Head of Operations, Engineering and Maintenance
Likely
Sponsorship likelihood
This employer has issued visas recently
Not disclosed
Salary
Not disclosed by employer
£54,000
Going rate
Skilled Worker going rate
This role likely qualifies for a Skilled Worker visa
SOC 1123 (85% match) is an eligible occupation, with a going rate of £54,000, and Sembcorp Industries Ltd is a licensed sponsor. That is our reading of the rules. Whether they issue a Certificate of Sponsorship is still their call.
This could also be SOC 1139 (Functional managers and directors not elsewhere classified) or SOC 1121 (Production managers and directors in manufacturing). We read the code off the advert, so it is our best guess, not the employer's.
New graduate or PhD holder? Pick one of the lower rates.
What each route needs for this job
| Occupation code | New entrant 70% of going rate | STEM PhD 80% of going rate | Relevant PhD 90% of going rate | Standard rate 100% of going rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1123 Production managers and directors in mining and energy Most likely code | £37,800 | £43,200 | £48,600 | £54,000 |
1139 Functional managers and directors not elsewhere classified Also possible | £52,300 | £59,700 | £67,200 | £74,700 |
1121 Production managers and directors in manufacturing Also possible | £38,500 | £44,000 | £49,500 | £55,000 |
We use the lowest threshold across the plausible codes. Likelihood is Possible at most when the pay clears only a lower rate, or only under a less likely code. How the Home Office picks the code
About the role
Head of Operations, Engineering and Maintenance
Reporting to: Head of Transformation
Location: Flexible/remote working, with regular travel to operational sites and Wilton
ABOUT SEMBCORP
Sembcorp Industries (Sembcorp) is a leading energy and urban solutions provider, led by its purpose to drive energy transition. Headquartered in Singapore, Sembcorp delivers sustainable solutions to support energy transition and urban development by leveraging its sector expertise and global track record.
Sembcorp Energy UK (SEUK), a wholly owned subsidiary of Sembcorp Industries, is a leading provider of sustainable solutions supporting the UK's transition to Net Zero. With an energy generation and battery storage portfolio of over 1.3 GW in operation or under development, our expertise helps major energy users and suppliers improve their efficiency, profitability, and sustainability, while supporting the growth of renewables and strengthening the UK's electricity system.
Our Wilton International site, within the Teesside Freeport, sits amongst a hub of decarbonisation innovation. At the site, we provide energy-intensive industrial businesses with combined heat and power (CHP) via our private wire network that supplies electricity generated by gas and biomass.
These services are complemented by our fleet of fast-acting, decentralised power stations and battery energy storage sites situated throughout England and Wales. Monitored and controlled from our central operations facility in Solihull, these flexible assets deliver electricity to the national grid, helping to balance the UK energy system and ensure reliable power for homes and businesses.
PURPOSE AND SCOPE
Lead the safe, reliable and efficient operation, engineering and maintenance of Sembcorp Energy UK's flexible generation and battery storage fleet. The role is accountable for maximising mechanical and electrical availability, improving asset reliability, implementing regulatory requirements, developing organisational capability and delivering sustainable performance within a disciplined operations and maintenance (O&M) budget.
The role has authority to recommend and implement organisational, maintenance and operational changes within approved budgets and company governance requirements.
Provide visible leadership and demonstrate personal commitment to health and safety, ensuring risks are effectively managed and a strong safety culture is maintained across the fleet.
KEY ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
- Lead the safe, reliable and efficient operation, engineering and maintenance of the flexible generation and battery storage fleet, with direct accountability for mechanical and electrical availability, operational readiness and delivery of market-led performance requirements.
- Develop and deliver, with Energy Trading and other stakeholders, seasonal fleet-readiness plans that align winter availability, summer maintenance windows, outage priorities, asset constraints and recovery actions with changing market-led operational requirements.
