordination position.

The successful candidate must take ownership of the entire service delivery operation, ensuring that all departments operate efficiently, employees remain accountable, work is completed to the required standard and projects are delivered on time.

The role requires strong leadership, sound decision-making and the ability to identify and solve problems without continual supervision from executive management.

The fundamental objective is to build, manage and continuously improve a high-performing service delivery operation that functions effectively, predictably and independently of day-to-day CEO intervention.

2. Core Responsibilities

A. End-to-End Service Delivery Management

• Assume overall responsibility for the effective operation of all digital marketing and technology service delivery departments.
• Oversee active projects, recurring client commitments, service requests and internal operational tasks.
• Ensure every task and project has a clearly defined owner, priority, scope, deadline and expected outcome.
• Monitor project progress and ensure work is completed within agreed deadlines.
• Maintain operational visibility across all departments.
• Identify potential delays, resource shortages, workflow bottlenecks and quality concerns before they impact service delivery.
• Coordinate projects involving multiple departments and specialist employees.
• Ensure all contracted services and recurring deliverables are completed according to approved requirements.
• Implement effective escalation procedures for delayed projects and operational issues.
• Maintain appropriate workforce capacity and workload distribution.
• Establish consistent project management, reporting and quality control procedures.
• Identify and resolve the underlying causes of recurring operational problems.
• Take full accountability for the efficiency, reliability and performance of service delivery.

B. Leadership and Management of Approximately 20 Employees

• Directly or indirectly manage approximately 20 employees across multiple departments.
• Establish clear organisational structures, reporting lines, departmental responsibilities and employee expectations.
• Manage team leaders, senior specialists and individual contributors.
• Set measurable performance expectations for every department and employee.
• Conduct structured daily, weekly and monthly management meetings as required.
• Ensure employees remain focused, productive and accountable.
• Monitor individual performance, teamwork, attendance, punctuality, output and work quality.
• Identify underperformance and implement appropriate corrective actions.
• Conduct regular employee performance reviews and coaching sessions.
• Manage interpersonal conflicts and departmental communication issues.
• Support employee development and succession planning.
• Identify and develop future team leaders.
• Maintain appropriate staffing levels and workforce capability.
• Foster a culture of responsibility, professionalism, efficiency and continuous improvement.

Mandatory experience requirement: Candidates must have previously managed at least 20 direct or indirect reports within a relevant digital agency, technology services or comparable multidisciplinary service delivery environment.

Candidates must be able to demonstrate previous responsibility for team structures, departmental performance, operational decision-making and measurable business improvements.

C. Task Management, Scheduling and Workflow Control

The successful candidate must have extensive experience administering and managing project and task management platforms, particularly Asana or comparable systems.

Responsibilities include:

• Ensure 100% of operational tasks are documented within the approved management system.
• Assign every task to a responsible employee with clear instructions, priorities and deadlines.
• Monitor task progress and identify work that is delayed, blocked or incomplete.
• Ensure employees accurately and regularly update assigned tasks.
• Coordinate dependencies between departments.
• Monitor task completion rates and departmental backlogs.
• Ensure urgent and high-priority tasks receive appropriate resources.
• Establish standardised project templates, workflows and recurring task schedules.
• Identify employees or departments regularly missing deadlines.
• Ensure incomplete tasks are followed up and resolved.
• Improve internal communication and task handovers.
• Prevent tasks from being forgotten, duplicated or unnecessarily delayed.
• Prepare accurate productivity, completion and overdue task reports.
• Maintain reliable workload forecasting and capacity planning.

The Head of Delivery is expected to proactively manage operations rather than simply monitor task management software.

D. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Department

• Oversee ongoing SEO service delivery across the company's client portfolio.
• Manage SEO team leaders, specialists and supporting personnel.
• Ensure monthly SEO tasks and agreed client deliverables are completed on schedule.
• Monitor technical SEO, on-page optimisation, content implementation, audits and other approved SEO workflows.
• Ensure campaign work aligns with contracted service levels and scope.
• Review departmental productivity and delivery performance.
• Coordinate technical requirements between SEO and development teams.
• Identify delayed activities, quality issues and resource shortages.
• Ensure appropriate quality assurance before completed work is reported to clients.
• Maintain consistent reporting and accountability within the SEO department.

