Operations Director

Alecto Recruitment Limited; Burghill; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Alecto Recruitment Limited is seeking an Operations Director for an anaerobic digestion plant in Herefordshire. You will own day-to-day operations, reliability, maintenance and compliance of a 24/7 facility, leading an on-site team and coordinating contractors.

The role requires hands-on leadership, strong mechanical and electrical knowledge, and the ability to move between planning and fault diagnosis. You’ll manage spares, safety, permits and plant performance to maximise uptime.

Qualifications

• Proven experience managing or supervising a process, utilities or industrial plant.
• Experience within anaerobic digestion, biogas, water/wastewater, waste or a comparable continuous-process environment.
• Strong mechanical and electrical plant maintenance knowledge.
• Experience planning PPM and managing breakdown response.
• Experience leading a small team within a continuously operating environment.
• The ability to move comfortably between management-level planning and hands‑on fault diagnosis.
• Strong reporting and record-keeping skills.
• A full UK driving licence.
• The flexibility to participate in an on-call/emergency response rota.

Responsibilities

• Lead the day-to-day operation, reliability, maintenance and compliance of the AD facility.
• Diagnose plant issues and coordinate specialist engineers to return equipment to service.
• Oversee planned preventative maintenance across critical plant assets.
• Manage spares, inventory, and procurement within budget.
• Lead and develop the on-site team; plan shifts and cover.
• Ensure HSE compliance and environmental permits.
• Respond to breakdowns and emergency repairs.
• Coordinate contractors and supplier management to improve plant availability.

Skills

Plant management

AD/biogas experience

Mechanical & electrical know‑how

PPM planning

Team leadership

Fault diagnosis

Reporting & record-keeping

Driving licence

On-call readiness

Education

Engineering or maintenance qualification

Job description

CS 33818

Operations Director - Anaerobic Digestion Plant

£70,000 - £120,000

Herefordshire

Are you an experienced AD professional ready to take real ownership of a plant?

If you know anaerobic digestion, understand what it takes to keep a 24/7 process plant running, and enjoy being as comfortable troubleshooting equipment as you are leading a team, this could be the opportunity you've been looking for.

We're looking for an Operations Director to take senior responsibility for the day-to-day operation, reliability, maintenance and compliance of an anaerobic digestion facility.

This is not a desk-based management role.

You’ll be the senior person on site, leading the team, making operational decisions, diagnosing plant issues, coordinating contractors and stepping in when things go wrong - while also putting the systems and maintenance plans in place to prevent problems happening in the first place.

Why this role?

This is an opportunity to have genuine ownership and influence over your site.

You’ll have the autonomy to shape how the plant is operated and maintained, manage your own team, control spares and maintenance planning, and directly influence plant availability, reliability and performance.

You’ll combine:

• AD plant operations
• Maintenance & reliability
• Technical problem-solving
• Team leadership
• H&S and environmental compliance
• Contractor and supplier management
• Plant performance improvement

The Role

As Operations Director, you'll take responsibility for keeping the plant operating safely, efficiently and compliantly.

Your responsibilities will include:

Plant Operations & Reliability

• Lead the planned preventative maintenance programme across critical plant assets.
• Oversee maintenance of CHP engines, gas handling systems, pumps, mixers, feedstock and digestate handling equipment, GEU and CO₂ liquefaction systems.
• Lead the response to breakdowns and emergency repairs.
• Diagnose faults and coordinate specialist engineers and contractors to return equipment to service safely and quickly.
• Identify recurring equipment failures and drive improvements to plant reliability and reduce downtime.

People & Workforce Management

• Lead and develop the site team.
• Plan shifts, rotas, holidays, overtime and emergency cover across a continuously operating plant.
• Allocate daily and weekly activities across plant monitoring, feedstock intake, maintenance and housekeeping.
• Recruit, train and develop site personnel.
• Manage contractors and visiting engineers working on site.

Spares, Suppliers & Contractors

• Take ownership of critical spares and parts inventory.
• Establish appropriate stock levels for critical and long-lead-time equipment.
• Manage suppliers, purchase orders and specialist tooling within budget.
• Build strong relationships with equipment manufacturers and specialist service providers.

Health, Safety & Environmental Compliance

• Take responsibility for site H&S compliance and safe systems of work.
• Manage risk assessments, permits to work, isolations/LOTO and other site safety controls.
• Ensure compliance with ATEX/DSEAR requirements associated with gas-handling and explosive-atmosphere areas.
• Support accident, near-miss and environmental incident investigations.
• Maintain environmental permit requirements covering areas such as feedstock intake, digestate, emissions and odour management.
• Prepare regulatory and permit-related reports and act as the site’s operational contact during inspections.
• Maintain emergency response procedures covering gas release, fire and spillage scenarios.

What we're looking for

We're interested in people who understand continuous-process plant environments and can combine strong operational leadership with genuine technical capability.

• Proven experience managing or supervising a process, utilities or industrial plant.
• Experience within anaerobic digestion, biogas, water/wastewater, waste or a comparable continuous-process environment.
• Strong mechanical and electrical plant maintenance knowledge.
• Experience planning PPM and managing breakdown response.
• Experience leading a small team within a continuously operating environment.
• The ability to move comfortably between management-level planning and hands‑on fault diagnosis.
• Strong reporting and record-keeping skills.
• A full UK driving licence.
• The flexibility to participate in an on-call/emergency response rota.

Direct experience with AD or biogas plant, CHP engines and gas safety systems would be highly desirable, as would an engineering or maintenance qualification.

What's in it for you?

This is a chance to step into a senior, autonomous position where your decisions genuinely matter.

You’ll have direct influence over how the plant operates, how the maintenance strategy develops, how the team performs and how plant reliability is improved.

Rather than being removed from the operation, you’ll remain close to the engineering and plant - leading from the front and making a tangible difference to performance.

Competitive salary + vehicle, dependent on experience.

If you’re already working in anaerobic digestion, biogas, wastewater, waste-to-energy, utilities or another continuous-process environment and you’re ready for greater ownership of a site, we’d like to hear from you.

INDCS