Bluegrid Utilities
Senior Operations Manager – Utilities & Infrastructure
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SENIOR OPERATIONS MANAGER – UTILITIES & INFRASTRUCTURE
Bluegrid Utilities
Location: Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire
Salary: £60,000–£70,000 per annum, depending on experience
Contract: Full-time, Permanent
Working Pattern: Predominantly office-based, with site and operational visits as required
Reporting to: Director
ABOUT BLUEGRID UTILITIES
Bluegrid Utilities is a growing utilities and infrastructure business supporting the delivery of essential field operations across the UK.
Our activities include smart water meter installation, civils and groundworks, excavation and reinstatement, utility surveying, traffic management support and the mobilisation and management of field-based operative teams.
As Bluegrid enters its next phase of growth, we are strengthening our operational management structure and are seeking an experienced Senior Operations Manager – Utilities & Infrastructure to join our leadership team.
This is a senior, hands-on operational management position with direct responsibility for building, mobilising, coordinating and managing our growing field workforce.
This is not a purely desk-based planning or administrative role.
The successful candidate will be expected to understand field operations, communicate confidently with operatives and supervisors, make sound operational decisions, establish clear standards and take ownership of workforce challenges from recruitment and mobilisation through to ongoing performance and delivery.
THE ROLE
Reporting directly to the Director, the Senior Operations Manager will take ownership of the operational workforce function and work closely with Bluegrid’s Project Management team.
A major initial priority will be ensuring Bluegrid can recruit, assess, mobilise and retain the right operatives as our workload grows.
You will take operational ownership of the recruitment and mobilisation pipeline, supported by administrative/recruitment staff. This will include reviewing suitable candidates, conducting substantive operative interviews, assessing operational suitability and experience, supporting selection decisions and ensuring successful candidates progress efficiently towards mobilisation.
Your responsibility will continue after mobilisation.
You will provide visible day-to-day leadership across the workforce and establish clear expectations around attendance, reliability, communication, conduct, productivity and accountability.
You will be expected to build positive professional relationships with field teams while having the confidence and authority to address poor performance, repeated absence, unreliability and other operational workforce issues when they arise.
The objective is straightforward:
To ensure Bluegrid has the right people, with the right capability, available and ready to deliver at the right time.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
- Take senior operational responsibility for Bluegrid’s growing field workforce.
- Lead workforce mobilisation across utilities, water, civils and infrastructure activities.
- Take ownership of the operational recruitment pipeline from workforce requirement through candidate assessment, interview, selection recommendation and mobilisation.
- Personally conduct and lead interviews for field operatives and other relevant operational appointments.
- Assess candidates for practical experience, capability, reliability, communication and suitability for field operations.
- Develop and maintain a strong pipeline of suitable operatives to support existing and future contracts.
- Work closely with Project Management to understand current and future labour requirements.
- Translate project requirements into effective workforce and resource plans.
- Coordinate workforce availability, deployment and mobilisation according to operational requirements.
- Maintain visibility of workforce numbers, upcoming requirements, shortages and operational risks.
- Establish and maintain appropriate standards for attendance, punctuality, reliability, communication, conduct and operational accountability.
- Address recurring absence, unreliability and workforce performance concerns promptly and professionally in accordance with company procedures.
- Handle difficult workforce conversations confidently, fairly and consistently.
- Build strong working relationships with operatives and supervisors while maintaining appropriate management authority.
- Work closely with supervisors and Project Management regarding workforce productivity, competency and operational requirements.
- Identify training, competency and operational-readiness requirements and ensure appropriate actions are coordinated.
- Maintain effective operational and workforce-management systems, records and reporting processes.
- Establish and monitor relevant KPIs covering recruitment, mobilisation, workforce availability, attendance, retention and operational performance.
- Ensure recruitment and workforce administration is completed accurately and within required timescales by the appropriate supporting staff.
- Provide the Director with clear and concise reporting on workforce capacity, mobilisation, recruitment progress, operational performance and emerging risks.
- Support the development and management of operational/recruitment support staff as the business grows.
- Attend sites and operational locations where required to maintain first-hand understanding of workforce and delivery conditions.
- Support continuous improvement and help develop scalable operational processes as Bluegrid expands.
- Contribute to the wider development of Bluegrid’s operational capability as the company enters additional utilities and infrastructure markets.
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ABOUT YOU
We are looking for an experienced operational leader who has already managed field-based teams within utilities, infrastructure, civil engineering, construction or a closely related environment.
