Operations Director

EGM Partners; Adelaide; On-site; AUD 220,000 - 320,000; Full time

Job summary

Leed, part of the Mott MacDonald Group, seeks an experienced Operations Director to guide its growth after the JN Bentley acquisition. Initially focus on understanding Leed’s people, culture, projects and clients, with increasing responsibility for operational performance.

Reporting to the Managing Director and working with the leadership team, this is a lifecycle succession opportunity to shape Leed’s future and scale its business in civil infrastructure.

Qualifications

• Project delivery in a self-perform contracting environment (water, renewables, civil infrastructure).
• Proven project leadership with focus on safety, commercial and operational delivery.
• Experience leading geographically dispersed teams across multiple projects/regions.
• Strong commercial acumen; understands contract and delivery risk.
• Proven ability to build relationships with clients, partners and markets.
• Strategic thinker who links operations to growth and long-term value.

Responsibilities

• Own operational performance and leadership of the business.
• Develop understanding of Leed — people, culture, projects, clients.
• Work with the Managing Director and leadership team.
• Support succession planning for the Managing Director role.
• Shape how Leed scales and pursues growth in its civil infrastructure portfolio.

Skills

Project delivery

Infrastructure domains

Team leadership

Commercial acumen

Client relationships

Strategic thinking

Job description

The Opportunity

Leed is entering an exciting new chapter.

Following its recent acquisition by JN Bentley, part of the broader Mott MacDonald Group business, Leed is looking for an experienced executive leader to support its next phase of growth. This is a key leadership appointment and an important part of Leed’s succession planning for the Managing Director role.

Initially, the Operations Director will focus on developing a deep understanding of Leed - its people, culture, projects, clients and the way it operates, working closely with the Managing Director and broader leadership team. Over time, the role will take on increasing responsibility for operational performance and leadership of the business.

This is not an immediate change to the Managing Director position. It is about planning ahead: bringing the right person into Leed early, allowing them to understand what makes the business successful, build strong relationships across the organisation and market, and enable a considered transition when the time is right.

There is also a significant growth agenda ahead. Leed’s new ownership provides access to broader capability, expertise and market opportunities, while Leed brings a strong reputation, established client relationships, significant self-perform capability and a proven track record in complex civil infrastructure.

The Operations Director will play a central role in bringing those strengths together and shaping what comes next.

What You’ll Bring

• Genuine project delivery experience within a self-perform contracting environment, with a strong background in water, renewables and complex civil infrastructure. We are looking for hands-on delivery experience rather than adjacent or advisory exposure.
• A demonstrated ability to lead projects, with a clear understanding of the safety, commercial and operational realities of delivering complex work.
• Experience leading geographically dispersed teams across multiple projects and regions.
• Strong commercial acumen – you understand contract and delivery risk, and how operational decisions flow through to business performance.
• A track record of building credible relationships with clients, partners and the broader market, together with a genuine interest in business development and creating opportunities for growth.
• The ability to take a whole-of-business perspective, connecting operational delivery with broader strategic priorities and future growth.

The Leader We're Looking For

Beyond technical and commercial capability, we are looking for a particular kind of leader:

• Energy and new ideas – someone who brings fresh thinking, sees opportunity and is prepared to challenge the status quo.
• Transformational change capability – a leader who can evolve how the business operates as it scales, while recognising and protecting what has made Leed successful.
• Industry credibility and influence – someone already known and respected in the market, who lends weight and trust to the business simply by being associated with it
• A true people leader – practical and grounded, with the ability to connect with people at all levels, inspire confidence and give others the trust and space to step up and lead.
• Ambition for the business, not just the role – someone motivated by the opportunity to help shape and ultimately lead Leed’s future.

Why This Role

Leed is already a strong business, with an established reputation and a talented team. What is changing is the scale of the opportunity ahead - this is an exciting period in the company's evolution.

This is a rare opportunity to join Leed at an important point in its growth: to learn the business from the people who built it, influence how it scales, develop the next generation of leaders and progressively take on greater responsibility for its future.

This is not simply an Operations Director role. It is an opportunity, as part of succession planning, to ultimately lead the business.