Plant Manager

We are seeking an experienced Plant Manager to lead a modern energy-from-waste and materials recovery facility. You will be responsible for delivering safe, compliant, and high-performance operations while driving continuous improvement across all operational, maintenance, and EH&S activities. This is based just south of Glasgow.

This is a senior leadership role, accountable for all site employees and for ensuring the facility meets contractual, regulatory, and performance standards.

Key Responsibilities

Operational Leadership

• Deliver operational performance that meets or exceeds contractual and internal expectations.
• Ensure all operational and maintenance activities comply with statutory requirements and company EH&S standards.
• Monitor, manage, and accurately report all key performance indicators.
• Lead daily operations of both the Energy-from-Waste (EfW) and Materials Recovery Facility (MRF).
• Identify opportunities to improve plant efficiency, reliability, and output, including developing business cases and action plans.
• Support and oversee maintenance functions, including annual outages and unplanned event response.
• Manage budgets, forecast requirements, monitor variances, and implement corrective actions.

EH&S and Compliance

• Implement and uphold the organisation's Health, Safety, Environmental and Quality Management Systems.
• Drive a proactive safety culture with strong workforce engagement.
• Ensure compliance with the site's Environmental Permit, investigating and reporting exceedances when required.
• Manage operations in line with ISO standards and ensure all QEHS actions and non-conformances are closed out.

People & Stakeholder Management

• Lead, develop, and support all site employees, including recruitment, training, coaching, performance management, and discipline where required.
• Maintain a safe, secure, and legally compliant working environment.
• Manage relationships with external stakeholders, including regulators, goods and services providers, and interested parties.
• Collaborate with other facilities and functional teams to share best practice and deliver group-wide improvements.

Key Accountabilities

• Health & Safety performance in line with legislation and corporate policies.
• Environmental compliance and performance.
• Achievement of site KPIs (availability, performance, outputs, etc.).
• Delivery against annual budgets and cashflow.
• Compliance with all regulatory and internal requirements.
• Effective support to other company departments and facilities.

Skills, Experience & Qualifications

Essential

• Extensive senior operational management experience, ideally within power generation, waste, or similar heavy industry.
• Strong technical understanding of EfW, gasification, or steam cycle plant (boilers, steam turbines, auxiliaries).
• Qualification in engineering (or equivalent experience).
• Proven experience with QEHS management systems and regulatory compliance.
• Experience with SOPs, permit-to-work systems, and maintenance management processes.
• Strong leadership capability, with a track record of building, developing, and motivating teams.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills.
• Ability to perform under pressure and manage time-critical operational demands.

Desirable

• Operational experience of gasification technologies.
• Advanced engineering or operational qualification.
• NEBOSH, IOSH, IEMA or similar certifications.
• High Voltage Authorised Person experience.
• First Aid qualification.
• BOAS certification or equivalent.