Are you ready to play a key role in supporting how our residents and visitors move across Greater Manchester? We’re looking for a dynamic Ticketing Operations Lead to take the reins of our dynamic payment systems and ensure seamless, secure, and smart travel experiences across the Bee Network.

Your Role

As the Ticketing Operations Lead, you’ll be at the heart of our customer-facing digital and physical ticketing systemsfrom contactless EMV payments and mobile apps to smartcards and real-time vehicle tracking. You’ll lead a team, drive operational excellence and work closely with cross functional teams including IS, Customer Experience and Operations to deliver a world-class ticketing experience.

What You'll Do

  • Ensure the customer comes first!
  • Lead incident and problem management across all ticketing platforms
  • Monitor system health and performance, ensuring uptime and reliability
  • Present strategic insights and performance dashboards to senior leadership
  • Manage vendor relationships and compliance including SLA’s
  • Coordinate cross-functional teams and external partners
  • Drive fraud prevention, revenue protection and continuous improvement
  • Ensure compliance with PCI DSS, GDPR policies and standards including transport regulations

What You’ll Lead

  • A dedicated team including Operations Manager, Incident Manager, Field Equipment Officers, and Analysts
  • Annual operations budget and strategic planning
  • Relationships Service Providers, Visa, Mastercard, Merchant Acquirers, and platform providers

For more info see Job Profile below

Please note: We operate a hybrid working policy and there is a requirement to work a minimum of 2 days a week from the office base.

Who are we?

This role sits in the Ticketing Team at TfGM in the Customer & Growth Directorate. We are a diverse, multi-disciplined team driving forward significant change. You will work with a range of colleagues at all levels across TfGM and will report into the Head of Ticketing.

What you’ll bring

What you do and how you do it is important whatever type of role you work in at TfGM and even small behaviours and actions can have a really big impact. At TfGM, our behaviours bring to life our values of Deliver, Care and Adapt.

  • A proven leader of high-availability, customer-facing retail, payment and information systems
  • Experienced in managing complex integrated technology solutions provided by internal and external providers
  • ITIL certified (or equivalent experience) and Service Desk experience
  • A clear communicator and collaborator with a customer focussed approach
  • Proactive, resilient and passionate about integrated transport and digital innovation
  • Experience in public transport or regulated payment industries
  • Proven experience of mentoring and developing high-performing teams
  • A strategic mindset with a hands-on approach

What we can offer you

We are offering the opportunity to work in a forward thinking, fast paced product team and to be part of leading the future of integrated transport ticketing in Greater Manchester.

This is a permanent role and comes with a salary of £70,906 - £79,805 per annum depending on experience.

At TfGM we encourage candidates to discuss flexible working options at any stage of the recruitment process. We are happy to #talkflexibleworking to help colleagues maintain a healthy work life balance.

Our benefits include:

  • Generous annual leave starting at 28 days (plus bank holidays), increasing with service, with options to buy more.
  • Free travel on buses across Greater Manchester, plus rail or Metrolink travel to and from work.
  • Local Government defined pension scheme with life cover of 3x salary and options to boost your contributions.
  • Enhanced family-friendly leave policies, including those supporting fertility treatment, alongside flexible and hybrid working and a special leave policy to support a range of unexpected events. Please note that qualification criteria may apply, including a requirement to have been employed with the organisation for a minimum specified period of time.
  • Discover more benefits including wellbeing support, Personal and Career Development, Flexible working, financial support and more on our website

What's next?

Ready to lead the future of ticketing operations?

If you believe you have the skills and experience required, we’d really like to hear from you. Apply now and help us deliver smarter, safer, and more connected journeys for everyone. When completing your application, please ensure that you provide clear examples against the criteria questions, all appointments will be based on merit.

We embrace AI to enhance our operations and to innovate our services. However, we value human talent and are looking for passionate individuals to join our organisation. Please ensure you personally complete your application and read all the instructions carefully to maximise your chances of success.

Applications that rely too heavily on AI may be rejected during shortlisting, however we understand that AI may be used as a reasonable adjustment, if using AI to support your application, please give a brief explanation why to help ensure fair selection process.

If you have completed the GM Elevate (Leadership Development) Programme, please indicate this within the ‘About You’ or ‘Supporting Statement’ section of your application.

TfGM is proud to be an equal opportunities employer that encourages and celebrates diversity. We want to recruit and retain a workforce that reflects the communities we serve and welcome individuals from all backgrounds by committing to providing a fully inclusive and accessible recruitment process. We will offer support and reasonable adjustments if required and we also have a Guaranteed Assessment Scheme which you can find out more information on here.

For this opportunity, you must be able to prove you have the right to work in the UK - if in doubt please visit the following link Employers' right to work checklist - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Please note we are not a licensed sponsor.

Please note we may close the advert early if we receive a high volume of applications.

NOTE TO AGENCIES we will be accepting direct applications only for this role. No fee will be paid if a candidate is hired for this position as a result of an unsolicited agency or search firm referral CV.


