Head of Health, Safety & Environment in Blyth

Workstyle Hybrid Location Blyth- minimum 3 days per week on site.

What is your purpose? Accountable for organisational health, safety and environmental governance, assurance, management system effectiveness, regulatory compliance, environmental stewardship and continual improvement across all ORE Catapult activities. As Head of Health, Safety & Environment (HSE), you will provide strategic leadership and expert guidance to ensure ORE Catapult remains a safe, healthy and environmentally responsible organisation. You will champion a positive and proactive safety culture that enables innovation whilst ensuring compliance with legal, regulatory and industry requirements. Working across all ORE Catapult locations, facilities, projects and programmes, you will embed best practice and continuous improvement in health, safety and environmental management. The role is pivotal in supporting ORE Catapult's mission to accelerate the development of offshore renewable energy by ensuring our people, customers, partners and assets operate within a robust HSE framework.

About ORE Catapult ORE Catapult is the UK's leading technology innovation and research centre for offshore renewable energy. Our unique research, engineering and testing capabilities help accelerate the creation and growth of UK companies in offshore renewable energy. Through collaboration with industry, academia and government, we are helping to create a sustainable energy future while driving economic growth and delivering societal impact.

What will I do?

• Strategic HSE leadership Develop and deliver ORE Catapult's Health, Safety and Environmental Strategy. Lead the organisation's approach to safety culture, behavioural safety and wellbeing. Act as the most senior HSE adviser to the Executive Team, Board and senior leaders. Prepare and present periodic HSE performance reports, assurance reviews and significant incident updates to the Board and relevant Board committees. Ensure HSE considerations are integrated into strategic and operational decision-making. Promote a culture where everyone takes ownership of health, safety and environmental responsibilities.
• Governance, risk and compliance The Head of HSE provides governance, assurance, specialist advice and challenge. Accountability for the management of operational risks remains with line managers and operational leaders. Establish and maintain systems that provide assurance of compliance with applicable HSE legislation and regulatory obligations. Accountable for the effectiveness, performance and continual improvement of ORE Catapult's Occupational Health & Safety and Environmental Management Systems, including ISO 45001 and ISO 14001 certification. Provide independent assurance to the CEO and Board regarding the effectiveness of HSE governance, risk controls and legal compliance arrangements. Provide organisational assurance through external audits, inspections and performance reviews. Lead risk management processes across testing, engineering, operational and research activities. Support the Executive Team and Board in establishing HSE risk appetite and tolerance levels appropriate to ORE Catapult's activities. Ensure appropriate governance, reporting and escalation of significant HSE risks.
• Operational excellence Provide assurance regarding the effectiveness of arrangements for safe delivery across test facilities, laboratories, test sites and operational activities. Establish and maintain contractor assurance frameworks including pre-qualification, monitoring, audit and performance review processes, including permit-to-work processes are in place. Lead and manage investigations into significant incidents, and support line managers to investigate other incidents, near misses and environmental events. Lead organisational response to significant HSE incidents, ensuring effective investigation, regulatory engagement, organisational learning and implementation of corrective actions. Drive organisational learning through effective root cause analysis and corrective action planning. Support innovation activities by providing pragmatic and proportionate risk management advice. Lead ORE Catapult's occupational health strategy, including health surveillance, wellbeing risk management and prevention of work‑related ill health. Oversee organisational emergency preparedness, crisis response and business resilience arrangements relating to HSE. Oversee HSE for capital build activity in a simultaneous operations environment.
• Environmental sustainability Accountable for environmental governance, compliance and continual improvement across all ORE Catapult activities. Lead environmental compliance and performance initiatives. Develop and implement ORE Catapult's environmental strategy and supporting objectives. Support delivery of ORE Catapult's sustainability ambitions and net zero objectives. Ensure effective identification, assessment and management of environmental risks, aspects and impacts. Ensure effective management of waste, resources, emissions, energy consumption and environmental impacts. Maintain and continually improve ORE Catapult's Environmental Management System, including ISO 14001 certification. Provide independent assurance to the Executive Team and Board regarding environmental compliance, performance and emerging environmental risks. Promote sustainable practices and environmental leadership across facilities, projects, research programmes and operational activities. Ensure environmental incidents, non-conformities and regulatory findings are investigated, reported and addressed.
• Leadership and capability building Lead and develop the HSE team. Build HSE capability across the organisation through coaching, training and awareness programmes. Influence leaders to demonstrate visible health and safety leadership. Foster collaboration across directorates and locations.

