Head of Estates Operations South (Hard FM)

Innovate UK; East Hagbourne; On-site; GBP 81,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading research organization in the UK is seeking an Estates professional to oversee maintenance and minor works. This pivotal role involves leading teams to ensure safety, compliance, and high performance in a complex environment. Ideal candidates will possess strong leadership, strategic planning skills, and a commitment to sustainability. The organization offers a competitive salary with numerous benefits including generous annual leave and flexible working hours.

Benefits

30 days annual leave

Flexible working hours

Employee pension scheme

Subsidised restaurant

Qualifications

• Proven leadership experience in estates or facilities management.
• Strong track record of service delivery in complex environments.
• Experience in strategic planning and procurement.

Responsibilities

• Lead maintenance and minor works across the South portfolio.
• Ensure safety, compliance, and resilience of the estate.
• Develop and present performance reports and business cases.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic planning

Health and safety compliance

Performance management

Stakeholder engagement

Job description

Science and Technology Facilities Council Salary: £81,457 £89,601 per annum | Open Ended | Full Time | Closing Date: 4th January 2026 Location: Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Harwell, Oxfordshire OX11 0QX

Together, our scientists, technologists, engineers and business support team explore the unknown and turn what they find into work that changes the world around us. Whether its sending probes into space or finding new ways to treat cancer, everyone here plays a vital role in making a positive difference to society.

Come and discover how much you can achieve when youre surrounded by world-leading experts, encouraged to constantly learn and empowered to explore your curiosity.

STFC is seeking a strategic, delivery-focused Estates professional to lead maintenance and minor works across the South portfolio at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. This is a pivotal leadership role in a science-critical environment, ensuring the estate remains safe, compliant, resilient and ready to support world-class research.

You will provide clear direction to in-house maintenance and minor works teams, while setting and leading the resourcing strategy across employed capability and the procured supply chain. Youll drive performance across both models, ensuring innovative, value-engineered and cost-effective services, with health and safety, compliance and environmental sustainability embedded in everything you do.

Working as a senior member of the Estates Leadership Team, you will collaborate closely with the Head of Estates North to align maintenance strategy and performance nationally, enabling a consistent STFC-wide approach. A key part of the role is preparing and presenting performance reporting and business cases at executive level, providing assurance on delivery and highlighting emerging risks and opportunities.

What Youll Do

• Lead safe, compliant delivery of maintenance and small works programmes, ensuring high-performing day-to-day operations.
• Set and deliver a resourcing and procurement strategy aligned to public sector regulations, optimising in-house capability and supply chain performance.
• Act as Principal Accountable Person, owning statutory compliance assurance and the Estates Health and Safety Management System.
• Embed environmental sustainability and whole-life cost/carbon thinking into operational delivery and investment decisions.
• Use performance intelligence to inform short-, medium- and long-term planning and continuous improvement.
• Build trusted, productive relationships with scientific customers, senior stakeholders and suppliers.
• Produce executive-level reporting, performance insights and business cases to support strategic decisions.
• Champion inclusive leadership, organisational values and service transformation across hard FM services.

About You

Youll be an experienced Estates/FM leader with a strong track record of delivering services through mixed delivery models. Youll be confident leading people, contracts and performance in complex environments, and comfortable advising at senior and executive levels. You bring a whole-life mindset to assets and sustainability, and youre motivated by enabling science through excellent services.

Working with the Head of Estates North, youll align performance nationally and present assurance, risks and opportunities at executive level.

If youre an Estates/FM leader who combines operational grip with strategic thinking, strong stakeholder skills and a commitment to safety and sustainability, wed love to hear from you. Please provide a CV and covering letter detailing your suitability for the role. Applications without a covering letter will not be considered.

STFC values their employees by offering a benefits package designed to provide an excellent work/life balance including 30 days annual leave, 10.5 public and privilege holidays, flexible working hours, a workplace nursery, exceptional average salary pension scheme, social and sporting activities and societies and a subsidised restaurant.

As one of Europes largest research organisations, this is a place where theres always something new to learn about the world around us, about your career, but most of all, about yourself. Join us and discover whats possible.

Please note:if you will require sponsorship to work in the UK, as part of your sponsorship application, you (and any dependants travelling with you) will be required to pay costs directly to the UK Home Office for the application before you start your role with us. UKRI is normally able to reimburse some, or all of these fees after you have become an employee, and this can be discussed with the Hiring Manager. For more information, please visithttps://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa/how-much-it-costsor contact.

This role requires an additional National Security Vetting check, which requires all applicants to have been resident in the UK for at least the last 5 years. Please note: this applies even if you currently have the right to work in the UK. Any candidate who has not been continually resident in the UK for the last 5 years is ineligible for this role (regardless of their right to work or visa status).