Head of Operations
Mondia Group · Madrid
This is a group-level leadership role accountable for how Mondia runs: turning strategy into delivered outcomes, and doing so productively and cost-efficiently. Reporting to the COO, the Head of Operations owns the Group PMO, leads the delivery of the company’s strategic initiatives, and drives an AI-first operational excellence agenda that measurably improves productivity, efficiency and cost performance across the group, so that Mondia can scale without a proportional increase in cost or headcount.
The role brings together four mandates:
- Business & delivery operations – own the group’s operating rhythm and ensure that commitments made to clients, partners and the Executive Team are delivered on time, to quality and within budget.
- Portfolio & strategic initiatives – run the Group PMO and lead the company’s highest-priority cross-functional initiatives, from business case through to benefits realisation.
- Operational excellence – define, measure and continuously improve productivity, efficiency and cost, using data, process redesign and automation.
- AI-first operations – make AI the default starting point for how work gets done, embedding it across processes, delivery and decision-making so the business becomes more scalable, efficient and effective.
The Head of Operations acts as a trusted adviser to the COO, CEO and Executive Team, providing a single, fact-based view of business and delivery performance and recommending where to invest, stop or redirect effort.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Business & Delivery Operations
- Own the group operating rhythm – monthly business reviews, quarterly business reviews (QBRs) and the annual planning cycle – ensuring decisions and actions are tracked through to closure
- Oversee delivery performance across business units, including client and partner launches, so that commitments are met to agreed scope, time, quality and cost
- Establish delivery governance, service standards and escalation paths, and intervene early where delivery is at risk
- Manage cross-functional dependencies between Commercial, Product, Technology, Content and Finance so the organisation operates as one delivery system
- Lead group-wide capacity and resource planning, aligning headcount, skills and recruitment forecasting to agreed priorities
Group PMO & Portfolio Management
- Lead, mentor and develop the Group PMO team, and set the frameworks, standards and tools for programme and project management across the group (Agile, hybrid or waterfall as appropriate)
- Own the group project portfolio: intake, business case review, prioritisation and resource allocation in line with the company’s strategic and commercial objectives
- Maintain group-wide governance artefacts, including the risk, assumptions, issues and dependencies (RAID) logs and the decisions and actions logs
- Provide transparent, consolidated portfolio reporting and executive dashboards covering progress, financials, risks and benefits
- Embed project closure, benefits tracking and lessons-learned practices into ways of working
Strategic Company Initiatives
- Translate company strategy and annual objectives (e.g. OKRs) into a prioritised, resourced and sequenced roadmap of company initiatives
- Lead or sponsor the delivery of the highest-priority cross-functional initiatives, such as new market entries, operating model changes, platform migrations, integrations and transformation programmes
- Define the business case, success measures and expected benefits for each initiative, and track benefits realisation after go-live
- Lead the change management and communication required for initiatives to be adopted and sustained
Operational Excellence
- Define and run the group operational excellence programme, identifying, prioritising and delivering process improvements end to end
- Map and redesign core business processes (e.g. client onboarding, service launch, partner management, revenue reconciliation and internal approvals) to remove waste, duplication and unnecessary hand-offs
- Identify and lead process automation opportunities that improve the speed, quality and scalability of operations
- Own the documentation of policies, processes and procedures (e.g. in Confluence) and ensure they are adopted, not just written
AI-First Operations & Scalability
- Champion an AI-first operating model: for every core process, assess where AI can automate, augment or remove work before adding headcount or cost
- Build and own the group AI adoption roadmap for operations, in partnership with Technology, Data and Security, prioritising use cases by business value, feasibility and risk
- Take AI use cases from pilot to production at scale, e.g. AI assistants and agents for internal workflows, automated reporting and forecasting, intelligent document processing, AI-supported client and partner operations, and AI-enabled portfolio and project management
- Define and track the business impact of every AI initiative (e.g. time saved, cost avoided, cycle-time reduction, quality, output per FTE), and stop those that do not deliver
- Drive AI literacy and adoption across teams through training, playbooks and champions, so that AI becomes part of everyday ways of working rather than a side project
- Establish responsible AI governance for operational use, covering data privacy, security, accuracy and human oversight, in line with group policies and applicable regulation
Productivity & Efficiency Measurement
