Operational Compliance Team Leader

• Calling all operational & compliance professionals! Can you help us in our ambition of delivering a game changing 5-star service for our customers?
• If you have the skills, knowledge and demonstratable experience for any of the role, we would be extremely happy to receive your application.
• To be responsible for the operational delivery of ARTS’ compliance and audit activities through leadership of the Compliance Team.

About Arriva

• Do you possess the drive, ambition and experience to be come and show us how to be better than we are today?
• And are you looking for a workplace whereby you can be happy, looked after and your contributions make a real difference?
• Then we want to hear from you!
• Here at Arriva Road Transport Services, we shine brightest in our service provision, and we exist to prove alternative transport can be better than the journey it replaces.
• We are going places - literally!
• We deliver over 80,000 rail replacement journeys, facilitate 20,000 taxi journeys and supply dedicated frontline support to our customers every year.
• We have a plan to build on our success so far and have an opening in a key role in operational compliance and want someone to join us, who will drive us forward in every way possible.

Responsibilities

• Ownership of day-to-day supplier and internal audit delivery, manages the compliance administration workload, and ensures findings are followed through to closure.
• Additionally, the creation, management and ownership of business information/data that provides operational assurance that ARTS and its supplier network are meeting their contractual, regulatory and quality obligations — using modern digital and AI-assisted methods as the default.
• Audit programme delivery.
• Plan, schedule and deliver the approved ARTS audit programme — supplier audits, operational audits and compliance checks — on a risk-based cycle, to agreed timescales and to evidence-ready standards.
• Quality assurance.
• Run the QA routine over ARTS’ compliance activities and supplier outputs, ensuring audit working papers, permit records and compliance documentation are consistent, traceable and fit for external scrutiny.
• Line management of the compliance team.
• Lead two Lead Auditors, the Taxi Permit Administrator and the Compliance Administrator.
• Set objectives, manage performance, authorise leave, run 1:1s, address capability issues, and develop the team.
• Supplier assurance.
• Own the operational relationship with audited suppliers, escalating material non-conformances to the Head of Operations and Head of Safety, and ensuring corrective actions are tracked and closed.
• PSVAR and taxi/PHV compliance.
• Provide oversight of the Taxi Permit Administrator’s workload, ensuring permits, vehicle records and driver documentation are current, and PSVAR obligations are evidenced on rail replacement services.
• Findings closure and CAPA.
• Maintain the corrective and preventative action (CAPA) log, chase findings owners, verify closure evidence and escalate overdue or recurring issues.
• Reporting cadence.
• Produce and own the weekly compliance dashboard and monthly audit pack for operational leadership, highlighting trends, repeat findings and emerging supplier risk — using AI to draft narrative and Power BI to visualise.
• Audit readiness.
• Support the Head of Safety and external certification bodies during ISO 9001, 45001 and 22301 surveillance audits, presenting the compliance team’s evidence base.
• Digital and AI uplift of the compliance function.
• Identify, pilot and scale AI-assisted and rules-based improvements to audit templates, findings tracking, supplier evidence collection and MI narrative.
• Develop the digital maturity of the compliance team.
• understands Arriva Group data classification and will not expose supplier PII, TOC-sensitive information or commercial data to unapproved tools
• Comfortable interrogating data directly — Excel to intermediate level, Power Query for cleaning, Power BI (or equivalent) for dashboards
• Ability to hold suppliers and internal colleagues to account without escalating unnecessarily
• Comfortable travelling nationally for supplier audits (typically 4–8 days per month)

Requirements

• Working knowledge of ISO 9001 and ISO 45001 (lead auditor qualification preferred — see Qualifications) Strong understanding of supplier assurance and contract compliance
• Confident with findings management, CAPA tracking and evidence discipline
• Clear, concise report writing for operational leadership
• Practical, daily user of enterprise AI tools (Microsoft 365 Copilot, ChatGPT Enterprise, Claude, Gemini or equivalent) for drafting audit narrative, summarising evidence, producing first-cut findings reports and MI commentary — with the judgement to verify and edit before release

Preferred

• Essential Proven line management experience with a small compliance, audit or operational assurance team
• Demonstrable track record delivering an audit programme in a regulated industry (rail, bus, coach, logistics, aviation, utilities or similar)

Familiarity with PSVAR and DVSA-regulated operations

• Prior exposure to rail replacement, scheduled coach or taxi/PHV operations
• Experience in using a digital audit management system (e.g. iAuditor, Intelex, My Compliance, Ideagen Q-Pulse) Experience designing or scaling AI-assisted workflows in a compliance, audit or operations function
• Experience supporting a business through ISO surveillance or re-certification audits IEMA or environmental auditing awareness
• Formal training in responsible AI use, AI governance, or digital transformation
• Behavioural Competencies Delivery-focused.
• Gets things done on time, chases closure, protects the audit schedule from drift.
• Evidence-led.
• Rely on facts, documents and traceable records rather than opinion or persuasion.
• Digitally curious and AI-literate.
• Looks for opportunities to use AI and digital tooling to lift audit quality and team productivity; treats AI output as a first draft, not a final answer.
• Fair and firm as a line manager.
• Develops the team, gives clear feedback, and does not avoid difficult conversations.
• Calm under challenge.
• Comfortable holding suppliers to account in audit settings without letting disagreement become personal.
• Collaborative.
• Works across Operations, Safety and Client-facing teams without creating friction.
• Ethical and independent-minded.
• Willing to flag issues that are commercially awkward when the evidence demands it, including emerging risks around AI-assisted work.