Head of Operations

About the Role

You will assume a key strategic role on Zelra's senior leadership team, responsible for leading and managing customer project delivery, product engineering support and customer systems support through Professional Services (PS), Customer Care (CC), and Relationship Management within the Rail customer market sector across Australia and New Zealand.

You will ensure successful delivery of projects and ongoing support of solutions, maximising customer satisfaction, driving revenue growth, and contributing to the company's strategic direction. A core focus of the role is delivering value to our clients, transitioning project delivery into long-term partnerships, ensuring seamless handovers, continued engagement and client satisfaction.

You will also work closely with Sales and contribute to pre-sales and proposal development activity (e.g. requirements discovery to build SOWs) and with other Functional Leaders to co-ordinate any resource for successful project implementations or back to base (existing customer services enhancement) sales.

The most important duties of the role are:

• Contribute to the development and execution of Zelra's strategy to achieve business objectives.
• Monitor and manage the overall performance of the professional services and customer support engagements by tracking and analysing statistics and trends, providing reporting to the Senior Leadership Team.
• Manage risk within the PS and CC functions, ensuring compliance with company policies and legal guidelines.
• Build, lead and drive a team within the PS and CC department who are empowered to deliver customer focused outcomes with professionalism, commercial awareness and urgency.
• Foster the personal and professional growth of the team by setting scorecards, key performance indicators (KPIs), and Learning and Development Plans, regularly monitoring progress, and providing ongoing feedback, coaching, and guidance.
• Ensure the recruitment, retention, and development of the right talent in key roles, fostering a motivated, well-trained team to achieve business objectives.
• Establish and maintain effective links with customers, decision makers and key stakeholders to ensure that Zelra is providing services in line with customer expectations.
• Oversee customer implementations and project work (including enhancements) to guarantee on-time, on-budget and to scope delivery.
• Ensure accurate financial management of services engagements, monitor performance against forecast, agreed targets and budget, and actively drive monthly and quarterly review processes.
• Oversee the contracting process for new agreements and ensure project deliveries align with the terms of customer contracts.
• Manage stakeholder involvement in all projects through the creation of productive partnerships, proactive follow up, strong communication and issue management.
• Work with the PS and CC Team to discuss, plan, and implement continuous process improvements.
• Actively manage profitability of support contracts and their renewals and suggest and implement strategies to improve profitability and in line with performance ratio expectations of the business.
• Oversee the Jira service desk to manage customer issues and requests, ensuring SLAs are met and reported on.
• Drive revenue growth by expanding PS or CC services while supporting new product and customer sales to meet or exceed commercial targets.
• Active contribution in leading the creation of statement of work and project plans, ensuring delivery expectations are agreed during pre-sales.
• Support the sales team by provide a clear solution definition and accurate project estimation for the preparation of quotes or tenders including demonstrations, requirements definition, project planning and costing.

About You

• Proven experience leading professional services and/or customer support teams within a commercial software solution company.
• Demonstrated experience in managing customer project implementations, service delivery and customer care for enterprise-level clients.
• Strong financial and commercial acumen, with experience in budget management and revenue generation.
• Strong experience in people management skills, including demonstrated team leadership experience, motivating individuals and/or teams to excel.
• Expertise in customer engagement, account management, and internal / external relationship management.
• Ability to manage complex projects, ensuring alignment with contractual agreements and business objectives.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to make data-driven decisions.
• Excellent leadership and people management skills, with experience in developing high-performing teams.
• Ability to thrive in a multi-tasking, multi-project environment and be able to adjust priorities on-the-fly.
• Effective communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to engage customers, partners, and internal teams at all levels.
• A passionate 'can-do' mindset focused on understanding and addressing customer and internal business needs.
• Bachelor's degree in Business, Engineering, Management, Information Technology or a related discipline.
• Familiarity with project management tools (e.g., Jira, ServiceNow).
• Experience working in the passenger transport or rail industry is highly regarded but not essential.
• Project or programme management qualifications are preferred but not essential.

About Us

Zelra is a leading provider of Rail software solutions that enhance train performance through real-time driver advice. Our Driving Advice System (DAS) is installed in train cabins across the world, providing precise and dynamic guidance to help drivers operate more efficiently.

DAS delivers significant benefits to our customers, including:

• Reducing energy consumption by up to 15% per journey
• Supporting right-time running and preventing station overruns
• Minimizing wear and tear by avoiding heavy braking and acceleration
• Lowering the rail sector's carbon footprint

Zelra is part of Modaxo, the people-transport division of Constellation Software Inc. (TSX: CSU)—a global technology leader with over $8 billion USD in annual revenue. At Zelra, we value our people and foster a collaborative, inclusive, and balanced work environment where everyone can thrive.

Want to Join Us?

If you feel excited by the opportunity to join a growing network of global businesses, please apply now. We'd love to hear from you.