- Own technical integrity across the fleet, including engineering standards, technical governance, management of change, risk-based deviation decisions and the operations, engineering and maintenance risk register. Restrict asset operation or defer a commercial commitment where safety, compliance or equipment integrity is at risk, escalating promptly through the appropriate governance route.
- Define and implement the fleet maintenance strategy and delivery model, determining the appropriate balance of internal capability, original equipment manufacturer (OEM) support, long-term service agreement (LTSA) provision and specialist contractors within the approved organisation and annual budget.
- Drive asset reliability and maintenance effectiveness through proactive planning, condition-based monitoring, critical spares strategy, root cause failure analysis, defect elimination and optimisation of preventative and predictive maintenance programmes.
- Hold direct performance accountability for the operations, engineering and maintenance organisation, including Area Supervisors and engineering functional leaders. Assess organisational capability, set clear expectations, develop succession and workforce plans, and reshape responsibilities and team structures within the approved organisation to ensure the skills, capacity and leadership required for sustained performance.
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
Essential:
- Substantial technical and operational experience in gas-fired power generation or a comparable asset-intensive environment. A relevant engineering or technical degree would be advantageous but is not essential.
- Substantial leadership experience in operations, engineering or maintenance, gained as an established senior leader or as a strong deputy-level candidate able to demonstrate readiness for full functional accountability.
- Strong technical leadership capability, with predominant mechanical and electrical expertise in gas-fired generation and the judgement to draw effectively on specialist expertise where required.
- Demonstrated experience leading multi-site or geographically distributed operations, engineering and maintenance teams, with direct accountability for performance management, organisational capability and workforce development.
- Proven accountability for delivering an approved operations and maintenance (O&M) budget, including prioritising and reallocating expenditure to balance fleet availability, operational risk and cost across ageing or distributed infrastructure assets.
- Proven accountability for technical integrity, engineering standards, management of change, operational risk and risk-based technical decisions, supported by strong knowledge of maintenance strategy, reliability engineering, condition monitoring and outage planning.
- Experience translating changing commercial or market requirements into seasonal availability, outage, maintenance and operational-readiness plans, using operational data and KPIs to drive delivery and corrective action.
- Experience leading the operational response to significant plant incidents, including recovery, business continuity and implementation of lessons learned, with sound knowledge of relevant UK health, safety, environmental and regulatory requirements.
Desirable:
- Experience of battery energy storage systems, including accountability for asset availability and oversight of LTSA provider performance.
- Experience of the UK energy market and the ability to advise on the interaction between trading requirements, operating strategy, maintenance cost, reliability risk and asset degradation.
- Familiarity with SCADA, CMMS/EAM platforms, predictive maintenance technologies, reporting tools and digital asset-management systems.
- Professional registration or relevant certification in engineering, maintenance, health and safety or asset management.
BENEFITS
- Competitive basic salary dependent on experience
- Discretionary performance-based bonus
- 26 days annual leave plus bank holidays
- Stakeholder Pension Scheme
- Private Health Insurance
- Group Income Protection Scheme
- Life Assurance
- Flexible working
- Training and Development
- Car Allowance
For more information or for a confidential chat please contact Anthony Antoniou at Imperial Recruitment Group
This description is the source posting as it read when we added it. We are not affiliated with Sembcorp Industries Ltd, so check their own site for the current details.
Where this offer sits in the market
Production managers and directors in mining and energy (SOC 1123) · UK · ONS ASHE 2025 · basic pay · ~12k in sample- Middle half £47,528–~72,280
- Median £59,904
- Going rate £54,000
- Threshold £41,700
- New entrant £37,800–48,600
Similar sponsored roles
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Browse more sponsored jobs at Sembcorp Industries LtdAbout sponsorship for this role
Does this job guarantee visa sponsorship?
Not necessarily. Sembcorp Industries Ltd holds a sponsor licence, but sponsorship for a specific hire is always the employer's decision. Be upfront in your application that you'll require it.
What salary is needed for this role to be eligible?
The offer must clear both the general threshold and the SOC 1123 going rate of £54,000. New-entrant and shortage discounts can lower it.