Head of Estate Strategy

awepeople; Reading; On-site; GBP 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Onsite parking

9-day working fortnight

Job summary

AWE in Reading area is seeking a Head of Estate Strategy to lead the strategic direction for infrastructure development and estate investment. This onsite role guides investment programmes, ensures safety and compliance, and collaborates with senior leaders to align estate plans with business goals.

The successful candidate will drive governance, develop business cases, and shape future estate requirements across all sites, with a strong focus on delivery within time and budget constraints.

Qualifications

• Experience shaping estate, infrastructure or investment strategies in a complex organisation.
• Proven experience leading estate, infrastructure or investment programmes.
• Strong strategic planning and business case development skills.
• Experience managing large-scale capital investment portfolios.
• Ability to influence and challenge senior stakeholders.
• Strong commercial, financial and risk management capability.
• Experience translating future business needs into estate and infrastructure plans.
• Excellent stakeholder management and relationship-building skills.
• Track record of delivering complex programmes to time, cost and quality.

Responsibilities

• Set the strategic direction for infrastructure development and estate investment across AWE.
• Lead planning and delivery of estate investment and renewal programmes, ensuring safety, compliance, timeliness, budget and quality.
• Provide expert guidance to the Estate Strategy and Planning Director and wider Estates and Liabilities organisation.
• Support governance and decision-making on behalf of the Estate Strategy and Planning Director.
• Engage with leaders to develop and maintain AWE's Estate Strategy and future estate plans.
• Establish sponsorship across Business Units and Site/External Estates teams to drive project delivery.
• Build relationships with General Managers and Site Directors to translate needs into estate opportunities.
• Develop and implement external estate strategy including acquisition and transition of external facilities.
• Lead development and challenge of business cases for estate development across sites and external locations.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Estate strategy

Capital investment management

Stakeholder management

Business case development

Job description

Head of Estate Strategy

Location: RG7 4PR , located between Reading and Basingstoke, with free onsite parking .

Package: A competitive salary aligned with the seniority and impact of this role.

Working Pattern: AWE operates a 9-day working fortnight, with every other Friday as a non-working day. For this role, employees are required to work fully onsite. We support flexible working arrangements where possible, including part-time and varied working hours, while maintaining an onsite presence. Please let us know if you would like us to consider an alternative working pattern as part of your application.

Key responsibilities and accountabilities include:

• Setting the strategic direction for infrastructure development and estate investment across AWE, ensuring the estate continues to meet current and future business requirements.
• Leading the planning and delivery of estate investment and renewal programmes, ensuring projects are delivered safely, compliantly, on time, within budget and to the required quality standards.
• Providing expert advice and guidance to the Estate Strategy and Planning Director and wider Estates and Liabilities organisation on estate management, investment priorities, risks and opportunities.
• Supporting governance and decision-making processes on behalf of the Estate Strategy and Planning Director.
• Engaging with business leaders and stakeholders to develop and maintain AWE's Estate Strategy, defining future estate requirements and development plans across the organisation.
• Establishing and embedding an effective sponsorship capability across Business Units, Site and External Estates teams to drive successful project initiation and delivery.
• Building strong relationships with General Managers, Business Unit Directors, Site Directors and their teams to understand future capability needs and translate these into estate development opportunities.
• Developing and implementing AWE's external estate strategy, including the acquisition, fit-out, transition and operational utilisation of external facilities.
• Leading the development, review and challenge of business cases to support estate development, investment and infrastructure projects across AWE sites and external locations.
• Ensuring investment plans are supported by appropriate safety, technical and governance committees throughout their lifecycle.
• Providing expert guidance to stakeholders on the development of investment proposals and business cases.
• Identifying and evaluating internal, external and international opportunities that enhance AWE's estate capabilities and business objectives.
• Supporting the development of the Chief People Officer's People and Places Strategy, ensuring estate plans enable workforce and organisational goals.
• Championing delivery of AWE's mission, values and strategic objectives across all estate-related activities.
• Ensuring robust scrutiny and challenge is applied to resourcing, financial management, risk and capability planning within the Estate Strategy and Planning team.
• Supporting the Head of Master Planning in prioritising and balancing estate management activities, development programmes and future investment priorities.

Who are we looking for?

• We're looking for a strategic and influential leader with experience shaping estate, infrastructure or investment strategies within a complex organisation.
• Proven experience leading estate, infrastructure or investment programmes.
• Strong strategic planning and business case development skills.
• Experience managing large-scale capital investment portfolios.
• Ability to influence and challenge senior stakeholders.
• Strong commercial, financial and risk management capability.
• Experience translating future business needs into estate and infrastructure plans.
• Excellent stakeholder management and relationship-building skills.
• Track record of delivering complex programmes to time, cost and quality requirements.
• Strong