Operational Readiness Manager

• Lead the operational readiness programme from design review through handover and post-occupancy stabilisation, ensuring each phase gate is achieved to the agreed scope and timeline.
  
• Review design documentation against operability and maintainability requirements, and secure adequate facilities management space provision before the design is finalised.
  
• Define the safe access strategy for hard-to-reach areas of the facility, ensuring working methods and equipment are established well ahead of handover.
  
• Convert design decisions into draft cleaning and planned maintenance regimes ahead of handover.
  
• Witness and verify testing and commissioning activities across all building systems, confirming performance and retaining certification evidence within the compliance register.
  
• Manage the defect and snag rectification programme, prioritising items by operational impact and liability, and coordinating communication of any resulting service disruption.
  
• Drive the statutory approval process required to permit occupation, liaising with regulatory authorities and ensuring submissions are complete, accurate, and progressed on schedule.
  
• Lead asset identification, tagging, and verification, and ensure validated asset data is transferred into the maintenance management system ahead of handover.
  
• Establish the planned maintenance programme before occupancy, ensuring asset criticality and warranty positions are captured to support uninterrupted operation from day one.
  
• Mobilise the service teams and operating models, ensuring the workforce is recruited, trained, and equipped to deliver from the first day of occupancy.
  
• Establish skills requirements and training schedules, and secure OEM first-fix and fault-finding training to reduce reliance on vendor attendance at a remote site.
  
• Establish resilience, business continuity, emergency response, and fire evacuation arrangements, and maintain them into live operations.
  
• Plan and sequence occupant relocation and the wind-down of vacated premises, protecting continuity of business operations throughout the transition period.
  
• Plan the decommissioning, repurposing, or mothballing of vacated premises, maintaining maintenance and security cover throughout the transition.
  
• Govern the programme through agreed phase gates, with a shared risk register, tracked mitigations, and clear ownership at each step.
  
• Protect the Client's position on warranties, defects liability, and asset guarantees through the handover period and into operations.
  
• Report progress, risk, and readiness status to the Client and internal leadership.
  
• Ensure compliance with company policies and regulations related to the position.
  
• Stay updated on industry best practices to enhance professional performance and process improvement.
  

Requirements

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.
  
• Experience: Minimum 12 years of experience in Technical Facilities Management or Building Services, including new-build handover and mobilisation.
  
• Certification: CFM or an equivalent recognised Facilities Management certification is desirable.
  
• Handover Methodology: Experience with structured handover and soft landings from the design stage through occupancy.
  
• Smart Building Systems: Working knowledge of smart building technologies and performance monitoring dashboards.
  
• Estate Consolidation: Experience consolidating multiple occupied buildings into a single estate and managing the wind-down of vacated premises.
  
• Standards: Working knowledge of ISO 41001, 55000, 19650, 9001, 14001, 45001, SFG20, and BICSc.
  
• Safety Qualification: NEBOSH General Certificate or equivalent, with practical experience in permit-to-work and safe systems of work authorisation.
  
• Language: Ability to communicate and correspond effectively in English.