Meet Deputy School Operations Manager Helena Gittins

09 Jul 2025

We recently met with Deputy School Operations Manager (DSOM) Helena Gittins who told us more about the fast-paced, people-focused nature of her role in Earth and Environmental Sciences and how Billy the whippet helps her unwind outside of work.

Can you tell me more about your role?

As DSOM, I lead a team of seven operational staff based within the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. We support the day-to-day running of the Department's and are often, the first port of call when staff have questions.

Coordination is a key part of our work, encompassing everything from procurement and travel arrangements to office space management and building-related matters. We also oversee budgets and approval processes, ensuring everything runs smoothly behind the scenes. Given the fieldwork-intensive nature of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, a significant portion of our time is dedicated to supporting travel logistics. This is especially true during busy periods like conference season. For example, today I’ve been making sure our staff have sufficient credit card funds for upcoming trips. While we don’t often work directly with undergraduates, we do support postgraduate researchers quite a bit, helping facilitate their projects and wider research activities.

Who do you work with?

I work closely with a few key groups. Firstly, I report into the School Operations Manager on the Professional Services (PS) side, but I also work directly with the Head of Department and I am part of the Department Leadership Team. One side of my role is making sure we’re aligned with school-wide processes and operations, and the other is supporting the Department in meeting its own goals, particularly where those fall within our remit.

I also collaborate a lot with the other DSOMs across the School and Faculty. That’s become a really important network. Having started in the summer of 2019, I’d only been in post for about six months before we went into COVID lockdown. That completely changed how we worked, not just for me but for everyone. The shift to working from home, and then gradually returning, meant we had to adapt quickly. Since then, the DSOM network has become even more valuable. We meet weekly with our line manager, we have a dedicated Teams channel, and we use regular chats to share advice, make decisions, and support each other. It’s also been key in helping ensure consistency across Departments. I also work closely with colleagues from other business areas such as H&S, Technical, People, Finance, Doctoral Academy

What are your priorities at the moment?

Alongside the day-to-day operational work, a big part of my role involves contributing to various projects across the School and Faculty. One of my biggest ongoing responsibilities has been around Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs). It’s something I’ve been involved in pretty much since I started in the role. Back in 2022, we carried out a major review of how GTAs are recruited, onboarded, and paid. This was led by a task and finish group that brought together academic and Professional Services colleagues and colleagues from People. We ended up making quite a few changes to improve the process and make it more consistent across the Faculty. It’s been a significant piece of work especially because FSE has around 1,000 GTAs, which is high due to the nature of our teaching. It's something that requires a lot of time and attention, and the work is very much ongoing.

In addition to that, I get involved in various continuous improvement projects. At the moment, for example, there’s one looking at the travel process, and I’ve been involved in that as an end user. It’s great to have a voice on these kinds of committees because they give us a chance to share what’s working (or not!) from an operational perspective and help shape better ways of doing things.

What do you enjoy about your role?

I genuinely love being a people manager, it’s one of the parts of the job I enjoy the most. I get a lot of satisfaction from helping others, even when the situations are tricky. There's something rewarding about working through a challenge and getting to a resolution – hopefully more often than not!

The role is also incredibly dynamic, which really suits my personality. You can walk into work with one idea of how your day will go, and by 10am it’s completely flipped. I enjoy that fast-paced environment and the need to think on your feet, it keeps things interesting and gives me a sense of purpose. That said, I wouldn’t say I love change in general but when I’m the one trying to solve problems or improve things, I feel more in control of that change, and that makes a big difference.

What roles have you held previously?

Before joining the University, I worked in the private sector mostly in operations roles within the mortgage industry. I started out in mortgage broking, gradually working my way up to become an Operations Director for a brokerage. The principles of operations management don’t really change, regardless of the sector. Whether you're working in finance or higher education, it’s still about making things happen, managing people, solving problems, dealing with escalations and complaints, and ultimately, delivering what needs to be done.

Coming to the University was an intentional move. I wanted to work somewhere that people genuinely enjoyed being, and I targeted employers with a reputation for having a positive work culture. This has been the first role where I’ve been able to say over a significant period of time that I really love my job.

What do you like to do outside of work?

I have a dog called Billy and he is the absolute light of my life! Billy the Whippet is two years old and full of character, so he takes up a lot of my time. I’m the youngest of eight so spending time with family is a big part of my life outside of work. I also love walking and hiking, especially with Billy in tow, and I’m always up for a festival or catching up with friends when I can. Music is another big love of mine. I recently went to see Kylie Minogue with a friend, it wasn’t someone I’d have picked myself, but we had a brilliant time. My real musical heroes though are David Bowie and Nick Cave. I’ve seen Nick Cave live a few times, and I was lucky enough to see Bowie too, which was a real highlight.

Finally, if you could only eat one thing what would it be?

Without a doubt a lamb roast dinner!