Managing Director - Serco Environmental Services

Flexible location

At Serco, we deliver essential public services across defence, transport, justice, immigration, healthcare and citizen services. We are a team of 50,000 people responsible for delivering services that matter to millions of people every day. Our work is complex, operationally demanding and often high‑profile — but at its heart is a simple purpose: to impact a better future for the people and communities we serve.

We are seeking a Managing Director to lead Serco’s Environmental Services business – a significant frontline operation delivering essential services across a portfolio of local authority contracts, with around 2,000 colleagues across the UK.

What you’ll be doing

• Leading Serco’s Environmental Services business, with full accountability for safety, strategy, commercial performance, operational delivery, customer relationships, health and compliance and growth.
• Owning the P&L for a multi‑contract portfolio, delivering revenue, profit, margin improvement, cost efficiency and cash performance.
• Setting and delivering the business strategy, aligned to the wider Transport and Community Services plan.
• Ensuring existing contracts deliver safe, reliable, high‑quality services against contractual KPIs, SLAs and customer expectations.
• Driving operational excellence across a distributed frontline workforce, with a focus on productivity, management capability, asset utilisation and continuous improvement.
• Building trusted relationships with local authority customers, elected members, regulators, strategic partners and community stakeholders.
• Strengthening Serco’s position in the Environmental Services market through strong customer insight, competitor understanding, pipeline development and disciplined growth activity.
• Leading and strengthening bid, retention and mobilisation activity, ensuring new business and material organic growth opportunities move successfully into operational delivery.
• Maintaining and developing a culture of safety, accountability, customer focus, ethical delivery and operational pride across a workforce of around 2,000 colleagues.
• Building leadership capability across the business, developing succession plans and ensuring the team has the pace, resilience and capability required for future growth.
• Maintaining robust governance, assurance and risk management across the portfolio, with health, safety, environmental compliance, service continuity and reputation at the centre of decision‑making.

What you’ll need to do the job

• Significant experience leading a large, complex, multi‑site or multi‑contract operational business with full P&L accountability.
• A strong track record at senior management or executive leadership level, ideally within environmental services, waste, recycling, logistics, transport, infrastructure, facilities management, utilities, public services or another field‑based operational environment.
• A strong track record of safety and compliance leadership in a complex operational environment.
• Experience leading operational improvement in logistics, field operations or distributed frontline environments, with a clear understanding of productivity, workforce planning, asset utilisation and cost control.
• Strong commercial judgement, with experience managing complex contracts, improving performance, supporting bids, retaining business and delivering profitable growth.
• Credibility with local government customers, strategic partners, regulators and senior stakeholders, with the judgement and presence to represent Serco externally.
• Experience leading transformation and improvement in unionised, blue‑collar or change‑resistant environments would be highly valuable.
• Excellent people leadership skills, with the ability to build, lead and develop strong teams through multiple layers of management.
• A leadership style that combines commercial discipline with public service purpose, strategic thinking with operational grip, and ambition with resilience and humility.

What we offer

• This is a rare opportunity to lead a major UK environmental services business with strong public service purpose, operational complexity and significant future growth potential.
• Strong six‑figure base salary
• Exceptional bonus potential 40% Long Term Incentive Plan
• Company car or car allowance £9,000
• 10% contributory pension
• PMI for you and a partner
• 25 days annual leave
• A range of corporate benefits

At Serco, we see people first and foremost for their performance and potential. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive organisation that supports the needs of all. We are open to discussions around flexibility and flexible working. We operate a hybrid work structure in many of our business areas. We are proudly Disability Confident Leader employers and holder of the Gold Inclusive Employer Standard. Disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job will be given the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities at an interview.

For help with your application please contact 0345 010 4000. At Serco we support fair access to employment for those with unspent criminal convictions through the ‘Ban the Box’ pledge (some may be exempt due to the nature of the role and the security clearance required). Please contact our recruitment team directly on 0345 010 4000 to discuss.