Head of Facilities and Engineering

GlaxoSmithKline; Stevenage; On-site; GBP 100,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading biopharmaceutical company in the UK is seeking a Head of Facilities & Engineering to oversee strategic leadership for facility operations in Stevenage. The candidate will manage engineering and safety operations across Europe, focusing on compliance and infrastructure service delivery. Responsibilities include prioritizing capital projects and enhancing organizational capability. Candidates should have over 10 years of experience in operations leadership with a relevant degree. This position reports to senior management and requires effective stakeholder collaboration.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in Operations or Engineering leadership role in a regulated environment.
• Experience leading direct reports and large matrix teams.
• Experience delivering and managing large Capital Projects.

Responsibilities

• Provide a single point of accountability for engineering services.
• Manage local delivery of all facilities and services.
• Build regional organizational capability for project execution.

Skills

Engineering leadership

Project management

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Science or Engineering discipline

Job description

Head of Facilities & Engineering – UK

The posting period will end on the 26th of January in 2026

Job Purpose

The Head of Facilities and Engineering provides strategic leadership for facility operations at our UK R&D Hub (Stevenage, Addenbrookes, Harlow). In this role you will also act as the regional engineering and safety operations lead for the Europe portfolio of sites (Tres Cantos, Heidelberg and Berlin). You will be accountable for all engineering and safety support and services in the portfolio, delivering to the R&D footprint across Pharma and Vaccines.

You will also be accountable for the management and delivery of services and infrastructure across R&D site operations ensuring that these services support and facilitate all business operations. Infrastructure and services within R&D Operations are provided by contract service partners, and as such, the role will ensure effective local governance of the contracted relationships to confirm service delivery remains quality, safety and customer focused; infrastructure is robust; and effective service performance management is in place.

Currently, we have over £250 M in capital projects over the next three years focused on EHS/Life Safety, Business Continuity, Pipeline, Sustainability and Accessibility projects within our UK R&D facilities. This role will be accountable for prioritization and delivery of the capital portfolio and will ensure we remain compliant with our EHS and engineering standards across the sites.

Key Responsibilities

• Responsible for the provision of a single point of accountability for engineering services to the VP, R&D Engineering Services
• Be a member of the RDES (R&D Engineering Services) Leadership team and collaborate with peers as well as the broader Engineering & EHS Function to identify opportunities to improve the field of Engineering across the organisation
• Responsible for local delivery of all facilities and services within UK R&D Hub, ensuring cost, quality and compliance targets are achieved by key contract partners
• Relationship management with senior managers in GSK to ensure facilities infrastructure and services facilitate and support the full range of business operations whilst ensuring enterprise needs are aligned and balanced against local business needs and constraints
• You will build regional organizational capability and competence to deliver objectives and identify and execute value-add projects and the appropriate development and application of standards
• Responsible for all areas of the regional engineering operations, safety operations, statutory compliance, and Engineering staff development and deployment within the Region
• Support Real Estate with respect to business acquisitions and due diligence assessments of the businesses
• Ensure capital project delivery is appropriately prioritized to mitigate risk, support GSK business strategy, and improve the site environmental sustainability
• Ensure that risks associated with the RDES service delivery within the region are identified and appropriately managed and/or mitigated

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Science or Engineering discipline required
• 10+ years of experience in and Operations or Engineering leadership role in a regulated environment required
• Pharma or Biotech R&D Engineering environment experience preferred
• Experience delivering and managing large Capital Projects across a region working with CAPEX, OPEX and P&L required
• Experience leading Direct Reports and large matrix teams preferred paired with experience collaborating with and influencing stakeholders from various teams preferred

Why GSK?

Uniting science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together.

GSK is a global biopharma company with a purpose to unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together. We aim to positively impact the health of 2.5 billion people by the end of the decade, as a successful, growing company where people can thrive.

We get ahead of disease by preventing and treating it with innovation in specialty medicines and vaccines. We focus on four therapeutic areas: respiratory, immunology and inflammation; oncology; HIV; and infectious diseases – to impact health at scale.

People and patients around the world count on the medicines and vaccines we make, so we’re committed to creating an environment where our people can thrive and focus on what matters most. Our culture of being ambitious for patients, accountable for impact and doing the right thing is the foundation for how, together, we deliver for patients, shareholders and our people.

GSK is an Equal Opportunity Employer. This ensures that all qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), parental status, national origin, age, disability, genetic information (including family medical history), military service or any basis prohibited under federal, state or local law.

We believe in an agile working culture for all our roles. If flexibility is important to you, we encourage you to explore with our hiring team what the opportunities are.

Should you require any adjustments to our process to assist you in demonstrating your strengths and capabilities contact us at where you can also request a call.

Please note should your enquiry not relate to adjustments, we will not be able to support you through these channels. However, we have created a Recruitment FAQ guide. Click the Link where you will find answers to multiple questions we receive

PLEASE NOTE THAT IF YOU ARE A US LICENSED HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL OR HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL AS DEFINED BY THE LAWS OF THE STATE ISSUING YOUR LICENSE, GSK MAY BE REQUIRED TO CAPTURE AND REPORT EXPENSES GSK INCURS, ON YOUR BEHALF, IN THE EVENT YOU ARE AFFORTED AN INTERVIEW FOR EMPLOYMENT. THIS CAPTURE OF APPLICABLE TRANSFERS OF VALUE IS NECESSARY TO ENSURE GSK’S COMPLIANCE TO ALL FEDERAL AND STATE US TRANSPARENCY REQUIREMENTS. FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE VISIT THE CENTERS FOR MEDICARE AND MEDICAID SERVICES (CMS) WEBSITE AT https://openpaymentsdata.cms.gov/