ERF Plant Manager — Safety-Driven Operations Leader

Our Vision is to be the UK’s leading innovator of resource recovery and recycling, transforming waste for a climate-positive future. Are you someone who lives and breathes high performance, leads with ambition, and would like to be part of an organisation that looks after tomorrow? Viridor has a redefined purpose, a bold Vision, and an ambitious, market-leading strategy. We are investing in the future, and we need a talented team with exceptional people, who believe in each other, to help us achieve this.

Viridor is at the forefront of waste management and resource recovery in the UK, operating the largest network of Energy Recovery Facilities (ERFs). We play a crucial role in supporting the UK's climate goals by diverting waste from landfills and transforming it into valuable energy resources.

We have an opportunity at our Ardley ERF for a Plant Manager to join our team working 37.5 hours per week, Monday to Friday. The salary for this role will be circa £90,000 per year, plus car allowance, and participation in an annual bonus scheme, in addition to our great range of benefits.

As our Plant Manager, you will take full accountability for the Energy Recovery Facility (ERF), leading a dedicated team to achieve operational excellence. Your key focus will be on ensuring that safety, predictability, reliability, and availability are the foundation of all decisions made. You'll foster a culture of ownership, accountability, and responsibility within the team, ensuring that a safety-first mindset is always at the forefront.

• Lead the ERF site team in promoting a safety-first culture while acting as the senior Viridor representative on site.
• Drive safety compliance by effectively implementing the Health & Safety Plan, Environmental Management Plan, and Quality Manual, ensuring alignment with accreditations such as ISO 9001, 14001, and 45001.
• Ensure plant availability, waste throughput, and energy production targets are consistently met, providing regular reports on actual performance against these goals.
• Build and sustain a culture of performance and continuous improvement, focusing on recruitment, staff development, and succession planning.
• Take full ownership of the site's Profit & Loss, preparing the annual budget, managing expenditures, analysing variances, and initiating corrective actions to meet financial objectives.
• Collaborate with key stakeholders across departments such as Commercial, PPM, Finance, HR, and SHEQS to support company initiatives and ensure contractual obligations are met.
• Ensure operational practices align with industry best standards, working closely with central teams to identify and implement necessary improvements.
• Maintain rigorous legal and regulatory compliance standards, coordinating with central functions to ensure a consistent and integrated approach.

• Extensive people management experience within a large technical department/region at the senior level.
• Strong financial acumen and experience in running a P&L, preparing and managing budgets.
• Practical implementation of a corporate management system.
• Senior management experience within a power generation or relevant process environment.

We are a Great Place to Work. There has never been a more exciting time to join Viridor. Following the acquisition of the business by the global private equity firm, KKR, the core business has been reshaped to focus on our leading UK Energy from Waste portfolio.

As an equal opportunities employer, Viridor is committed to the equal treatment of all current and prospective employees and does not condone discrimination on the basis of age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, gender identity, or marriage and civil partnership. We aspire to have a diverse and inclusive workplace and strongly encourage suitably qualified applicants from a wide range of backgrounds to apply.