This position is not intended as a first management appointment.
The successful candidate should be able to demonstrate:
- Significant operations-management experience within UK utilities, water, civil engineering, infrastructure, construction or a closely related field-based environment.
- Proven experience managing a substantial workforce of field operatives, tradespeople, technicians or multidisciplinary operational teams.
- Strong practical experience of workforce mobilisation and resource planning.
- Experience interviewing and assessing field-based candidates.
- A proven ability to recruit, develop, organise and retain effective operational teams.
- Experience managing attendance, absence, reliability, conduct and workforce performance issues.
- The confidence to have difficult conversations and establish clear expectations while maintaining professional working relationships.
- Strong leadership skills and the ability to gain credibility with field operatives, supervisors and management.
- Good understanding of health, safety, quality, competency and compliance requirements within operational environments.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
- Strong organisational, problem-solving and decision-making capability.
- Experience using workforce information, operational reports and KPIs to drive performance.
- Strong commercial awareness and an understanding of how labour utilisation, productivity, absence and workforce performance affect project profitability.
- Ability to operate effectively in a growing business where systems and processes continue to develop.
- Competence with Microsoft Office and relevant operational/workforce-management systems.
- Full UK driving licence and willingness to travel to operational locations when required.
HIGHLY DESIRABLE EXPERIENCE
Candidates with experience in one or more of the following will be particularly relevant:
- Water utilities
- Smart water metering / metering programmes
- Utility infrastructure
- Civil engineering and groundworks
- Excavation and reinstatement
- Direct-labour workforce management
- High-volume operative recruitment and mobilisation
- Utility framework delivery
- Field service operations
- Managing geographically dispersed operational teams
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Experience gained with a major utilities contractor, infrastructure contractor, civil engineering organisation or comparable field-services business would be advantageous.
THE PERSON WE WANT
We are not simply looking for somebody to maintain an existing operation.
We are looking for somebody capable of helping us build one.
You should be comfortable moving between very different management situations during the same working day — interviewing an experienced operative, resolving a workforce shortage, challenging unacceptable attendance, working through mobilisation requirements with a Project Manager, reviewing operational KPIs, supporting a supervisor and discussing future workforce requirements directly with the Director.
You will need to combine strong leadership with sound judgement.
You should understand how to earn the respect of field teams, listen when genuine operational or personal issues arise, communicate expectations clearly and remain firm when required standards are not being achieved.
We particularly want to hear from candidates who can demonstrate not simply where they have worked, but what they personally managed, improved and delivered.
WHY JOIN BLUEGRID UTILITIES?
Bluegrid is at an important stage of its development.
For an experienced operational manager, this creates an opportunity that is different from joining an already heavily layered corporate structure.
You will work directly with the Director and alongside the Project Management team, with genuine opportunity to influence how our operational workforce, systems and management processes develop.
As the company grows across utilities and infrastructure, we expect the scale and complexity of the operations function to grow with it.
For the right individual, this therefore represents an opportunity to take responsibility for today’s operation while helping build the operational capability required for Bluegrid’s future growth.
SALARY & BENEFITS
£60,000–£70,000 per annum, depending on experience and demonstrated capability.
Benefits include:
- 25 days annual leave plus UK bank holidays
- Workplace pension
- Company-paid office parking
- Reimbursement of authorised business mileage and business travel expenses
- Company laptop and mobile phone / business mobile provision
- Ongoing professional development
- Opportunity for increased senior leadership responsibility as Bluegrid expands
Normal home-to-office commuting expenses are not reimbursed.
LOCATION & WORKING ARRANGEMENT
The position is based from our operational office in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire.
This is a predominantly office-based senior management position and candidates should be comfortable maintaining a regular presence within the business.
The role will also require travel to operational locations and sites where necessary.
APPLICATION PROCESS
Please apply with an up-to-date CV.
We are particularly interested in understanding:
- The largest workforce/team you have personally managed
- Your experience within utilities, infrastructure, water or civils
- Your involvement in operative recruitment and interviewing
- Examples of workforce mobilisation you have personally led
- Examples of operational or workforce performance you have improved
Shortlisted candidates should expect a structured management interview and practical operational assessment as part of the selection process.
Bluegrid Utilities is committed to fair and inclusive recruitment. Appointments will be made based on relevant experience, demonstrated capability and suitability for the position.
Bluegrid Utilities is the trading name of Bluegrid Technology Ltd.
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