Assistant Manager

Role Summary: The Construction Licensing Authority (CLA) is being established by SOLAS to support the implementation of the Construction Safety Licensing Bill. When enacted, the Construction Safety Licensing Bill will provide a new and comprehensive framework for the licensing of construction, quarrying and related activities in Ireland. SOLAS are now seeking to recruit an Assistant Manager to lead national licensing operations.

In this key leadership role, you will manage the end-to-end licensing process, from application assessment and fit-and-proper checks to maintaining the public register and ensuring procedural fairness in regulatory decisions. You will drive service excellence, consistency, and digital transformation, helping shape a modern, data-driven regulatory authority.

Key Tasks and Responsibilities:

Licensing Operations

• Design, implement, and continuously improve licensing and registration processes (new, renewal, suspension, revocation).
• Oversee fit-and-proper checks, competency and continuous professional development verification, and criteria interpretation.
• Maintain a public register that is accurate, searchable, and compliant with General Data Protection Regulation requirements.
• Manage service levels, workload planning, and quality assurance across teams.

Regulatory Determinations and Casework

• Ensure procedural fairness and clear audit trails in decisions and recommendations.
• Prepare or supervise case files for the Regulatory Decisions Committee and handle reconsiderations and appeals.
• Implement sanctions guidance consistently and liaise with Legal on complex or litigated matters.

Policy, Standards and Stakeholder Interface

• Provide operational input to licensing standards, codes, and continuous professional development frameworks.
• Coordinate with Policy and Standards teams on consultations and sector engagement, including industry bodies, unions, and training providers.
• Communicate clearly with applicants and the public, and oversee customer service and complaints resolution.

Digital, Data and Continuous Improvement

• Partner with Digital and Data teams to optimise the online licensing portal and case management system.
• Define data quality measures, dashboards, and risk indicators to inform inspection targeting.
• Implement continuous improvement approaches to reduce processing time and error rates.

Risk and Change Management

• Maintain programme risk, issue, dependency, and change registers, and implement mitigation and contingency plans.
• Lead post-implementation reviews and capture lessons learned for continuous improvement.

Operational and Financial Management

• Develop and manage budgets for training programmes.
• Produce written reports and status updates for internal and external stakeholders.
• Respond to Parliamentary Questions relating to the role.
• Represent SOLAS on committees and groups as appropriate.
• Carry out other duties appropriate to this role as may be assigned.

Requirements

Essential:

• National Framework of Qualifications level 7 degree in a relevant field, or a significant level of equivalent work experience.
• Three or more years of management experience in a regulated environment, such as licensing, compliance, casework, investigations, or regulatory operations, ideally including team leadership.
• Proven experience implementing risk-based processes, quality assurance, and service performance management.
• Demonstrable experience working with digital case management or customer relationship management systems and data reporting.
• Evidence of excellent communication, leadership, and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Track record of working effectively with a broad base of project stakeholders.

Desirable:

• Evidence of commitment to continuous learning and professional growth, including pursuing qualifications in relevant areas.
• Data and records management experience.
• Some knowledge of key SOLAS systems.