Head of Workforce Management

Intro

The Head of Workforce Management is a senior leadership role with end‑to‑end accountability for people, skills, and resource scheduling for Playout, setting the strategic direction and governance that keep the operation healthy, compliant, and ready for live delivery. The role provides a single, trusted view of demand, capacity, skills, and sign‑off, converting this into fair, predictable rosters that protect breaks, manage fatigue risk, and ensure colleagues are shift‑ready.

As the strategic owner of Playout’s workforce system, the role defines how competency frameworks, assessment, and scheduling translate operational demand into dependable live performance. Leading the Workforce Planning Manager and working closely with Team Managers and Live Event Controllers, the role establishes clear, repeatable people and rostering standards that hold up under live pressure—ensuring coverage, relief, handover, and escalation are explicit, usable, and trusted.

The role owns the evolution of the resourcing model, including freelancer strategy, roster rules, booking systems, and cost‑efficient coverage of variable demand. As the accountable authority for readiness, it sets the evidence‑based bar for competency and sign‑off, sequencing training, assessment, and rostering so change lands safely and at pace. Working in close partnership with Playout Operations, Capability Management, and Operational Insight, the role aligns skills supply to workflow design, embeds learning from performance signals, and delivers a workforce system that is resilient today and scalable for the future.

What you’ll Do

• Leads 4 direct reports - 3 Team Managers and the Workforce Planning Manager, and, through Team Managers, the training, coaching and performance management of all Live Event Controllers
• Leads pastoral care with regular 1:1s, visible leadership, fair scheduling, protected breaks and timely wellbeing/return-to-work support
• Runs people engagement (floor walks, Q&As, pulse surveys); turns feedback into clear actions and closes the loop
• Owns a skilling and multi-skilling roadmap with curricula, training pathways and assessment cadence that broaden and enhance skills without compromising cognitive load
• Maintains competency matrices and team sign-off coverage – ensuring a suitably skilled workforce
• Owns the single view of demand, capacity and skills – with accountability for forecast accuracy, maintaining schedule stability/adherence, time-to-backfill and annual-leave certainty
• Builds and governs rotas for reliable coverage, equitable patterns and clear backfill/escalation rules
• Optimises labour mix, overtime and contractor usage to meet quality and cost targets with transparent KPIs and controls
• Liaises with Sky’s content teams to capture demand, converting it into staffing, skills and licensing plans
• Partners with the Head of Playout Operations to clarify skill expectations for Live Event Controllers and align on training/capability sign-off
• Plans and schedules training, assessment and licensing
• Directs and performance-manages the Workforce Planning Manager for on-time roster publication and resource efficiency
• Owns the problem statement and business requirements for demand capture, resource allocation and booking systems/workflows; collaborates with other departments to specify requirements and ensure engagement in testing and selection

Leadership & Ways of Working

• Provides clear, evidence-based workforce truth; communicates with simplicity and consistency
• Sets expectations, objectives and rhythms for Team Managers and the Workforce Planning Manager
• Acts on operational feedback about people performance and behaviours with timely coaching and proportionate, policy-aligned action
• Models inclusive, values-led leadership; maintains psychological safety and normalises learning
• Collaborates with Playout Operations, Playout Capability Management, Operational Insight, Technology, HR/ER and internal customers while maintaining planning independence
• Builds talent pipelines for Team Managers, Senior Live Event Controllers and Live Event Controllers; supporting career development and succession planning

What You’ll Bring

• Significant management experience in a high-reliability broadcast or media environment, including leading operational teams
• Proven people-leadership record including pastoral care, engagement and performance management
• Deep experience in workforce planning and scheduling, including rota design
• Strong analytical skills in demand and capacity forecasting, labour mix optimisation and cost control with clear KPIs and narratives
• Experience implementing workforce planning tooling and governance with measured improvements in schedule stability and adherence
• Ability to influence senior stakeholders and facilitate challenging conversations with clarity and empathy

Team Overview

Content Technology and Innovation 

Our Content Technology and Innovation team delivers high-quality content to homes, customer devices, businesses and commercial partners across our European markets. With over 2500 colleagues from around the world, we combine our strategic insights, engineering know-how and operational excellence to use the most innovative technologies to create and distribute our award-winning content. 

The rewards

There's one thing people can't stop talking about when it comes to #LifeAtSky: the perks. Here’s a taster:

• Sky Q, for the TV you love all in one place
• The magic of Sky Glass at an exclusive rate
• A generous pension package
• Private healthcare
• Discounted mobile and broadband
• A wide range of Sky VIP rewards and experiences

Inclusion & how you'll work

We are a Disability Confident Employer, and welcome and encourage applications from all candidates. We will look to ensure a fair and consistent experience for all, and will make reasonable adjustments to support you where appropriate. Please flag any adjustments you need to your recruiter as early as you can.

We’ve embraced hybrid working and split our time between unique office spaces and the convenience of working from home. You’ll find out more about what hybrid working looks like for your role later on in the recruitment process.

Your office space

Osterley

Our Osterley Campus is a 10-minute walk from Syon Lane train station. Or you can hop on one of our free shuttle buses that run to and from Osterley, Gunnersbury, Ealing Broadway and South Ealing tube stations. There are also plenty of bike shelters and showers.

On campus, you’ll find 13 subsidised restaurants, cafes, and a Waitrose. You can keep in shape at our subsidised gym, catch the latest shows and movies at our cinema, get your car washed, and even get pampered at our beauty salon.

We'd love to hear from you 

Inventive, forward-thinking minds come together to work in Tech, Product and Data at Sky. It’s a place where you can explore what if, how far, and what next. 

But better doesn’t stop at what we do, it’s how we do it, too. We embrace each other’s differences. We support our community and contribute to a sustainable future for our business and the planet.

If you believe in better, we’ll back you all the way.

Just so you know: if your application is successful, we’ll ask you to complete a criminal record check. And depending on the role you have applied for and the nature of any convictions you may have, we might have to withdraw the offer.