Overview
The (COO) / Operations Director will be a key strategic partner to the Managing Director (MD) and provide operational leadership across a national home care company. This role ensures that our services provided are consistently safe, high-quality, person-centred and are fully aligned with HIQA standards, HSE expectations, and the company's mission to enable people to remain at home with dignity, independence, and compassionate support.
The COO will act as the core integrator, aligning teams, systems, and priorities to drive consistent execution and service excellence. The successful candidate will bring operational experience within homecare, healthcare, or other regulated care environments, with a strong commitment to quality, accountability, and person-centred values.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Leadership
* Serve as the key integrator, ensuring organisational alignment, accountability, and delivery of the company's strategic objectives and vision.
* Partner closely with the MD to translate strategic goals into operational structures, frameworks, and measurable performance outcomes.
* Lead, coach, and support a high-performing Leadership Team, fostering a culture of ownership, transparency, and continuous improvement.
Operational Management
* Lead the national operations function, ensuring consistent service delivery across all regions.
* Develop, implement, and optimise operational processes, systems, and KPIs that promote efficiency, responsiveness, service excellence, and scalability.
* Demonstrate strong capacity for operational decision – making during periods of service growth, change, or complexity.
* Ensure full compliance with HIQA and other regulatory standards.
People & Culture
* Promote a positive organisational culture reflecting our values of being Accountable, Authentic, Personable & Thrive.
* Partner with HR to support workforce planning, recruitment strategies, retention and professional development.
* Encourage employee wellbeing, engagement, and recognition to create a supportive and inclusive workplace.
* Build leadership capacity across the company.
Quality & Compliance
* Work collaboratively with the Clinical Governance team to uphold and strengthen the governance pillars, ensuring excellence in quality, safety, and regulatory compliance across all operations.
* Lead continuous improvement initiatives, root cause analysis, and corrective actions planning.
* Maintain a strong focus on safety, regulatory compliance, client safeguarding, and customer satisfaction.
* Support preparation for HIQA engagement, inspections, and compliance documentation.
Financial & Commercial Management
* Oversee operational budgets, workforce resource allocation, and cost control.
* Use performance data, workforce metrics, and forecasting models to drive efficiencies and sustainable margins.
* Collaborate with Finance and MD on forecasting, service expansion, and business case development.
Technology & Systems
* Champion the effective use of technology to enhance efficiency, service delivery, and data-driven decision-making.
* Promote data integrity, clear reporting lines, and information governance.
* Ensure the successful adoption of systems that support scheduling, rostering, quality tracking, CRM, and reporting.
* Enable data-driven decision-making at leadership and operational levels.
Experience & Qualifications
Essential
* Degree in business, management, healthcare management or related discipline
* 8+ years senior operational leadership experience
* Proven success of managing multi-site or national service operations.
* Demonstrated experience developing operational frameworks and execution models, KPI's, and performance-driven teams
* Experience leading senior leadership teams and influencing organisational culture.
* Experience scaling an organisation through growth, service expansion, or acquisition.
Desirable
* Background in home care, healthcare, disability services, social care, or similarly regulated environment.
* Understanding of HIQA standards, HSE structures, governance requirements, and regulatory expectations.
* Experience working with HIQA inspection readiness, compliance, and quality management frameworks.
Key Competencies
* Integration & Execution
: Natural ability to unify senior leaders, and drive accountability across functions.
* Operational excellence
: Skilled at process optimisation, resource utilisation, KPI performance.
* Decision-making
: Analytical, evidence-based decision maker with the ability to respond quickly and pragmatically.
* Communication & leadership:
Strong communicator capable of building trust with teams, clients, and stakeholders.
* Change management:
Experience in driving and embedding organisational change, new systems, and adopting processes.
Personal Strengths
* Strong capacity for research, clarity, and data-driven thinking.
* Highly structured, excels at building and sustaining systems and processes.
* Balanced and pragmatic when assessing operational risk.
* Practical, solution-orientated, and tenacious in problem solving.