Operations Manager

People Group; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Car allowance

Bonus (10%)

Pension/Healthcare

Job summary

People Group is seeking a senior operations leader to manage three East London energy centres. You will lead through supervisors, driving safe, reliable, and commercially effective service delivery while managing budgets and change across sites.

You will develop managers, oversee maintenance, and ensure compliance, health and safety, and effective stakeholder engagement. Site-based with occasional remote collaboration across locations.

Qualifications

• Lead a multi-site energy operation across three East London energy centres.
• Develop and coach supervisors and team leaders to deliver safe, reliable performance.

Responsibilities

• Lead supervisors and team leaders to deliver across sites.
• Own budgets, safety and service delivery for the operation.
• Drive change, training and capability development across teams.
• Maintain asset reliability and compliance across sites.
• Collaborate with contractors and suppliers to meet performance targets.

Skills

People leadership

Regional operations

Job description

Sites: x3 Energy Centres (All East London)

Skills: People Leadership and Regional Operations

Sector: District Heating

Sector's Considered: Power, Utilities, Energy, O&G, Pharma & Process Manufacturing

Location: East London

Salary: Competitive + Car Allowance (£7K) + Bonus (10%) Pension/Healthcare

The Client:

My client is a prominent and forward-thinking energy infrastructure provider in the United Kingdom, specializing in the design, delivery, and long-term operation of large-scale decentralized low-carbon utility networks.

The company focuses heavily on urban district heating, cooling, and power solutions, managing critical assets that supply sustainable energy to thousands of residential and commercial properties. Renowned for its engineering excellence and commitment to the green transition, the business integrates cutting-edge technologies like industrial heat pumps and waste-heat recovery systems to drive urban centres toward a zero-carbon future.

The Role:

Lead the people, performance and day-to-day delivery of a multi-site energy operation across three energy centres in East London. This is a senior operational leadership position, accountable for building a capable, engaged team and delivering safe, reliable and commercially effective services.

You will lead through supervisors and team leaders, setting clear expectations for shift engineering and day-based teams. Your priority will be leadership, performance management, workforce capability and consistent delivery across the operation.

You will create a culture of accountability, collaboration and continuous improvement, ensuring supervisors take ownership of their teams and operational standards. Technical and maintenance specialists will support delivery within your overall operational remit.

The successful candidate will have already held broad operational responsibility for people, service delivery, safety and budgets. You must be able to lead teams through change, address performance issues and develop managers and supervisors, alongside maintaining oversight of asset reliability.

This is a site-based leadership role with flexibility to work across locations and occasionally remotely. Maintenance expertise provides valuable context, but the core requirement is proven leadership of a sizeable operation through others.

Key Responsibilities

People Leadership and Management Through Supervisors

• Lead supervisors and team leaders, setting clear responsibilities, priorities and performance expectations across all sites.
• Hold regular performance and development reviews; coach supervisors to lead their teams confidently and consistently.
• Own workforce planning, resource allocation and succession planning. Address capability gaps, attendance and performance issues in partnership with HR.
• Build an engaged, accountable workforce with effective communication between shifts, sites and management. Lead teams through operational and organisational change.

Operational Accountability and Service Delivery

• Take overall responsibility for safe, reliable and efficient delivery across the energy centres and associated networks, balancing people, customer, operational and financial priorities.
• Hold supervisors and technical leads accountable for delivery, using clear objectives, structured reviews and timely escalation to resolve barriers.
• Maintain oversight of maintenance and asset reliability through the relevant managers and specialists; ensure plans are resourced, prioritised and aligned to service requirements.
• Set the tone for a strong safety culture and hold supervisors accountable for safe working practices and compliance.
• Ensure operational teams meet statutory, environmental, company and contractual requirements, supported by relevant specialists.
• Maintain clear ownership of site compliance, risks and corrective actions across the management team.
• Ensure supervisors and responsible persons implement effective permits, RAMS and safe systems of work.
• Lead the operational management response to significant incidents, ensuring clear communication, accountability and completion of lessons learned.

Commercial & Financial Performance (P&L)

• Own operational budgets, resource decisions and cost control across the sites.
• Review expenditure, contractor costs and workforce deployment against budget and service requirements.
• Translate financial and service objectives into clear priorities for supervisors and teams.
• Deliver agreed operational and financial targets, identifying sustainable improvements to productivity and contract performance.

Change Leadership and Operational Readiness

• Lead changes to ways of working, team structures and operational processes, ensuring people understand and adopt the required improvements.
• Represent operations in discussions on upgrades, network expansion and new customer connections.
• Ensure teams, training, resources and procedures are ready to accept new assets into operation, with commissioning led by the appropriate technical specialists.
• Work with project and commercial teams to protect ongoing service delivery during change.

Team Capability and Organisational Development

• Develop supervisors and future leaders, building management capability across the operation.
• Set and review team objectives covering safety, customer service, reliability, productivity and people performance.
• Agree training and competency plans with supervisors and technical leads; track completion and effectiveness.
• Establish consistent expectations for conduct, ownership and collaboration across all teams.
• Build succession and resilience so the operation performs consistently across shifts and locations.
• Act as the senior operational contact for internal stakeholders and customer service escalations.
• Build effective relationships with customers, colleagues, contractors and suppliers; communicate priorities, risks and performance clearly.
• Coordinate the operational response to service issues and customer concerns, ensuring actions have owners and are completed.

Contractor & Supply Chain Management

• Hold contractors and suppliers accountable for safe delivery, quality, service and value.
• Ensure supervisors and technical leads oversee contractor activities within agreed standards and responsibilities.
• Review supplier performance and resolve material delivery or resource issues.

Performance Monitoring & Continuous Improvement

• Run structured operational reviews using a balanced set of people, safety, customer, financial and asset performance measures.
• Use performance data and team feedback to identify underlying issues and agree practical improvements.
• Lead delivery of improvement plans through supervisors and managers, tracking ownership, progress and sustained outcomes.

Leadership and Operational Capabilities

• Proven ability to lead a sizeable operational workforce through supervisors, team leaders or managers.
• Strong people management capability, including coaching, performance management, workforce planning and succession.
• Ability to balance safety, customer service, operational reliability and financial performance across multiple priorities.
• Experience using budgets, KPIs and management reporting to drive team accountability and operational improvement.

Personal Leadership Skills

• Visible, credible leadership with the confidence to set standards and address difficult performance conversations.
• Ability to delegate effectively and build ownership through others.
• Clear communication, sound judgement and strong stakeholder management.
• Experience influencing teams through change and building consistent working practices.
• A structured, decisive approach to priorities, escalation and follow-through.
• Established experience as an Operations Manager, Area Operations Manager, Regional Operations Manager or equivalent, with responsibility extending across people, service delivery, safety and budgets.
• A track record of managing supervisors, team leaders or managers and being accountable for the performance of their wider teams.
• Experience leading a multi-site or comparably complex operation in energy, utilities, industrial services or another asset-intensive service environment.
• Evidence of improving team performance and leading operational change. Candidates whose experience is primarily maintenance planning, technical supervision or engineering delivery must also demonstrate the broader operational and people accountability described above.

Technical Background and Qualifications

• Working understanding of maintenance, asset reliability, safety and compliance in a technical operation. District heating or energy centre experience is advantageous; transferable operational leadership experience will be considered.
• NEBOSH or equivalent is desirable. An engineering qualification at HNC, HND or degree level is advantageous. Evidence of effective people and operational leadership is central to selection.