Operations Director

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Job Description

Note for Recruitment Agencies:

We prefer to hire directly, and we will be in touch with our PSL Agencies if this role is eligible for release.

We do not accept speculative CVs from agencies. If speculative CVs are sent, no fee will be applicable - please direct all queries to the relevant Resourcing Partner.

Operations Director

Remote - UK travel required

Water Technologies sits at the heart of our Environment business, delivering products, services, and solutions that help safeguard the UK's water systems. Our Operations Director plays a pivotal part in ensuring that our teams, clients, and communities thrive.

You'll shape how we work, how we grow, and how we deliver excellence. You'll empower teams to be their best, drive meaningful change, and help us create a safer, more resilient future for all.

What you'll be doing:

Operational Leadership & Strategy

• Lead operational delivery across the Water Technologies portfolio, ensuring excellence, resilience, and sustainable growth.
• Embed strong governance, performance metrics, and continuous improvement.
• Influence strategy as part of the Water Technologies senior leadership team.

People & Culture

• Mentor and empower operational leaders, building a capable and future-ready workforce.
• Foster a collaborative, inclusive culture that embraces innovation and change.
• Strengthen engagement, capability, and succession across all operational teams.

Safety, Wellbeing & Compliance

• Champion a positive safety culture and ensure full compliance with organisational and statutory requirements.
• Oversee incident investigations and drive learning and improvement.
• Ensure operational activities consistently meet quality, environmental, and safety standards.

Delivery & Performance

• Support teams to deliver programmes on time, to budget, and to required quality standards.
• Drive productivity, digital adoption, Lean processes, and performance optimisation.
• Resolve escalated risks and operational challenges.

Commercial Leadership

• Hold P&L accountability across Water Technologies operations.
• Support bidding, forecasting, and commercial decision-making.
• Drive efficiencies and margin improvement while maintaining delivery quality.

Customer & Stakeholder Relationships

• Build strong relationships with clients, partners, and colleagues across Galliford Try.
• Ensure customer satisfaction targets are met and proactively manage challenges.
• Represent the business at key reviews, meetings, and partnership forums.

Risk, Governance & Business Continuity

• Oversee operational compliance across safety, environmental, commercial, and contractual areas.
• Lead risk reviews, audits, and governance assessments.
• Strengthen business continuity and emergency response processes.

Continuous Improvement & Innovation

• Promote digital transformation, automation, and data-led decision-making.
• Identify opportunities to optimise processes, reduce waste, and enhance customer outcomes.
• Support the integration and development of new businesses and services.

*This is not an exhaustive list of duties - please request a copy of the job description for more information.

About you:

• Qualification or equivalent experience in business, operations management, engineering, or a related discipline.
• Demonstrable track record at a senior level in the successful delivery of operational performance and complex programmes, across multiple, fast moving (small to medium-sized) operating units/businesses.
• Industrial experienced gained within resource and asset intensive sectors, such as manufacturing, construction, infrastructure, or utilities.
• Strong understanding of safety legislation, change management/continuous improvement techniques, and business management systems and related Standards (ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001 etc.)
• Proven experience in digital adoption.
• Strong commercial and financial insight with experience managing budgets, P&L and operational programmes.
• Ability to lead diverse operational teams and influence and communicate verbally and in writing, with stakeholders at all levels.
• Ability to demonstrate alignment and work in line with Galliford Try values - Excellence, Passion, Integrity, and Collaboration.

What We Can Offer in Return:

With an impressive order book of over £3.8 billion we are one of the industry's leading principal contractors, affording you the opportunity to work on some of the UK's most exciting projects offering you stability as well as the chance to stretch your capabilities and realise long held career goals. You will be joining diverse teams working at a high professional level with exceptional levels of commitment. With an ambitious strategy, we're poised for further growth and success, so if you're committed, talented and enthusiastic, Galliford Try is the right place for you.

We are committed to maintaining the physical and mental wellbeing of all our people, through our 'Be Well' programme which offers discounts on certain products, advice and support for a range of issues.

We invest in high-quality training for employees of all levels, from our leadership development framework to our apprenticeship programmes. Through our Career Paths initiative, individuals receive tailored training and support to fulfil their potential.

Our industry is all about creating talented teams that excel in their areas of expertise. As an employer, we know you are most motivated to give your best when you feel valued and engaged.

Our Agile Working programme empowers you with flexibility in when, where and how you work. Where appropriate, site and office-based employees can take advantage of a wide variety of working practices, offering different amounts of structure, regularity and flexibility to suit your needs as well as those of your wider team.

Our Benefits:

We put our people first and our benefits package reflects that by offering a comprehensive range of attractive options to help support your career on top of a competitive salary.

• Generous holiday entitlement, increasing with years of service, plus the opportunity to purchase further holidays
• A wide range of corporate discounts
• Cycle to Work schemes
• Comprehensive pension plan
• Regular Save as You Earn share purchase scheme
• Private medical scheme options are available for all salaried employees and our employee assistance programme also provides free 24/7 support to those who need it
• Paid for yearly membership to one recognised professional association relevant to your role

About us:

Our purpose is to improve people's lives through building the facilities and infrastructure that communities need, providing opportunities for our people to learn, grow and progress, working with our supply chain to promote the very best working practice and caring for the environment in which we work.

We do this by holding true to our values, delivering excellence for our clients and the community, being passionate about our role in providing vital services, putting integrity at the heart of our business by doing the right thing, and collaborating with our clients, supply chain and stakeholders to deliver lasting change and long-term value.

For more information on this role or to enquire about other positions available within our business please contact charlotte.gornall@gallifordtry.co.uk

Additional Information:

Galliford Try welcomes applications from candidates who would like to work full-time, reduced hours or flexibly and this will be discussed in more detail as part of the recruitment process.

We encourage, and would be grateful if, you could confirm any requirements we can reasonably fulfil to make this application a positive experience for you.

Don't meet every requirement of the role? Studies have shown that some people are less likely to apply for jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At Galliford Try, we are committed to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace, so if you're excited about this role but your past experience doesn't align perfectly with every requirement of the role, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

As a Disability Confident employer, we have committed to offer an interview to any candidate with a long-term health condition or disability that meet the essential criteria for the advertised position. Please contact the Resourcing Partner listed within the job advert if you believe this applies to you. We will also take the opportunity to discuss any adjustments required for your interview.

A full job description for this role is available upon request.

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