The successful candidate must have sufficient knowledge of SEO to assess delivery quality and effectively manage specialists, although personal execution of every specialist task is not required.

E. Web Development Department

• Oversee website design, development, redevelopment and maintenance projects.
• Coordinate web developers, designers, technical specialists and supporting staff.
• Establish clear development milestones and completion deadlines.
• Monitor project progress and resolve bottlenecks.
• Ensure website builds follow approved specifications, designs and requirements.
• Implement quality assurance procedures before website launches.
• Ensure appropriate testing across devices and browsers.
• Monitor bug resolution, revisions and post-launch support requirements.
• Ensure development projects remain within approved scope and resource allocations.
• Maintain effective communication between development and other departments.

F. Graphic Design and Creative Production

• Oversee graphic design, web design and digital creative production.
• Ensure employees receive accurate and complete design briefs.
• Manage design priorities, schedules and deadlines.
• Monitor creative output and approval workflows.
• Ensure compliance with approved branding requirements.
• Reduce avoidable design errors and unnecessary revisions.
• Coordinate creative requirements with SEO, paid advertising, website development and other departments.
• Ensure design resources are appropriately allocated.
• Establish consistent creative quality standards.

G. Technical Services, Hosting and Website Maintenance

• Oversee technical support and website maintenance operations.
• Manage technical support workloads, service requests and escalations.
• Ensure website, hosting, domain, email and related service requests are appropriately assigned.
• Coordinate the resolution of technical issues.
• Establish urgency and priority classifications for technical service requests.
• Monitor compliance with applicable service-level agreements.
• Ensure critical technical issues are escalated promptly.
• Maintain accurate technical documentation and support records.
• Coordinate with relevant technical specialists on security issues, outages and operational incidents.
• Establish procedures for recurring maintenance and technical support responsibilities.

H. Other Digital Marketing Services

• Coordinate operational delivery for Google Ads, Meta Ads, content marketing and other digital services where relevant.
• Ensure specialist employees meet approved operational deadlines.
• Coordinate design, development and technical requirements associated with advertising campaigns.
• Maintain effective collaboration between delivery departments.
• Ensure reporting and scheduled operational activities are completed.
• Escalate campaign performance concerns to the appropriate qualified specialists or department heads.

3. Employee Performance Management and Accountability

The Head of Delivery will be responsible for maintaining a structured, consistent and measurable employee performance management system.

Responsibilities include:

• Establish individual and departmental KPIs.
• Develop employee performance scorecards.
• Conduct monthly employee performance reviews.
• Evaluate employee productivity, attendance, task completion, efficiency and work quality.
• Identify consistent underperformance and investigate underlying causes.
• Develop and administer performance improvement plans.
• Provide coaching, feedback and documented improvement expectations.
• Address workplace conduct and disciplinary concerns.
• Recommend employee promotions, development opportunities and remuneration adjustments.
• Identify high-performing employees and potential future leaders.
• Ensure disciplinary and performance decisions are evidence-based, consistent and procedurally fair.
• Maintain confidential employee performance documentation.
• Make recommendations to executive management regarding workforce changes.

The successful candidate must be confident conducting difficult performance discussions and taking appropriate action when standards are not met.

4. Recruitment, Hiring, Workforce Planning and Termination

The Head of Delivery will have significant responsibility for recruitment and workforce management.

Responsibilities include:

• Assess current and future staffing requirements.
• Identify skill shortages and resource gaps.
• Prepare job descriptions and role requirements.
• Participate in candidate sourcing and screening.
• Conduct interviews and practical competency assessments.
• Assess technical capabilities in consultation with relevant department specialists.
• Recommend suitable candidates for employment.
• Coordinate employee onboarding.
• Establish probationary expectations and performance measures.
• Evaluate probationary employee performance.
• Recommend employee confirmation or non-confirmation of employment.
• Manage performance improvement and formal disciplinary processes.
• Make evidence-based recommendations regarding termination where necessary.
• Coordinate approved employee exits, knowledge transfer and departmental handovers.
• Maintain operational continuity when employees leave.
• Ensure staffing decisions align with approved operational budgets.

