Engineering Operations Manager

This job is brought to you by Jobs/Redefined, the UK's leading over-50s age inclusive jobs board.

Job Description

We're looking for an Engineering Operations Manager to lead our Specialist Systems team at Heathrow. Reporting to a Head of Engineering, you'll oversee a team of around 40 skilled colleagues and be accountable for the performance of a key Engineering area. Your focus will be delivering the operational plan, managing stakeholders, and ensuring excellent service for our diverse customer base.

You'll work closely with teams across Engineering and the wider airport, driving a business-partner mindset and challenging the status quo to support improvements in cost, safety, performance, compliance, risk, innovation and continuous improvement.

This is a Monday-Friday role with responsibility for leading four 24/7 shift teams. The Specialist Systems team manages critical assets including cutting-edge security equipment, flight information displays, CCTV, control systems and traffic management systems.

Responsibilities

• Lead the delivery of the operational plan for the area, ensuring targets for cost, asset performance, risk, compliance, health & safety, and environmental standards are met.
• Develop internal talent and proactively manage succession, while also building strong and effective partnerships with external suppliers, contractors, and consultants.
• Take accountability for the performance and governance of area-specific Engineering assets, including statutory maintenance and compliance reporting.
• Act as the primary point of contact for internal and external stakeholders, representing Engineering across key forums, project groups, and customer-facing engagements.
• Provide inspirational, inclusive leadership to enable the team to perform optimally supporting technical and behavioural development to meet current and future business needs.
• Collaborate across Engineering to optimise delivery of commercial, compliance, energy, asset, and environmental strategies, ensuring risks and opportunities are actively managed and supported by robust plans.

Qualifications

• Time-served apprenticeship and/or a minimum NVQ Level 3 Engineering qualification, with broad knowledge of multi-discipline engineering.
• Proven experience delivering continuous improvement and change in a complex environment, enhancing operational and commercial performance while improving efficiency and reducing costs.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capability, with a track record of applying a challenging, data-driven approach to complex technical and operational issues.
• Demonstrated inspirational leadership skills, able to set a clear vision, motivate teams, and drive high performance.
• Experience in planning and implementing projects from an operational perspective.
• Strong knowledge of management systems and risk management.
• Highly collaborative, with strong influencing skills and the ability to role model behaviours that support change and build engagement.

Ideally, you will also have:

• Level 4/5 Engineering qualification or membership of an Engineering Council Institution (IEng).
• IOSH Managing Safely or NEBOSH qualification.
• Broad and transferable knowledge of a wide range of assets, systems, and improvement methodologies.

About Us

There's something so special about working at the world's most iconic airport. Its sights. Its sounds. Its constant air of excitement. Heathrow is an amazing backdrop to a career filled with unique opportunities.

Every day, you'll discover a world full of fresh possibilities and come home buzzing with stories to tell, as you encounter people from all cultures, nationalities and experiences. A world full of pride for what we do and no end of exciting career prospects to explore.

It brings out the best in all of us. And inspires everyone to deliver on our ambitious plans. Together, we're working to welcome millions more passengers while ensuring aviation can continue to be a force for good by leading global efforts in sustainability.

Join us on that journey and we'll help you achieve your ambitions too. Supporting you to learn, encouraging you to be yourself, backing you to achieve more than you might ever have imagined. Because there's no place like Heathrow.

Our rewards
We offer competitive salaries and excellent benefits that will support you now and in the future. As well as performance-based annual bonuses and our longer-term Share in Success Bonus plans, we also offer generous annual leave allowances and market-leading pensions. With family friendly policies, access to private health insurance and a wide range of wellbeing tools, we'll support you to be at your best inside and outside work. And of course, we'll provide varied learning and development opportunities too. Here you'll find everything you need for a fulfilling career journey that can take you in exciting directions.

Working location

This is an airport-based position. Every day, you will play a critical role in helping us to give our passengers the best airport service in the world.

Sustainable Travel to work

Heathrow's Sustainable Travel Guide sets out easy and sustainable travel options that everyone can access.

Equal Opportunities

As an equal opportunities employer, we encourage applications from all. We believe that diverse talent makes us stronger - not least because we welcome passengers from all corners of the globe, every single day. Heathrow is an accessible place to work, and through our diversity networks, we champion inclusivity and celebrate individuality.

About the Team

Be part of this city within a city. Every year, millions of people travel through Heathrow. Joining our Engineering team means being at the heart of a complex operation whose size, scale and reputation for innovation are unique. We make sure the airport is always running smoothly and keep passengers and planes moving.

Our team touches all aspects of airport life - from water to energy, rail to roads, baggage systems to runways. The scope and variety of what we do is vast, spanning mechanical, electrical, water, civil, rail and environmental disciplines. Together we are responsible for the performance of 500,000 assets worth £14bn. It means there are always a wide range of interesting development, construction and maintenance projects to get involved with. And a lot of ways to develop your skills, career and reputation.

You'll be part of a close-knit, driven team, taking on work that you can take real pride in and feel passionate about. It's an exciting place to be, where every day, you'll discover a world of fresh possibilities and you'll be mentored by world-class experts every step of the way.