Operations Manager

Role: Operations Manager

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.

Health, Safety, Environmental & Compliance

• 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 se…