**Operational Manager

Job summary

The Home Office works to build a safe, fair and prosperous UK. We achieve this through our work on counter-terrorism, policing, crime, drugs policy, immigration and passports.

Immigration Enforcement is responsible for enforcing the government’s immigration laws, tackling illegal migration, removing foreign national offenders and immigration offenders from the UK. We also aim to disrupt the organised criminal groups that exploit the vulnerable for their personal gain. Learn more on our careers pages.

International & Returns Services Command was formed in 2023 bringing together Returns Logistics Operations, Escorting Operations and Detention Progression and Returns, alongside Central Operations. These teams are at the heart of Immigration Enforcement’s operational activity to deliver the return of Foreign National Offenders and those with no leave to be in the United Kingdom as part of the wider Returns Directorate.

This is an exciting opportunity for the right candidates to utilise and develop their leadership, people and engagement skills within an extremely busy and high performing team, in a role that is both rewarding and energising.

Job description

This post sits within the Detention Engagement Team (DET), a dynamic and responsive team working as part of Detention, Progression and Returns to enhance the quality and frequency of engagement between the Home Office and people entering Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs).

IRCs are secure facilities that hold detained individuals (residents) prior to their removal from the United Kingdom or for nationality and identification purposes. DETs are based on site and interact with residents face to face.

You will be the on-site operational lead for the team, responsible for day-to-day delivery, the resolution of issues, and escalation where appropriate. You will engage with stakeholders both on and off site, including IRC contractors, caseworking teams, wider Home Office teams and healthcare contractors, to ensure that vulnerability and risk issues are identified and managed effectively at the earliest opportunity. You will act as an escalation point for complex cases across the Home Office.

You will also work with Senior Management Team colleagues to improve the operational delivery of DETs, sharing best practice across the DET network.

We welcome applications from candidates who can work independently in a fast-paced environment and who are confident, resilient self-starters with the ability to build trusted relationships and work collaboratively as part of a dynamic team.

Key Responsibilities

The successful candidate will be responsible for (but not limited to):

• Leading by example and maintaining strong visibility across administrative and residential areas.
• Completing quarterly assurance checks to ensure quality and compliance within the hierarchy.
• Working with the local service provider to ensure welfare concerns for people in Immigration Detention are promptly addressed.
• Overseeing DET operations and multi‑channel contact, ensuring all enquiries are handled and Service Level Agreements are met.
• Managing workforce deployment, escalating issues, and exercising effective financial control to ensure propriety and value for money.
• Ensuring high‑quality, timely DET delivery and providing guidance on complex Immigration Enforcement policies and procedures.
• Managing HR matters in line with policy, including the line management of approximately eight staff.

You may be required to undertake the same or a similar role within a different team or teams (where possible, at your base location or within reasonable travel distance), depending on business priorities. With appropriate training and support, this will provide opportunities to broaden both your experience and skill set.

Working Pattern

Due to the business requirements of this role, it is only available on a full-time basis.

Successful candidates will need to be able to attend for all shifts including early starts, late night finishes, and overnight shifts. These shifts may be outside of public transport operating hours.

This position requires 100% office attendance, hybrid working is not available.

Training

You will receive full training and support to do the job. Training takes place initially in the classroom and then continues on the job with a mentor who supports you until you are fully confident in the role. Even then you are never alone; you work as part of a team where there is always someone around for advice and support.

This role can be physically demanding and if successful you will be required to complete and pass Personal Safety Training (PST) Level 2 which develops skills in personal safety techniques.

Further information on what the training involves can be found on our website.

Person specification

Essential criteria

• PPST Level 2 required.
• Visible and confident leadership, with the ability to guide teams, manage performance, resolve escalations and maintain high standards of operational delivery.
• Experience delivering and assuring operational activity, ensuring compliance with policy and procedures while supporting performance through coaching and guidance.
• Strong judgement and resilience, with the ability to make sound decisions, manage risk and adapt to changing operational priorities in a complex environment.
• Ability to build effective working relationships with internal teams and external partners, influencing outcomes and resolving issues collaboratively.
• Experience of stakeholder engagement and people management, including workforce planning, handling sensitive issues and building trust to achieve shared objectives.

Desirable criteria

• Knowledge of Immigration Detention

Qualifications

PPST Level 2 required.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Leadership
• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• Leadership

Benefits

In addition to your salary, a career with the Home Office offers a range of benefits, including:

• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%.
• In-year reward scheme for one-off or sustained exceptional personal or team achievements.
• 25 days annual leave on appointment, rising with service to 30 days.
• Eight days of public holidays, plus one additional privilege day.
• This role currently attracts Annualised Hours Allowance (AHA) of approximately 15.26% of salary, which equates to an additional £6,371 p er annum based on salary minimum. Further information can be found on our website.
• See more of our benefits on our careers website.

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• Things you need to know
• Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window) , and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, drives up performance and improves diversity and inclusivity.

We will endeavour to conduct the selection process in line with the dates indicated below, but cannot guarantee that these will not, where necessary, be revised.

1. Application – by 9th September 2026

As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete:

• Personal Statement (maximum 500 words).
• Evidence of the Behaviour - Leadership (maximum of 250 words per Behaviour).

The Personal Statement should be aligned to and demonstrate how you meet the skills and experience set out in the essential criteria, detailed in the job description.

For guidance and information on how to construct your application (Personal Statement and Behaviours), you are encouraged to visit Civil Service Careers website.

2. Sift – from 11th September 2026

The sift will be held on Personal Statement and Behaviour - Leadership, as listed in the advert.

Should a high volume of applications be received, an initial sift will be conducted on the Personal Statement. Candidates who pass the initial sift will then be progressed to a full sift that will consist of all the remaining element submitted (Lead Behaviour – Leadership). Candidates who fail to meet the minimum pass score for the initial sift will not have their remaining submitted element scored and will only receive a sift score for that assessed at the initial sift.

3. Interview - from 2nd October 2026

If you are successful at sift stage, you will be invited to an interview that will be Behaviours (as listed in the job advert) and Strength based questions. All Behaviours listed in the selection process will be scored at the interview.

The interviews will take place of MS Teams.

For guidance and information on what to expect and how to prepare for an interview, you are encouraged to visit Civil Service Careers .

Problems during the application process

If you experience problems accessing this advert, or you think you’ve made a mistake on an initial application, please contact hocandidates.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk, including the vacancy reference, at least two working days before the vacancy closes. Further information can be found on our website .

Do not create or attempt to submit another application, online test or use a different Civil Service Jobs account to proceed as this would be in violation of the candidate declaration.

Reserve List

A reserve list may be held for a period of up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made. There is no guarantee that being held on a reserve list will lead to a job offer. Further information can be found on our website.

Breaking Tied Scores

The behaviours and strengths have been ranked in order of importance to enable us to differentiate between candidates with tied interview scores.

Standards

All Civil Servants are expected to comply with the Civil Service Code , and its core values of integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality.

Integrity Check

As well as successfully obtaining UK Security Vetting clearance , you will also be subject to an additional Integrity Check, as part of the pre-employment process, to determine your suitability to work for Border Force or Immigration Enforcement. For further information on what this involves, please visit our website.

Reasonable Adjustments

If a person with disabilities is at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

• Contact Government Recruitment Service via HOrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs
• Complete the “Assistance Required” section in the “Additional Requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you're deaf, a language service professional

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the ‘Contact point for applicants’ section.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and B