Job Description

The Head of Operations is the senior leader responsible for overall safety, security, safe operations, decommissioning and continuous improvement of a facility / facilities. All senior leaders within their facility / facilities are accountable to this position for the performance and improvement of their respected organisation and teams.

Authorities & Dimensions

The Head of Operations has the authority to:

• To suspend any activity which is deemed to be unsafe and / or in violation of approved procedures, regulatory or legal requirements.
• To approve the restart of plant operations following any significant, unplanned outage.
• To discharge the accountability of Duty holder.
• Required to carry out nominated/appointed roles. Exact roles may vary by facility.

Dimensions of the role:

• The Head of Operations requires substantial knowledge of Operations, typically gained by significant experience working across operational delivery roles.
• Knowledge of Project, construction and design processes, along with commercial arrangements for major frameworks.
• Must have a depth of experience to manage significant conventional safety hazards and lead frequent interaction with regulatory bodies and stakeholders. The Head of Operations leads operations in the most complex nuclear facilities.
• Role holders lead all aspects of operational delivery and the management of a significant sized team. Doing this requires planning typically on an annual time horizon and broader encompassing Decommissioning planning and client integration of decommissioning projects.
• Leads Operations in the highest complexity nuclear and non-nuclear facilities.
• The most senior leadership role within a facility responsible for creation of the right working climate/culture across all disciplines.
• Required to develop/coaches others within the facility management team and lead on with complex interactions internal and external stakeholders such as regulators.
• Requires end translating site standards into local operating policies and procedures. This involves developing better ways to do things using existing resources, including leading the development of the continuous improvement program.
• Discretion to achieve annual results against the setting short term objectives for others. Responsible for working within a defined budget that they are directly in control of.

Principal Accountabilities

• Manage and lead operational / decommissioning delivery and key processes that support effective implementation of the Site License conditions on behalf of the Duty holder to ensure delivery against facility/delivery plans, within the bounds of the safety case / appropriate regulations.
• Maintain and ensure nuclear safety and security, as well as other safety including conventional, industrial, radiological, and environmental of the facility/ facilities by enforcing site standards, policies, processes and procedures.
• Leads a senior team within their facilities, setting direction and holding to account to ensure successful delivery of the facility priorities and adherence to standards. Coaching the team, setting objectives, reviewing performance, ensuring training takes place and participating in selection/promotion decisions to ensure that staff have the necessary skills and understanding to deliver the team’s objectives.
• Manages allocated operational budget and organisational baseline within delegated authorities to ensure delivery of operations in line with site funding. Delivers and reviews safety, security, quality, assurance, production, decommissioning and cost metrics through the application of performance measures for their facility / facilities.
• Safety case owner for their facility / facilities.
• Ensures appropriate arrangements are in place for compliance with site policies and procedures.
• Implement arrangements to deliver operational excellence standards and site assurance programmes.
• Ensures delivery of the Maintenance Schedule in line with the Safety Case.
• Development and delivery of continuous improvement activities.
• Where appropriate sanctions new scope, enables and tracks delivery to ensure benefits realisation.
• Ensures capability for delivery of emergency response is in place for their facility / facilities.
• In addition to the above role holders are expected to fulfil other duties and tasks that are commensurate with their grade assigned to them by management to ensure efficient operations and the success of the team/organisation.

Knowledge & Experience

• Significant experience within or supporting operations with broad experience typically gained from working across multiple operational areas.
• Sound knowledge of safety case principles and the application and implementation of nuclear site license conditions.
• Sound Understanding and application of business improvement techniques.
• Ability to comprehend and interpret a diverse range of technical information.

Additional Information

• Open VN
• Number of Vacancies: 1
• Contact/s: Carl Carruthers

As part of your application, please include a cover letter detailing how you meet the knowledge and experience required for the role.

The date of the interviews for this position will be confirmed in due course.

If you choose to apply for this role and your application is shortlisted, you will be invited to an interview. In the interview, you will be assessed against the NDA Leadership Standard.

Sellafield Ltd are recognised as a Disability Confident Employer (Level 3). Disability Confident employers offer an interview to disabled applicants that meet the minimum criteria for a vacancy. Sellafield Ltd define the minimum criteria as the ‘essential skills’ which are listed on the vacancy notice. Whilst completing your application form, you will be able to indicate if you wish to be considered under the disability confident scheme. If you would prefer to discuss this directly with us, please contact the GBS Recruitment team on recruitment@sellafieldcloud.co.uk

Please ensure that you save a copy of this advert for future reference if you make an application for this role.

The closing date for this vacancy is 13th February 2026.