The Head of Delivery will have delegated day-to-day responsibility for workforce management, including recruitment processes and performance procedures.

Final hiring, contractual remuneration changes and termination decisions will be subject to the company's approved delegation of authority, HR requirements and applicable Indian employment legislation.

5. Productivity, Resource Allocation and Operational Efficiency

• Monitor the performance and utilisation of employees across all departments.
• Review productivity and time-tracking information through Time Doctor, Web Track or approved alternatives.
• Compare hours allocated against work completed, quality standards and expected outputs.
• Identify inefficient workflows and unnecessary administrative work.
• Reduce duplicated effort, excessive rework and recurring delays.
• Allocate employees according to expertise, capacity and operational priorities.
• Identify employees who are underutilised or overloaded.
• Review departmental workloads and staffing requirements.
• Recommend improvements in workforce allocation.
• Introduce process improvements and suitable automation.
• Evaluate AI-assisted tools where they can improve efficiency and accuracy.
• Monitor productivity trends and quantify operational improvements.
• Balance operational efficiency with sustainable workloads and employee wellbeing.
• Ensure workforce monitoring practices are lawful, transparent and consistent with company policies.

6. Quality Assurance and Service Standards

• Establish and enforce consistent quality assurance standards.
• Implement documented quality control checklists.
• Ensure appropriate review and testing before client work is delivered.
• Monitor work quality across SEO, development, design and technical departments.
• Track avoidable errors and rework.
• Identify recurring quality issues and implement corrective measures.
• Coordinate the investigation of delivery-related complaints and escalations.
• Ensure client deliverables meet approved requirements and agreed service standards.
• Monitor adherence to service-level agreements.
• Maintain accurate documentation of completed client work.
• Implement preventive measures to reduce repeat errors.

7. Operational Reporting and Executive Communication

The successful candidate must provide transparent, reliable and actionable operational reporting to executive management.

Daily Responsibilities

• Review priority tasks, outstanding work and upcoming deadlines.
• Identify operational issues requiring immediate intervention.
• Monitor staffing availability and workload allocation.
• Follow up on critical deliverables.
• Resolve or appropriately escalate operational blockers.

Weekly Reporting

Provide a structured weekly operational report covering:

• Total tasks created and completed.
• Outstanding, overdue and blocked tasks.
• On-time task completion rates.
• Departmental performance.
• Employee productivity and utilisation.
• Project delivery progress.
• Quality assurance results.
• Rework and recurring errors.
• Staffing shortages and recruitment activities.
• Critical operational risks.
• Client delivery escalations.
• Corrective actions, responsible owners and deadlines.

Monthly Reporting

• Departmental KPI results.
• Employee performance scorecards.
• Staffing and capacity analysis.
• Recruitment and workforce changes.
• Efficiency improvements.
• Delivery performance trends.
• Recurring operational problems and root-cause analysis.
• Proposed process improvements.
• Workforce planning and operational forecasts.
• Recommendations requiring executive approval.

Reports must be concise, accurate and focused on measurable outcomes.

8. Standard Operating Procedures and Continuous Improvement

• Develop, implement and maintain departmental standard operating procedures.
• Standardise task management and project delivery workflows.
• Establish clear employee responsibilities and handover procedures.
• Maintain quality assurance and completion checklists.
• Develop structured onboarding and employee training documentation.
• Maintain operational process documentation.
• Review existing procedures for inefficiencies.
• Improve communication between departments.
• Establish consistent escalation and approval processes.
• Implement appropriate technology and automation to improve operational effectiveness.
• Ensure procedures remain practical, current and consistently followed.
• Prepare the service delivery operation for future business growth.

