Early Years Operations Manager

By grounding strategic decisions in clear evidence, we're all in to help give every young child the best start in life across Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster.

You’ll be based in the Borough for three days a week, playing a key role in supporting high-quality early years services for children and families across our boroughs. Working collaboratively with colleagues and partners, you’ll lead and support the effective management, monitoring and use of early years data across a range of service functions. Your work will help ensure data is accurate, timely and used effectively to inform decision-making, identify priorities, monitor impact and drive service improvement.

You’ll play an important role in strengthening our early years system so that children have the best possible start in life, are ready for school and have the opportunity to achieve positive outcomes.

You will lead on the strategic use of data, intelligence and evidence to drive performance management and continuous improvement across our Bi-Borough Early Education and Childcare Service. At the heart of your role, you will develop and manage a whole-system performance and outcomes framework for children aged 0 to 5, ensuring our planning aligns directly with our Best Start in Life Strategy.

You will hold overall responsibility for statutory early years data functions, including childcare sufficiency assessments, funded entitlement monitoring and national data returns.

A typical day will involve balancing strategic analysis, operational problem-solving and partnership working. You will monitor key performance measures, conduct market sustainability analysis, resolve data quality issues and prepare clear dashboards, reports and briefings for senior leaders and governance boards. Working closely with Business Intelligence, ICT, commissioning teams, Family Hubs and local early years providers, you will translate complex datasets into practical insights that identify inequalities, target resources effectively and build data confidence across the service.

For further details, please review the Job Description and Person Specification.

You hold a relevant professional qualification or have equivalent substantial experience in a performance and intelligence function within Children's Services or local government. You bring a solid understanding of the policy and legislative framework surrounding early years, childcare and safeguarding. Your background showcases advanced analytical, statistical and forecasting skills, alongside hands‑on experience in managing large datasets, quality assurance, data visualisation and statutory reporting.

You possess strong problem-solving capabilities, exceptional attention to detail and the ability to explain complex statistical information clearly to professional and non-technical audiences alike. Organised and adaptable when managing competing priorities, you build positive, trusting relationships with internal colleagues and external partners. Crucially, you bring a constructive approach to challenging existing data gathering when it does not add clear value, always demonstrating our core values of Putting Communities First, Respect, Integrity and Working Together.

At RBKC, we’re all in – investing in our people, our communities and our future.

You will join a collaborative and ambitious team where your analytical expertise directly influences decisions that support babies, young children and families across two London boroughs. We offer a competitive Grade G salary, ongoing professional development and a supportive environment where innovative ideas are welcomed. You will also benefit from flexible working options…