Quality Lead

Balfour Beatty plc; Greater London; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Smart working

25 days annual leave (pro rata)

Pension and share incentive plan

Volunteer leave and recognition

Job summary

Balfour Beatty plc in London is seeking a Quality Lead for the Marine and Tunnelling section to drive compliance and right-first-time delivery across the M&T scope.

You will lead the M&T quality team, translate Alliance quality strategy into practical plans, and provide assurance on risk, performance trends and learning. The role requires experience in major civil/nuclear infrastructure, strong leadership, and the ability to influence across delivery teams and suppliers.

Qualifications

• Degree and chartered status in quality/civil engineering or related field.
• Experience leading quality in major civil/nuclear infrastructure projects.
• ISO 9001 Lead Auditor or equivalent qualification.

Responsibilities

• Provide quality leadership to M&T leadership team and drive safe, compliant, right-first-time delivery.
• Lead quality team and ensure implementation of quality management systems.
• Oversight of compliance, audits, and assurance activities across design, procurement, construction and handover.

Skills

Quality leadership

Quality management systems

Nuclear safety culture

Root cause analysis

Stakeholder management

Coaching and mentoring

Project delivery

Data analysis and trend identification

Education

Degree in Civil Engineering

Chartered professional status

ISO 9001 Lead Auditor

Experience in regulated infrastructure

Job description

About the role

The Quality Lead is the senior quality leader for the Marine and Tunnelling (M&T) section, accountable for implementing Alliance quality requirements and ensuring safe, compliant and right-first-time delivery across the M&T scope.

As a member of the M&T Leadership Team, the role provides quality leadership, advice and independent challenge to support delivery objectives while ensuring compliance with project, regulatory and contractual requirements.

The role leads the M&T quality team and drives the effective application of quality management arrangements, progressive assurance, certification and continuous improvement throughout design, procurement, manufacture, construction and handover activities.

Working in partnership with the Alliance Head of Quality, the Quality Lead translates Alliance quality strategy into practical arrangements within M&T and provides assurance that quality risks, performance trends and organisational learning are identified and effectively managed.

The role may be required to represent the Head of Quality on specific matters, committees or forums within delegated authority.

What you'll be doing

Principal Accountabilities, Activities and Decisions

Leadership and Context

• Provide quality leadership to the Marine and Tunnelling Leadership Team, supporting delivery of safe, compliant and right-first-time outcomes.
• Lead the M&T quality team and establish clear priorities, responsibilities and expectations aligned with delivery risks and programme objectives.
• Promote a strong quality and nuclear safety culture across M&T, ensuring quality considerations are integrated into planning and operational decision making.
• Support delivery teams and suppliers in achieving quality expectations through visible leadership, coaching and constructive challenge.
• Provide timely advice to the M&T Technical Director and the Alliance Head of Quality regarding quality performance, risks and emerging issues.

Governance, Assurance and Improvement

• Ensure effective implementation of the CWA Quality Management System and associated quality arrangements throughout the M&T scope.
• Provide leadership oversight of compliance, graded assurance, audit, surveillance, non-conformance, corrective action and management review, including nuclear safety classified works and supply-chain activities.
• Ensure independent assessments, inspections, quality reviews and certification are planned and delivered in accordance with programme milestones, providing reliable evidence of compliance and readiness.
• Establish meaningful performance measures and assurance insight, identifying systemic risk, directing targeted intervention and reporting clearly to client, section and alliance leadership.
• Lead the identification, investigation and resolution of significant quality issues and systemic weaknesses, ensuring lessons are translated into updated processes, stronger controls and improved section capability.
• Ensure personnel undertaking quality-critical activities are suitably appointed and remain qualified, experienced and competent.
• Drive organisational learning through structured review, lessons learned and knowledge sharing.
• Provide input to resource planning and capability requirements for the M&T scope.

Who we're looking for

Knowledge & Skills

• Demonstrable quality leadership within major civil engineering, nuclear or similarly regulated infrastructure projects.
• Expert understanding of quality management systems, quality planning, assurance arrangements and progressive assurance throughout construction delivery.
• Comprehensive knowledge of nuclear safety culture principles, intelligent customer capability and organisational learning in a regulated environment.
• Proven ability to identify, investigate and resolve systemic quality issues, driving learning and sustained performance improvement across delivery teams and suppliers.
• Strong understanding of the asset lifecycle from design and procurement through construction, progressive assurance, certification and handover.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary quality teams and influencing delivery teams, suppliers and technical stakeholders to achieve safe, compliant and right-first-time outcomes.
• Practical knowledge of audit, surveillance, supplier oversight, performance monitoring and quality risk management.
• Ability to analyse quality performance data, identify trends and drive targeted interventions to improve delivery performance.
• Strong communication, coaching and stakeholder-management skills, with the ability to provide constructive challenge and influence at all organisational levels.
• Ability to build capability within delivery teams through coaching, mentoring, training and sharing of lessons learned.

Qualifications & Experience

• Degree qualified in Civil Engineering, Construction Management, Quality Management or related discipline.
• Chartered professional status in quality, engineering or an equivalent discipline.
• ISO 9001 Lead Auditor or equivalent quality auditing qualification.
• Significant experience of quality leadership within major civil engineering, nuclear or other highly regulated infrastructure programmes.
• Proven experience leading multidisciplinary teams across multiple scopes and locations and developing and implementing effective quality processes, assurance frameworks, capability and culture.
• Experience of senior client, regulatory, certification-body and supply-chain engagement, for nuclear safety classified works.
• Experience supporting client, regulator and third-party assurance activities within a major project environment.
• Experience in major civil engineering construction is essential.
• Experience in major tunnelling projects is highly desirable.

Why work for us

Day in, day out, our teams deliver some of the UK’s most ambitious, exciting and meaningful projects; developing, building and maintaining the vital infrastructure that supports national economies and strengthens communities.

Why join us?

As if contributing to and supporting work that makes life better for millions wasn’t rewarding enough, we offer a full range of benefits too. You’ll have the freedom to shape the package that’s right for you and your life. Here are some of our key benefits:

• - Smart working, giving you more flexibility such as staggered start and finish times, with up to 40% remote working, where roles allow.
• - 25 days paid annual leave (pro rata)
• - Family friendly policies which include 28 weeks full pay for maternity/adoption leave and four weeks full pay for paternity/partners leave
• - Pension, share incentive plan, volunteering leave, recognition schemes and much more…

About us

Balfour Beatty’s Major Projects business is delivering some of the UK’s most complex and iconic infrastructure projects including HS2, the new high-speed railway and the first nuclear power station in a generation, Hinkley Point C. Using the latest technology, we’re driving productivity and creating a lasting legacy by delivering sustainable solutions that strengthen communities.

From consultancy and design, to all aspects of construction and maintenance. We have the proven expertise to deliver large-scale projects safely and successfully.

Diversity and inclusion

At Balfour Beatty, we want everyone to be able to thrive and achieve their full potential, regardless of their identity or background. We’re making great progress through our Value Everyone DEI Action Plan, but we know we’ve got more to do. Find out more about our values and DEI initiatives.

As a Disability Confident Employer, we ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants that meet the minimum criteria for this role will be offered an interview.

We are committed to our processes being barrier-free and will support adjustments at any stage of the recruitment process. Please let the recruiter for this role know if you require any adjustments.

We’re looking to continually improve our recruitment process, so if you have any feedback, please share this with us via [e-mail]