Managed Service Provider (MSP) Manager

Job Title: Managed Service Provider (MSP) Manager

Division: Partnerships Team / MSP Division

Reporting to: Partnerships Director

The MSP Manager will play a key role in the launch, mobilisation and ongoing delivery of Tradewind Recruitment's new Managed Service Provider product. This is a broad role combining service delivery, implementation management and supplier relationship management, supporting customers, internal teams and approved supply chain partners to deliver a responsive, compliant and high-quality service.

As the MSP division grows, the role has the potential to evolve and split into more specialist remits. For the right candidate, there is an opportunity to lead and develop an MSP team as the product scales.

• Manage day-to-day operational delivery across bookings, fulfilment, customer queries, issue resolution and service quality.
• Act as a key point of contact for customer users, internal delivery teams and approved suppliers in relation to live staffing requirements.
• Monitor urgent bookings, unfilled roles, cancellations, no-shows, replacement cover and hard-to-fill vacancies.
• Ensure operational teams follow agreed workflows for booking intake, candidate matching, approvals, safeguarding checks, rate control and timesheet management.
• Track response times, booking accuracy, service standards and customer communications, escalating service risks where required.
• Identify recurring issues, process gaps and training needs, recommending practical improvements to strengthen the MSP operating model.

• Lead mobilisation activity for new customers joining the MSP service, from award or confirmation through to steady-state delivery.
• Create and manage mobilisation plans, including discovery activity, stakeholder mapping, implementation milestones, dependencies, communications, training and go-live readiness.
• Run discovery sessions with customer stakeholders to understand current agency usage, booking processes, approval routes, compliance requirements and service challenges.
• Coordinate data collection, supplier transition, user access, system configuration and training activity ahead of go-live.
• Maintain implementation risk registers and dependency logs, escalating blockers and agreeing mitigation actions.
• Lead post-implementation reviews, capture lessons learned and support the formal handover into ongoing service delivery governance.

• Manage relationships with approved supply chain partners supporting the MSP model.
• Support supplier selection, onboarding, segmentation, performance monitoring, corrective action and exit management where required.
• Ensure suppliers understand customer requirements, service levels, rate cards, safeguarding standards, booking processes, reporting expectations and escalation routes.
• Monitor supplier performance across fulfilment, speed of response, candidate quality, compliance accuracy, customer feedback, pricing adherence and service reliability.
• Chair or support supplier performance reviews, agreeing clear improvement actions where performance falls below expectations.
• Manage supplier queries, disputes, service failures, compliance concerns and invoicing issues, escalating material risks as appropriate.

• Work collaboratively with Managing Directors, Regional Directors, Branch Managers, Sales Teams and central support functions to ensure the MSP service is delivered consistently.
• Provide clear updates on implementation progress, service risks, supplier performance and operational priorities.
• Support the development of processes, templates, reporting rhythms and governance arrangements for the new MSP division.
• Contribute to continuous improvement activity as the product develops and customer requirements evolve.

• Experience working within an MSP, managed service, master vendor, recruitment outsourcing or supplier-led recruitment environment.
• Experience across one or more of service delivery, implementation, mobilisation, account operations or supplier management.
• Understanding of operational recruitment processes, including bookings, fulfilment, compliance, customer service and supplier engagement.
• Experience in education recruitment, education supply models or public sector frameworks would be advantageous but is not essential.
• Ability to work effectively in a developing division where processes, systems and ways of working are still being shaped.

• Strong operational delivery and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills.
• Commercially aware, organised and process-driven.
• Confident managing competing priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Able to build credibility with customers, suppliers and internal teams.
• Comfortable working with data, reporting, performance measures and service improvement plans.
• Resilient, adaptable and motivated by the opportunity to help build and scale a new product.

This role is being created at an exciting time for Tradewind Recruitment as the business launches and develops its MSP product. As the division grows, there is potential for the responsibilities to split into dedicated specialist roles. For the right candidate, this creates a clear opportunity to progress into leading an MSP team and shaping the future operating model.