Operations Director (Environmental Services)

Are you a commercially minded senior leader who knows how to analyse a P&L and turn it into meaningful action? Do you excel at creating KPIs that drive performance, not just measure it? Are you at your best in consulting environments where teams are distributed, delivery is complex, and operational governance really matters?

Ready to lead operations in one of the UK’s fastest growing environmental consultancies? Do you enjoy bringing clarity, structure and commercial discipline to complex organisations? Can you build operational frameworks that help technical teams perform at their best while delivering strong financial and project outcomes?

APEM’s Water & Terrestrial Business Unit is entering a major phase of growth as investment in water resilience, ecosystem recovery, climate adaptation and sustainable infrastructure accelerates. We’re looking for an Operations Director to work alongside the Business Unit Director and leadership team to strengthen operational governance, commercial performance and workforce planning across the business.

This is a pivotal senior leadership role where you’ll help translate strategy into delivery. You’ll establish the frameworks, rhythms and governance that provide clear oversight of operational performance while enabling sectors and divisions to deliver high-quality work for clients.

Working closely with commercial finance, People Business Partners, HSEQ and senior technical experts in their field, you’ll drive improvements in forecast accuracy, resource planning and operational assurance while ensuring projects are delivered safely, compliantly and profitably.

If you’re an experienced operational leader, with a background in environmental consultancy and you enjoy improving how organisations run, this role offers the scale and autonomy to make a real impact.

What you’ll bring

Essential

• Significant operational leadership experience within an environmental consultancy
• Technical background within a freshwater, marine or terrestrial ecosystems discipline
• Strong commercial and financial acumen, including managing KPIs such as revenue, margin, utilisation and forecast accuracy
• Experience building and embedding operational governance and assurance frameworks
• Demonstrable HSE leadership and working knowledge of ISO management systems (ISO 9001, 14001, 45001)
• Experience in workforce planning and resource modelling (permanent, FTC and subcontractor mix)

Desirable / bonus

• Experience working with central Finance, Legal, People or HSE teams to deliver improvements in governance and compliance
• Experience integrating acquisitions or scaling operations in a high-growth organisation
• Postgraduate qualification in a relevant discipline

Why APEM?

At APEM, you’ll join a high-growth environmental consultancy delivering work that genuinely matters, from restoring ecosystems to supporting major infrastructure and climate resilience programmes.

This role offers real strategic influence, working at the centre of the Business Unit to shape how we operate, grow and deliver outstanding outcomes for clients and the environment.

Next steps

We are focused on creating a diverse and inclusive team. If you can’t tick every box on our job description, then we are still keen to hear from you and are open to supporting your development. That may be working part time or supporting you to gain experience in a specific area – we are a growing company and are able to adapt roles to reflect individual skills.

If you think you have what it takes to join our fast-growing business, then please apply immediately on our website. All we need some basic information and your CV, we will review all applications quickly and will respond to all applications.