9. Commercial Awareness and Cost Management

• Understand the relationship between service delivery efficiency and company profitability.
• Monitor workforce utilisation and the operational cost of service delivery.
• Identify excessive project hours and inefficient resource allocation.
• Reduce avoidable operational costs and rework.
• Recommend staffing requirements based on capacity and business needs.
• Maintain workforce expenditure within approved budgets.
• Identify opportunities to improve output and operational efficiency.
• Monitor work that exceeds approved client scope.
• Escalate material commercial risks to executive management.
• Assist with departmental budget forecasts and resource planning.

10. Mandatory Qualifications and Experience

Candidates must satisfy the following requirements:

• 10-15 years of relevant professional experience within digital marketing, technology services, agency operations or comparable service delivery environments.
• Minimum 5 years in senior service delivery, operations or multidisciplinary team leadership.
• Proven experience managing a team of at least 20 direct or indirect reports.
• Previous accountability for multiple specialist departments or service delivery functions.
• Demonstrated knowledge of SEO, website development, graphic design and technical service workflows.
• Extensive experience managing simultaneous projects and recurring client service commitments.
• Advanced proficiency with Asana or equivalent project management systems.
• Proven experience implementing operational KPIs and performance management processes.
• Experience conducting recruitment interviews and managing employee performance.
• Experience dealing with employee underperformance and formal disciplinary procedures.
• Strong understanding of workload allocation, capacity planning and workforce utilisation.
• Experience developing SOPs and operational reporting dashboards.
• Excellent organisational, analytical and decision-making skills.
• Strong written and spoken English.
• Ability to operate independently and communicate effectively with executive management.
• Proven record of improving productivity, workflow efficiency, delivery quality or operational performance.

Highly Desirable Experience

• Previous senior management experience within an established digital marketing agency.
• Experience working with Australian, UK or US clients.
• Experience managing WordPress development and SEO delivery teams.
• Familiarity with Google Ads and Meta Ads operational workflows.
• Experience managing hosting, website maintenance and technical support teams.
• Experience with Time Doctor or similar workforce productivity systems.
• Experience scaling teams and introducing structured management processes.
• Experience managing distributed or remote employees.

11. Leadership Competencies

The successful candidate must demonstrate the following qualities:

Ownership and Accountability

Takes responsibility for the overall performance of the service delivery operation and follows through on commitments.

Strong People Leadership

Can effectively manage, motivate, assess and develop multidisciplinary teams while addressing poor performance.

Operational Discipline

Maintains organised systems, clearly defined priorities and consistent execution.

Independent Decision-Making

Exercises sound judgement and resolves routine operational matters without unnecessary escalation.

Technical and Commercial Understanding

Understands the services being delivered, the operational requirements of each department and the commercial impact of inefficient delivery.

Analytical and Problem-Solving Skills

Uses objective performance data to identify problems, assess root causes and implement solutions.

Communication and Transparency

Communicates clearly, reports accurately and raises operational risks early.

Continuous Improvement

Proactively identifies opportunities to improve productivity, quality, systems and processes.

12. Key Performance Indicators

The following proposed performance targets will form the initial management framework.

Performance Area

Target

On-Time Task Completion

Minimum 95%

Client SLA Compliance

Minimum 95%

Task Management Compliance

100% of operational tasks recorded

Quality Assurance Pass Rate

Minimum 95%

Overdue Tasks

Below 5% of tasks due during the reporting period

Employee Performance Reviews

100% completed monthly

Weekly Operational Reports

100% submitted on schedule

Monthly Management Reviews

100% completed

Avoidable Internal Rework

Below 5% of completed deliverables

Recruitment Timelines

Meet approved hiring deadlines

Critical Operational Escalations

100% handled within agreed escalation timeframes

SOP Compliance

Minimum 95% during internal audits

KPI measurement methods and baseline performance will be established during onboarding. Targets may be adjusted based on service complexity, available resources and documented operational conditions.

14. First 90 Days Operational Improvement Expectations

The successful candidate will be expected to develop and execute a structured 90-day operational improvement plan.

