Chief Operating Officer

St Joseph Catholic Multi Academy Trust, Liverpool, L3 1BY

16 days remaining to apply

• Start date details

  To be agreed with the successful candidate

• Closing date

  17 July 2026 at 9am

• Date listed

  1 July 2026

Job details

• Job role:
  • Other leadership roles
  • Administration, HR, data and finance
  • Catering, cleaning and site management
  • IT support
  • Other support roles
• Visa sponsorship: Visas cannot be sponsored
• Working pattern: Full time: Monday to Friday, 37 hours per week
• Contract type: Permanent
• Full-time equivalent salary: £108,202 to £134,860 per annum
• Pay scale: EPR 13-22

What skills and experience we're looking for

Proven experience in a senior operational leadership role (e.g. COO, Director of Operations or equivalent)

Strong track record of leading organisational growth, transformation or scale-up in complex, multi-site environments

Ability to develop and implement strategic operational models that support long-term expansion

Demonstrated success in driving operational excellence and embedding efficient systems and processes

Experience of working closely with finance leaders to ensure alignment between financial planning and operational delivery

Strong commercial awareness and organisational acumen, with the ability to translate strategy into effective delivery

Experience leading diverse operational functions (e.g. estates, HR, IT, governance, compliance and risk)

Ability to build, lead and develop high-performing teams across central services

Excellent interpersonal and leadership skills, with the ability to influence at senior level

Commitment to the values, ethos and mission of Catholic education

What the school offers its staff

Opportunity to play a key strategic role in a high-growth, mission-driven multi-academy trust

Chance to shape and influence the future of a trust with ambitious expansion plans (towards 66 schools)

A collaborative senior leadership environment, working closely with CEO and executive team

A strong organisational mission focused on delivering a world-class Catholic education

Opportunity to lead and develop central services and operational strategy at scale

Competitive leadership salary (EPR 13–22 range) based on experience and track record

Supportive organisational culture with a clear focus on excellence, values and continuous improvement

Opportunity to influence estates, infrastructure and systems development across multiple academies

Professional growth through leading large-scale organisational design and transformation

Commitment to safeguarding, staff responsibility and a culture of accountability and care

Further information about the job

The candidate will be required to undergo a full enhanced DBS check and must be eligible to work in the UK.

Visas cannot be sponsored.

If you're interested in teaching or training to teach in England as an international citizen, we can help you understand your next steps.

Commitment to safeguarding

St Joseph Catholic Multi Academy Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expect all staff to share this commitment. Successful applicants will be required to undergo an enhanced disclosure and barring service check. In addition, as part of the shortlisting process, and in accordance with statutory guidance, we will carry out an online search (for publicly available material) to help identify any incidents or issues that have happened which we may want to explore with shortlisted applicants at interview.

Applying for the job

Apply for the job by following the link below.

CVs will not be accepted for this application.

About St Joseph Catholic Multi Academy Trust

• Type: Multi-academy trust
• Website: St Joseph Catholic Multi Academy Trust website
• Email address: dion.mills@edwinpeople.com
• Phone number: 07860 966 343
• See more jobs: teaching-vacancies.service.gov.uk/organisations/st-joseph-catholic-multi-academy-trust

St Joseph Catholic Multi Academy Trust is a based in the Liverpool City Region with five primary and four secondary academies. As a united family of academies, we are fully aligned around our central mission to transform children’s lives by providing them with a world-class Catholic education.

The Trust guarantees an excellent Catholic education to all families. Our children are entitled to access an ambitious curriculum and excellent teaching, which allow them to achieve and exceed national expectations regardless of their starting points.

Everyone involved in St Joseph CMAT is highly committed to the pursuit of high achievement. We aim for all of our academies to be at least ‘Good’ with performance in the top 20% of schools nationally in all measures, particularly in Religious Education. Our robust educational strategy, which is informed by the highest-performing Trusts in the country, is designed to ensure that all children learn to read confidently and achieve well across the curriculum so that they can go on to use their God-given gifts to make the world a better place.

St Joseph Catholic Multi Academy Trust has sponsor status. We are able to provide intensive support to schools who find themselves in a vulnerable position and onboard ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ schools who choose to join as converter academies. For all academies in the Trust, there is a guarantee of high-quality professional development for all colleagues.

As part of its Multi Academy Trust strategy, the Archdiocese of Liverpool has identified a group of primary schools that are invited to join St Joseph CMAT over the coming years. This is an exciting opportunity to bring together primary and secondary schools. By working as a family of academies, we will ensure that every child benefits from an excellent Catholic education from the moment they start primary school to when they leave Sixth Form.

Arranging a visit to St Joseph Catholic Multi Academy Trust

To arrange a visit and increase the chance of a successful application email dion.mills@edwinpeople.com.

Head office location

Get a job alert when similar jobs are listed

Find more school jobs in Liverpool