Job Description
We are seeking to hire a Production Thinking Lead to join our Technical Excellence Team to increase productivity across design and delivery through the adoption of both novel and proven best practice methods, driving consistent adoption across all sectors. The Production Thinking Lead is a key role in Costain, reporting to the Head of Innovation within the Technical Excellence team. Production Thinking goes beyond modern methods of construction by drawing on case studies from across our natural resources and transportation divisions. As well as improving productivity, application of production thinking will increase predictability, improve safety and quality and contribute to more sustainable and better commercial outcomes across our contracts. As a production thinking lead, you will be the focal point for the business interfacing with our delivery teams, internal design and engineering teams, our customers, our peers, the supply chain, R&D and professional institutions and senior leadership within Costain to drive improvements across the whole value chain. Hybrid role, predominantly home based, with office attendance circa 2 days a week in Manchester or London and some travel expected to UK locations such as suppliers, offices and similar as per business needs.
Responsibilities
- Provide support for the application of production thinking to engineering, delivery and work winning teams as required
- Maintain and grow the production thinking champions community
- Maintain and grow our production thinking supply chain to support future growth and connect them with relevant opportunities to support contract needs
- Deliver training and upskilling to the business around production thinking
- Maintain the current production thinking assets present on The Costain Way and MyLearning and periodically refresh / update as required
- Track, quantify and report benefits delivered through production thinking, and any emerging trends
- Support effective knowledge share across Costain providing a key, cross sector point of contact
- Continue to grow Costain's reputation externally as a market leader in production thinking through external communications, presentations etc
- Work closely with the innovation, digital engineering and sustainable engineering teams to deploy and scale novel solutions
- Use the innovation process to identify, de-risk and introduce new methods, approaches and solutions to the production thinking menu of opportunity
- Provide support and insight on measurement and improvement of productivity
- Support wider business initiatives such as digital transformation, operational excellence and sustainable procurement
- Support Head of Innovation in RDEC tax credit schemes
Essential Knowledge, Skills, and Experience
- Experienced in major infrastructure programmes / projects in the UK
- Proven understanding of constructability and how design interfaces with site operations / temporary works to achieve an efficient build
- An understanding of modern methods of construction and production thinking
- Visible leader with clear communication, presenting and influencing skills
- A natural curiosity to seek out alternative methods and a drive for continuous improvement
- A drive to upskill themselves and keep up with market trends
- Self-motivation and ability to work independently
- Proven relationship and network building skills
- Be able to achieve UK security clearance at SC level
- Evidence of complex problem solving
Desirable Experience
- Experience in multiple sectors / work areas aligned to Costain business and growth ambitions
- Experience in delivering production thinking solutions
- Mobility to work on various projects throughout the UK
- Environmental / carbon / sustainability awareness
- Awareness of digital tools and delivery systems
- Strong collaboration skills
- Experience of demonstrating resilience in complex, fast paced environments
- Experience of adapting quickly, taking initiative and responding to changing priorities
- Mentoring skills to upskilling capability to support the wider organisation
Essential Qualifications
- Educational experience relevant to their discipline, ideally degree qualified to a 2:1 or better
Desirable Qualifications
- Professionally qualified in an aligned technical discipline such as Chartered Engineer
- Project Management qualification / training, such as APM