First 30 Days Assessment, Audit and Operational Control

• Understand the company's services, organisational structure and workflows.
• Meet employees and assess individual and departmental responsibilities.
• Audit active projects, outstanding work and recurring client commitments.
• Evaluate existing Asana task management practices.
• Review employee performance and productivity data.
• Identify bottlenecks, delivery risks and resource shortages.
• Assess existing reporting procedures.
• Establish baseline operational KPIs.
• Present a documented operational improvement plan to executive management.

Expected outcome: Clear visibility of all departments, employees, projects, outstanding work and major operational risks.

Days 3160 — Structure, Accountability and Implementation

• Establish standardised task management procedures.
• Introduce individual and departmental KPI scorecards.
• Implement consistent daily and weekly operational management routines.
• Improve task allocation, scheduling and resource planning.
• Introduce or strengthen quality assurance procedures.
• Address major workflow inconsistencies.
• Implement structured employee performance reviews.
• Develop or update priority SOPs.
• Present recruitment, staffing and capacity recommendations.

Expected outcome: Improved workflow discipline, clearer accountability, accurate reporting and early measurable operational improvements.

Days 61–90 — Performance Improvement and Optimisation

• Demonstrate measurable improvements against agreed baseline KPIs.
• Reduce overdue tasks and recurring delivery delays.
• Establish consistent management reporting.
• Complete the first structured employee performance review cycle.
• Demonstrate improvements in departmental coordination.
• Reduce avoidable quality issues and rework.
• Implement priority process improvements.
• Present a six-month operational development and scaling roadmap.

Expected outcome: A structured and increasingly independent service delivery operation with defined responsibilities, measurable performance and reliable management controls.

Ongoing 90-Day Performance Commitment

The Head of Delivery must be able to demonstrate measurable improvements in service delivery efficiency, operational transparency, employee accountability and project execution within the first 90 days.

The precise targets will be agreed after the initial operational audit and baseline assessment.

Performance will be evaluated on actual operational outcomes, not simply completion of administrative activities.

15. Operational Authority and Decision-Making

The successful candidate will be expected to exercise substantial day-to-day management responsibility.

Authority Within the Role

• Daily task allocation and scheduling.
• Management of departmental workloads.
• Project prioritisation within approved client commitments.
• Operational problem-solving.
• Employee performance assessments.
• Routine corrective action and coaching.
• Recruitment screening and candidate interviews.
• Employee training and development planning.
• Operational workflow improvements.
• Internal reporting procedures.
• Routine delivery escalations.

Matters Requiring Executive or Authorised HR Approval

• Creating additional permanent positions.
• Hiring commitments outside approved delegation or budgets.
• Employee salary and contractual changes.
• Final termination decisions unless expressly delegated.
• Material changes to client agreements or pricing.
• Significant departmental expenditure.
• Changes to approved budgets.
• Material legal, financial or reputational decisions.

16. Definition of Success

Success in this position will be determined by the candidate's ability to develop and maintain an organised, productive, accountable and reliable service delivery operation.

The organisation should operate in an environment where:

• Every employee understands their responsibilities and performance expectations.
• Every task has an accountable owner and defined deadline.
• Every project has a clear and accurate delivery status.
• Departmental workloads and capacity are actively managed.
• Employees are assessed against measurable performance standards.
• Underperformance is addressed consistently and professionally.
• Recruitment and workforce requirements are proactively managed.
• Quality standards are maintained across all departments.
• Delays, technical problems and delivery risks are identified early.
• Executive management receives accurate, timely operational reporting.
• Processes are documented, repeatable and scalable.
• Service delivery operates efficiently without requiring constant CEO intervention.

The ultimate expectation is that the Senior Head of Service Delivery & Operations assumes full operational ownership of the company's delivery functions, enabling executive management to concentrate on business growth, strategy, sales and commercial development.

Equal Opportunity

The company is committed to fair, merit-based recruitment. Employment decisions will be based on relevant qualifications, professional experience, demonstrated capabilities and suitability for the role.