Director Engineering & Operations in Hanslope

Salary £86,000 - £117,800 plus a location allowance of £1,750 and excellent benefits.

Location: Based in Hanslope Park, Milton Keynes. Free shuttle bus available between central Milton Keynes and Hanslope Park.

At FCDO Services, we protect the UK’s interests at home and overseas. We design and construct secure government buildings, courier diplomatic packages worldwide, safeguard government technology, and a whole lot more. Our work is as varied and vital as it gets, but we never lose sight of our people. Their skills, aspirations and growth mean as much as the global mission we’re on.

Shape a customer-focused approach to global delivery. This is your opportunity to lead the design of technical security and engineering solutions, reinforce embassies against seismic activity and hostile threats, deliver critical infrastructure upgrades in active crisis zones, and manage multimillion-pound secure construction programmes across challenging locations.

You will lead a broad portfolio that covers engineering, construction, architecture, design, security systems and project management. You’ll be working for a singular, vital purpose, which is to keep the UK safe. As adversaries advance, we need to do our utmost to keep up with new developments and secure our systems.

Through a close partnership with the Director of Customer Relationships, you’ll ensure that projects and programmes achieve agreed outcomes, timescales, and budgets. You’ll improve customer relationships and increase the value that we add to both the FCDO and other customers across government. Plus, you’ll uphold the organisation’s technical and professional integrity by maintaining robust engineering and sustainability standards that meet current and future customer requirements.

You will be accountable for an operational and delivery budget of approximately £50m and for leading a team of around 300 people. As a leader, you will ensure ministerial targets are met, drive innovation and continuous improvement, and promote a strong health and safety culture to keep our people working safely around the world.

To be suited to the role, you’re a driven individual, excited to bring strong leadership to engineering and operations. You’re proactive, motivated by purpose, and have an eye for even the smallest details. You’ll bring extensive senior operational management experience with a track record of leading a business and multidisciplinary teams at a strategic level, including large budget responsibility.

You’ll have a degree in engineering, construction management, architecture – or significant demonstrable experience in one or more of these fields. Project experience is critical. You’ve led large-scale project and programme delivery in the UK and overseas, understanding and adapting to different requirements.

You have a proven ability to convert business opportunities into secure and sustainable projects and services. Your pragmatic approach is paired with exceptional commercial acumen and financial management skills. As a leader, you’ll have strong interpersonal and communication skills. You know just how to empower, develop, and influence your team.

A healthy work-life balance starts with giving you the time you need. You’ll enjoy a holiday allowance of 25 days, rising to 30 days based on your length of service, a competitive salary, and a Civil Service Pension. Along with this, you’ll also have access to training and other development opportunities to help grow your career with us.

Every single colleague must be security cleared before joining us. If you’re successful in your application, we’ll ask you to undergo our vetting process to achieve Developed Vetting (DV) clearance.

The vital work we do takes an incredible community of colleagues, with different skills, backgrounds, cultures and identities. We support every individual, so that you always know you’re welcome and valued. It’s what makes us a Disability Confident employer. And why we’re recognised as a ‘Carer Confident’ workplace.