Estates and Facilities Operations Manager
Job description & person specification
Title: Estates and Facilities Senior Engineer
Department: Technical Services Department
Reports to: Estates and Facilities Operations Manager
Work patterns: 40-hour week
Main purpose of post:
We are seeking an experienced and forward-thinking Estates and Facilities Senior Engineer to lead the maintenance strategy for estate and facilities management at LLAOL. This is a key leadership role responsible for setting and driving standards, managing a team of in-house technicians and acting as the departments technical lead across the estate.
The successful candidate will play a pivotal role in shaping long-term asset performance, ensuring full compliance with health and safety legislation and delivering innovative, efficient, and sustainable solutions across the estate. You will also be expected to lead from the front on all matters of technical compliance, safety, and continuous improvement.
Key tasks and principal accountabilities:
The principal role is to maintain the building estates portfolio of LLAOL. This can require the candidate to fulfil such duties as;
- Strategic Technical Leadership
- Develop and implement the technical strategy for estate and facilities operations.
- Provide subject matter expertise across building services, infrastructure, and compliance requirements.
- Drive innovation and efficiency in building and maintenance practices, systems, and technologies.
- Team Leadership and Development
- Lead and manage a team of technicians, ensuring high performance, accountability, and continuous professional development.
- Foster a culture of collaboration, technical excellence, and health & safety awareness.
- Oversee training plans and technical upskilling to meet evolving business needs.
- Health & Safety and Compliance
- Champion a safety-first culture across all estate and facilities activities.
- Ensure full compliance with statutory regulations (e.g., H&S, fire, environmental).
- Conduct audits, risk assessments and oversee implementation of corrective actions.
- Project and Workstream Management
- Lead internal projects and improvement initiatives from concept through delivery.
- Manage technical input on capital and lifecycle replacement programmes.
- Collaborate with internal stakeholders and external consultants/contractors.
- Asset and Infrastructure Management
- Oversee asset condition assessments and ensure data accuracy within asset management systems.
- Develop long-term asset strategies, including maintenance, renewals and performance upgrades.
- Identify high-risk assets and coordinate targeted investment plans.
- Planned Preventive Maintenance (PPM) Oversight
- Ensure effective execution of PPM activities and monitor compliance against schedules.
- Work closely with the maintenance team and contractors to minimise downtime and disruption.
- Use data-driven insights to refine and optimise PPM strategies.
- System Oversight and Reporting
- Manage Computerised Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS), such as TABS FM.
- Oversee reporting tools to drive performance insight and data-led decision-making.
- Ensure accurate record-keeping for compliance, maintenance and project delivery.
- Performance & Quality Monitoring
- Track KPIs and performance across the estates function, reporting to senior leadership.
- Conduct quality assurance reviews on contractor and internal works.
- Drive continuous improvement through lessons learned, benchmarking, and innovation.
- Budget and Contract Management
- Support the development and management of the Estate and maintenance budget.
- Monitor spend, approve works and manage procurement in line with value-for-money principles.
- Lead contract performance reviews and hold suppliers accountable to SLAs.
- Emergency Response and Business Continuity
- Act as a senior technical lead during incidents affecting estate infrastructure.
- Coordinate engineering input during emergencies and participate in incident investigations.
- Support the development and testing of resilience and business continuity plans.
- Stakeholder Engagement and Communication
- Take the lead in key meetings, representing the estates function at both operational and strategic levels.
- Deliver clear, concise, and professional presentations to internal stakeholders, senior leadership and external partners.
- Be accountable for assigned actions, ensuring timely follow-up, resolution, and communication of outcomes.
- Build strong working relationships across departments to support effective decision-making and collaboration.
- Delivering the LLA Way
- Contribute to delivering a great guest experience by performing your role with accuracy and efficiency. Recognising that every task whether guest facing or behind the scenes contributes to supporting the company’s overall LLA Way Strategy and service standards.
- Proactively and positively promote the LLA Way initiatives and projects with all employees and the wider airport community.
Knowledge, skills and experience:
The ideal candidate is expected to hold and have some experience and knowledge in the following:
- Proven experience in facilities or estate supervision role.
- Proficiency in CMMS systems like TABS FM
- Strong organisational and project management skills.
- Excellent communication and stakeholder coordination abilities.
- Comprehensive knowledge of compliance standards, health and safety regulations, and asset management practices.
- Experience managing DEL / CEL.
- Health and Safety qualification – NEBOSH General / Construction preferred (desirable)
The role holder will possess the following skills:
- Strategic thinker with a proactive and solution-oriented approach.
- Strong leadership and team management skills.
- Ability to multitask and prioritize in a dynamic environment.
- Detail-oriented with a focus on delivering high-quality results.
- Adaptable and open to embracing new technologies and industry best practices.
- Flexible approach to duties and responsibilities
- Strong commitment to set objectives and positive “can do” attitude.
Personal Specification:
The candidate will be a results-driven professional with a passion for optimising building portfolios, we invite you to apply for this challenging and rewarding role. Join our team and contribute to the success of our property management initiatives.
This job description is intended to give an appreciation of the role and the range of duties and responsibilities to be undertaken. It does not attempt to detail every activity. Specific task and objectives will be agreed on an on-going basis. The post holder will be required at all times to perform any other reasonable tasks, as requested by the Line Manager in order to meet the operational needs of the business.
For any further information, please contact the Human Resources department [email protected] London Luton Airport Operations Ltd collects your personal information when you submit your application. For more details about the personal information LLA collects, how we collect it, why we need it, what we do with it, how long we keep it and what your rights are, please see our privacy notice at https://www.london-luton.co.uk/privacy-notice.
LLA is committed to fostering, promoting and preserving a culture of diversity, equality and inclusion, as we carry out our mission. We will always be respectful and seek to learn from those different from ourselves. We strive to be an equal opportunities employer, and we are determined to ensure that no applicant or employee has a negative experience for being who they are. We welcome all applications!
To apply:
Please email your CV and covering letter to [email protected] using reference FSE2908 in the subject line. In the body of the email please make sure to include the following:
- Current and expected salary
- Notice period/availability to start
- Right to work in the UK/sponsorship required
- Whether you are happy to travel to Luton 3 days a week