Senior Lab Operations Manager

Package: Competitive Salary + Benefits

Role ID: SF19952

Are you ready to be part of the future? At QinetiQ, we’re not just imagining tomorrow we are creating it. From cutting-edge defence technology to ground-breaking innovations our mission is to empower and protect lives. Join us as a Senior Lab Operations Manager at our Farnborough site, where you will have the opportunity to work with cutting-edge technology in partnership with some of the most brilliant minds.

The Role

As a Senior Lab Operations Manager, you will provide operational leadership and subject matter expertise across a portfolio of technical laboratories and facilities. You will ensure facilities are safe, secure, compliant and available, while leading and coordinating a team of Facility Managers and working closely with engineering teams and delivery programmes to de‑conflict demand and optimise utilisation.

The role covers facilities at Farnborough and Gosport, including:

• Training Innovation Facility
• Batteries, Cables & Connectors
• Hybrid Electric Drive Systems
• Advanced Batteries and Power Sources
  
  
  

Day-to-day, you’ll act as the operational lead for your assigned facilities, manage your team of FMs creating a standardised practice, deliver first line audits, and cost centre management. You will oversee operations and coordinate demand across teams, plus the potential decommissioning and recommissioning of other sites.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Providing functional leadership to a team of Facility Managers and facility support staff
• Ensuring laboratories and facilities are safe, secure, compliant and fit for purpose
• Coordinating and de‑conflicting facility, equipment and resource usage with internal and external customers
• Maintaining compliance across H&S, security, governance, audit and accreditation requirements

Leading continuous improvement activities to standardise and improve facility operations

Supporting cost centre management and investment planning across assigned facilities

Essential experience of the Senior Lab Operations Manager:

• Experience managing multiple facilities, laboratories or complex technical environments
• People management experience, including all professional and personal development activities, managing and monitoring team members’ objectives to deliver effective services
• Strong understanding of health, safety and risk management in an operational setting by championing best practice promoting a positive safety culture in line with our business standards and expectations
• Ability to work with multiple stakeholders to balance competing priorities and resolve complex queries, escalating when appropriate
• Experience coordinating operational delivery within a regulated environment
  
  
  

Essential qualifications for the Senior Lab Operations Manager:

• Degree‑level qualification in engineering, technical or facilities discipline, or equivalent experience
• IOSH or NEBOSH qualification (desirable not essential)
  
  
  

We value difference and we don’t have a fixed idea when it comes to background or education, provided you can show the required level of experience and willingness to learn then we would like to hear from you.

This role is 37 hours per week based at our Farnborough site, with visits to our Gosport site expected once per month.

Farnborough

At our Farnborough site exciting work takes place at our state-of-the-art facility, with high-energy laser technologies, our 5m pressurised wind tunnel which has a simulation capability that is unique in the UK and our large research and development projects is a real hub of creativity, research and innovation. Join our talented teams of Engineers, IT & Cyber Specialists, Project Managers, Group Functions Teams and many more to provide future defences in the UK.

Why Join QinetiQ?

As we continue to grow into new markets around the world, there’s never been a more exciting time to join QinetiQ. The formula for success is our appetite for innovation and having the courage to take on a wide variety of complex challenges.

As a QinetiQ employee, you’ll experience a unique working environment where teams from different backgrounds, disciplines and experiences enjoy collaborating widely and openly as we undertake this exciting and rewarding journey. Through effective teamwork, and pulling together, you’ll get to experience what happens when we all share different perspectives, blend disciplines, and link technologies; constantly discovering new ways of solving complex problems in a diverse and inclusive environment where you can be authentic, feel valued and realise your full potential. Visit our website to read more about our diverse and inclusive workplace culture. www.qinetiq.com/en/careers/life-at-qinetiq

Our Benefits

• Matched contribution pension scheme, with life assurance
• Generous holiday allowance, with the option to purchase additional days
• Options to join Health Cash Plan, Private Medical Insurance and Dental Insurance
• Employee discount portal: Personal Accident Insurance, Travel Insurance, Restaurants, Cinema Tickets and much more
• We are proud to support the Armed Forces community by honouring the Armed Forces Covenant and maintaining our Gold Award standard in the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme
• Volunteering Opportunities - helping charities and local community
  
  
  

Our Recruitment Process:

We want to make sure that our recruitment process is as inclusive as possible and we aspire to bring out the best in our candidates by creating an environment where everyone feels valued, heard and supported. If you have a disability or health condition that may affect your performance in certain assessment types, please speak to your Recruiter about potential reasonable adjustments.

Many roles in QinetiQ are subject to national security vetting being completed, applicants who already hold the appropriate level of vetting may be able to transfer it upon appointment. A number of roles are also subject to additional restrictions, which means factors such as nationality or previous nationalities may affect the roles that you can be employed in.

Please note that all applicants for this role must be eligible for SC clearance, as a minimum.

UKSV National Security Vetting Solution: guidance for applicants - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

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