- Design and own the group productivity and efficiency KPI framework (e.g. cycle time, time-to-market, throughput, delivery predictability, utilisation, revenue and cost per FTE)
- Establish baselines, agree targets with business unit and function leaders, and report performance against them to the Executive Team
- Build a single source of truth for operational data and dashboards, in partnership with Finance and Data teams
- Run regular performance reviews with function leads, identify root causes of under-performance and agree corrective actions
Cost Efficiency
- Partner with Finance to monitor operating costs, budget adherence and programme and project spend across the group
- Identify and deliver cost-optimisation opportunities (e.g. third-party and vendor spend, tooling and licence rationalisation, cloud and infrastructure costs, organisational efficiency), with savings tracked and verified with Finance
- Govern investment decisions so that initiatives are funded on the basis of clear business cases and expected return
- Oversee vendor and supplier governance for operational services, including performance against contract and renewals
Operating Model, Risk & Governance
- Contribute to the design and evolution of the group operating model, including roles, decision rights (e.g. RACI) and governance forums
- Support organisational design and workforce planning so that structures keep pace with priorities and growth
- Maintain the group operational risk register and business continuity plans, and ensure operational processes comply with internal controls and policies
Leadership & Stakeholder Management
- Build a culture of high performance, accountability and continuous improvement through effective leadership, mentoring, development and retention of top talent
- Advise the COO, CEO and Executive Team on the right course of action based on company priorities, presenting the facts clearly and concisely
- Manage communication of progress to the Executive Team and key internal and external stakeholders, escalating issues as necessary
HOW SUCCESS WILL BE MEASURED
- Strategic initiatives delivered on time and on budget, with agreed benefits realised
- Measurable improvement in agreed productivity and efficiency KPIs against baseline
- Verified cost savings and cost avoidance delivered against the annual target
- Measurable business impact from AI adoption (e.g. hours saved, cost avoided, output per FTE) and broad, sustained AI usage across teams
- Predictable, transparent executive reporting from a single source of truth
- Group-wide adoption of PMO standards and the operating rhythm
- Engagement, development and retention of the Operations and PMO team
Requirements
The ideal candidate is a hands-on, AI-first operations leader with exceptionally high ownership, strong commercial acumen and analytical rigour, who is equally comfortable in executive strategy discussions and in the detail of execution. They are relentless about delivery, data-driven in their decisions, and able to break down complex problems into clear, actionable plans in a fast-paced, international environment.
- 12+ years’ experience in operations, PMO, transformation or strategy-execution roles, including at least 5 years leading a PMO, business operations or operational excellence function
- Proven track record of delivering complex, cross-functional strategic initiatives in an international, multi-market organisation, preferably in the mobile, telco, digital media or technology sector
- Demonstrated experience defining and running productivity and efficiency KPI frameworks, with quantifiable improvements delivered
- Strong commercial and financial acumen, with a track record of delivering verified cost savings, building business cases and managing budgets, programme financials and benefits realisation
- Experience with process improvement (e.g. Lean, Six Sigma) and portfolio and project methodologies (Agile/Scrum, PRINCE2/MSP or equivalent); certifications such as PMP, PgMP or Lean Six Sigma are an advantage
- Highly analytical, with advanced Excel and dashboarding/BI skills (e.g. Power BI, Tableau) and proficiency in tools such as Jira, Confluence, MS Project and Smartsheet
- Demonstrable, hands-on experience using AI to make a business more scalable, efficient and effective, with concrete examples of AI use cases taken from pilot to production and their measured business impact
- Practical understanding of current AI capabilities and limitations (e.g. generative AI, LLM-based assistants and agents, workflow automation, predictive analytics) and of how to govern them responsibly
- Experience leading the change management needed for AI adoption, bringing teams along rather than imposing tools on them
- Excellent written and verbal communication, including executive-level reporting and board-ready presentations
- Diplomatic ability to influence without authority at all levels, build lasting relationships with internal and external stakeholders, mediate disagreements and negotiate agreeable resolutions
- Proven people leader who builds, develops and retains high-performing teams
- Solid technical understanding of cloud technologies, infrastructure, SaaS, web-based systems and microservices, sufficient to engage credibly with technology teams
- Degree in Business, Engineering or a related field; an MBA is an advantage
Benefits
Opportunity to work for a dynamic international company with a flat hierarchical structure, where your voice matters and your impact is seen.