Head of Engineering M/F

This is an exciting and unique opportunity to join Edinburgh Airport’s leadership team at a crucial point in our growth journey. Edinburgh Airport is about to embark upon a once-in-a-generation expansion programme, seeing our terminal footprint expand by 60%. This role will ensure our infrastructure, assets and processes run safely and reliably 24/7 throughout the programme of projects.

The Head of Engineering provides strategic leadership for the engineering function of Scotland’s busiest airport. The successful candidate will be accountable for the campus infrastructure and built environment, including facilities maintenance, civil engineering, airfield and runway infrastructure, high-voltage electrical networks, utilities and the airport’s diverse vehicle fleet. Reporting to the Chief Technical Officer, the Head of Engineering leads approximately 50 staff and directs a supply chain of specialist technical partners. The role ensures the airport’s number one operational asset, the runway, and the wider engineering asset base are safe, compliant, resilient and available to support continuous operations.

As a senior business leader, the postholder sets clear goals, engages and empowers the team, demonstrates robust operational and commercial judgement, and shapes the engineering contribution to the airport’s £500 million capital investment plan over the next five years.

What you’ll be doing:

• Develop a Maintenance and Asset Management Strategy that combines the airport’s growth plans, delivers a World Class Service and is efficient.
• Provide strategic oversight of the airport’s CMMS, ensuring accurate asset data and effective maintenance management.
• Ensure assets are managed to provide safe, compliant, reliable and resilient performance at the lowest whole-life cost.
• Provide strategic oversight of all civil engineering assets, including the runway, taxiways, aprons, roads, drainage and associated airfield infrastructure.
• Ensure the runway is maintained, inspected and always available to support safe and reliable operations.
• Provide senior technical leadership for high-voltage electrical networks, utilities, facilities and other critical engineering systems, ensuring appropriate compliance, assurance and resilience.
• Lead the strategic management of the airport’s diverse vehicle fleet, ensuring vehicles are safe, compliant, reliable, cost-effective and suitably maintained for 24/7 operations.
• Facilitate the asset replacement programme, integrating condition, resilience, business risk, whole-life cost and capital replacement requirements into a prioritised strategy.
• Shape the engineering contribution to the airport’s £500 million capital investment plan over the next five years and act as sponsor for multiple capital projects.
• Oversee budgeting and strategic planning for the engineering function and maintain effective control, partnering closely with your senior management team.
• Ensure the engineering supply chain remains resilient, capable and aligned with the maintenance and asset management strategy.
• Hold primary accountability for health, safety and environmental performance within the engineering function.
• Act as the engineering SME during disruption and crisis incidents, delivering expert leadership and advice to minimise the impact on airport operations.
• Build effective relationships with internal and external stakeholders, providing engineering guidance across projects and operational decision-making.
• Set clear performance expectations, conduct reviews, allocate resources effectively, and mentor and develop senior engineering managers to support succession planning.
• Identify strategic and operational risks, implement proportionate mitigation measures and foster continuous improvement in engineering practices.

What we’re looking for:

• This role requires the successful candidate to obtain a Counter Terrorist Check, so you must have been living in the UK for the last 3 consecutive years.
• Degree-level education in an engineering discipline, or an equivalent combination of relevant technical qualifications.
• The ideal candidate will have a minimum of five years’ senior leadership experience in a complex facilities, engineering, maintenance or asset management environment.
• Hold sufficient civil engineering knowledge to provide senior oversight of runway and airfield pavement condition, structural assets, drainage, inspection regimes, maintenance strategies, vehicle fleet management and specialist contractor assurance.
• Demonstrate relevant high-voltage knowledge to oversee electrical safety, statutory compliance, network resilience, switching governance, utilities, planned maintenance and competent-person arrangements.
• Experience of sponsoring and assuring complex capital asset replacement investment projects.
• Deep knowledge of health, safety, environmental and regulatory obligations within a safety-critical 24/7 operational environment.
• Proven leadership, change management, commercial, financial and stakeholder-management capability.

Why us?

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to present complex technical matters clearly to operational, executive and non-technical audiences.

What we’ll offer you:

• Annual discretionary bonus – further information on the total reward package is available on request.
• Pension scheme - employer contributions can be up to 7%.
• 32 days holiday, based on full time roles, increasing with service.
• Supporting your health and wellbeing - private healthcare after 1 years’ service, access to our Employee Assistance Programme and occupational health services.
• Free car parking on site and when you go on holiday.
• We offer a range of other benefits.

Why EDI?

We are Edinburgh Airport, where Scotland meets the world. The success of the airport comes down to our people, and you can help us deliver even more big days for our passengers and colleagues. The development of your career is important to us, and we’ll support and encourage this every step of the way. We offer in-house and external training, both role specific and based on your objectives. As a business we’re driven by our values – they’re at the core of our culture and everything we do. We will ask questions based on our values during your interview, as we’re looking for people who will demonstrate these values day-in, day-out.