Supporting Documents

Ticketing Operations Lead JD

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Location

2 Piccadilly Place, , Manchester, M1 3BG, United Kingdom

Job ID

1133

Supporting You Through Every Step of Your Journey

We want every candidate to feel welcomed, informed and confident when applying for a role with us.

This section brings together everything you need to succeed - from guidance on writing an authentic application to and understanding how to use AI responsibly.

You’ll also find information about our Greater Manchester commitments, including our inclusive employment schemes and standards, as well as tools to help you explore your potential pay, benefits and entitlements. We’re here to ensure you have the support you need at every stage.

Working for a local authority in Greater Manchester

Local authorities across Greater Manchester are proud to be part of a shared commitment to widening access to employment and ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

These commitments span a number of long‑standing schemes and initiatives designed to open doors, remove barriers and ensure all applicants feel valued and respected throughout their employment journey.

Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter

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Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter

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Our Guaranteed Assessment Scheme

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Our Guaranteed Assessment Scheme

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Greater Manchester Continuous Service Commitment

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Greater Manchester Continuous Service Commitment

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Your Pay, Your Benefits, Your Future

Explore easy‑to‑use tools that help you understand your take‑home pay and how different employment situations may affect the financial support available to you and your household.

  1. Calculate Your Take‑Home Pay

    Use this salary calculator to estimate your net pay after tax, National Insurance, and pension contributions.

    Estimate your Income Tax for the current year (Gov.uk)

  2. Check Your Benefits Entitlement

    See how changes in employment, hours or salary may affect your benefits and household income.

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Applying Authentically With AI: Our Greater Manchester Approach

Across Greater Manchester’s local authorities, we want to hear your genuine experiences, skills and motivations, expressed in your own words.

To keep our recruitment process fair and inclusive, please complete your application personally and follow the instructions carefully. AI can be used to support you - for example, to help structure your answers or as a reasonable adjustment - but your application should still reflect your authentic voice. If you do use AI as a support tool, a brief explanation helps us ensure an equitable selection process.

Applications that depend too heavily on AI‑generated content may not progress to shortlisting.

This guidance outlines acceptable and unacceptable uses of AI, along with suggestions for using it in a way that supports you while keeping your application true to you.

  1. What Is AI and How Do We Use It Across Greater Manchester?

    AI refers to technology that can create or refine content, such as text, ideas, summaries, or planning. It can help improve productivity, problem-solving, and creativity.

    We’re open to using innovative digital tools where they can help us work smarter and deliver better services for our residents. However, every use of AI is carefully considered to make sure it is ethical, responsible, and aligned with public-sector values.

    When it comes to recruitment, we take a human-centred approach.

    This means:

    • A trained hiring manager reads every application

    • Shortlisting is based on objective criteria required for the job

    • Interviews are conducted in person or via teams by the hiring manager for the role

    • All hiring decisions are made by hiring managers, not algorithms

    AI does not make decisions in our recruitment process and our managers are being upskilled to spot AI in applications, particularly when this might have been used in a way that doesn’t feel genuine. If something in an application raises a question or concern, we will test this out with assessments or at the interview stage to confirm authenticity.

    Our aim isn’t to catch anyone out but to make sure we’re getting to know the real you, giving every candidate a fair chance and finding the right person for the role.

  2. Using AI in Your Application

    When it comes to job applications, what matters most to us is you. We want to see your personality, your experience, and what excites you about joining our team. 

    We recognise that AI can be a helpful tool to support accessibility during the application process. If you choose to use AI for support, please read the instructions carefully and make sure your application is written in your own words, reflecting your genuine skills, knowledge, experience and enthusiasm.

    We’re looking forward to hearing your story.

  3. How to use AI Effectively and Responsibly

    Your application is your chance to show us:

    • Who you are

    • What you can bring

    • The values you hold

    • Why you want to make a difference

    AI can help you organise your thoughts or improve clarity but it cannot express your unique voice, experiences, or motivations.

    AI is most helpful when used to:

    • Help you structure the information you are providing to evidence the criteria

    • Give examples of how to use STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result)

    • Proof-read to highlight grammar or spelling errors

    • Provide inspiration if you're finding it difficult to find the right words to explain something

    But remember: your honesty, lived experience, and motivations are irreplaceable.

  4. Do’s and Don’ts for Using AI in the Recruitment Process

    Do:

    • Use AI as a supportive tool, not a replacement

    • Ask AI to help tidy up your writing or clarify structure

    • Use it to brainstorm examples, then rewrite them in your own voice

    • Reflect on AI suggestions and adapt them to match your experience

    • Use AI to help with research, but express your understanding yourself

    Don’t:

    • Copy and paste AI-generated content directly into your application

    • Let AI exaggerate or invent experience you do not have

    • Rely on generic statements that don’t reflect the specific role requirements

    • Remove your individuality, we want to hear your voice