Authority The role holder has authority to: Stop or suspend activities where there is a significant and immediate risk to people, assets or the environment. Escalate significant HSE concerns directly to the CEO and Board. Require corrective actions where legal, regulatory or management system non‑conformities are identified. Commission independent assessments, audits and investigations where appropriate.

External engagement Develop effective relationships with regulators, customers, accreditation bodies and industry partners. Represent ORE Catapult in external forums and working groups. Support customer confidence through strong HSE governance and operational excellence.

What does success look like? A strong and visible safety culture is embedded across ORE Catapult. This is supported by colleague's feedback. Colleagues and leaders demonstrate high levels of HSE engagement and ownership. Leading and lagging HSE performance indicators show positive trends. Organisational HSE risks are identified, understood and effectively managed. ORE Catapult maintains strong regulatory compliance and achieves positive audit outcomes. Environmental performance improves through clear priorities and measurable action. HSE support is valued as pragmatic, proportionate and enabling of innovation and operational delivery. ORE Catapult develops a recognised centre of excellence for health, safety and environmental management.

KPIs and success measures Measurable outcomes Improvements demonstrated through periodic HSE culture and engagement assessments. Contractor HSE performance meets organisational standards and critical supplier assurance programmes are maintained. Regulatory compliance maintained. Critical actions closed within agreed timescales. Audit findings reduced year-on-year. HSE training and competency requirements maintained. Certification retained without major non-conformities. Environmental objectives and sustainability targets achieved or exceeded.

Financial accountability Develop and manage the HSE budget and investment plans to support organisational risk reduction and compliance.

What knowledge, skills and experience will you bring?

• Essential Significant experience in a senior HSE leadership role within a complex operational, engineering, industrial, technology or energy environment. Proven experience of developing and implementing HSE strategies and management systems. Strong knowledge of UK health, safety and environmental legislation. Experience of leading organisational risk and compliance programmes. Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills. Experience of leading and developing high-performing teams. Proven ability to drive cultural and behavioural change.
• Desirable Experience within renewable energy, offshore industries or engineering testing environments. Experience of supporting innovation, research or technology organisations. Knowledge of ISO 4501 and ISO 14001 management systems. Experience of engaging with regulators and certification bodies.

Qualifications Experience of leading multi-site HSE functions. Essential NEBOSH Diploma, or equivalent. Chartered Membership of IOSH (CMIOSH), or equivalent professional standing. Degree or equivalent qualification in health and safety, environmental management or related discipline. Desirable Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv). Lead Auditor qualification. Relevant environmental management qualification.

Leadership expectations As a member of ORE Catapult's leadership community, you will: Create clarity and direction for your team. Build an inclusive, diverse and high-performing culture. Lead with integrity and accountability. Empower colleagues to make decisions and deliver outcomes. Foster collaboration across functions and locations. Drive continuous improvement and innovation. Develop future talent and organisational capability. Role model ORE Catapult's values and behaviours.

Key relationships Internal CEO & Executive Team. ORE Catapult Board Engineering and Research teams. Operations and Facilities teams. Project Managers. People Team. All employees. External Health and Safety Executive. Environmental regulators. Customers and industry partners. Contractors and suppliers. Accreditation bodies. Industry working groups.

Special features of the role Regular travel across ORE Catapult sites and facilities. Leadership responsibility for HSE within complex testing, engineering and research environments. Engagement with regulators, customers, contractors and external assurance bodies where required. Requirement to respond effectively to significant HSE incidents or emerging risks where necessary.

Our commitment to inclusion ORE Catapult is committed to creating an inclusive and supportive workplace where everyone can contribute, develop and thrive. We welcome applications from colleagues with diverse backgrounds, experiences and perspectives, and we're happy to discuss any adjustments that may help you during the recruitment process.