About the job
Are you looking to take the next step and lead outstanding SHE performance across around 100 plus construction projects, across England and Wales? Willmott Dixon, one of the UK’s largest independent construction and property services companies is seeking a proactive and forward‑thinking Safety, Health, and Environment (SHE) Director to lead our dynamic national team.
Reporting to the Chief Sustainability and Compliance Officer, you will play a pivotal role in providing both strategic leadership, and day-to-day management of the SHE team. Your primary focus will be to ensure safety, well-being, and environmental excellence on our projects, both in operation and preconstruction, supporting our supply chain, our people, and our customers. This role will involve working closely with senior SHE leadership, establishing strong relationships with teams in our regional businesses and promoting a culture of safety and continuous improvement.
The Role
1. Deliver agreed SHE services to the business.
2. Demonstrate visible leadership and expertise in SHE across the business, setting the long-term strategy, whilst building strong and positive relationships with our people, our customers, and our supply chain partners.
3. Lead, motivate, and manage a high-performing team to support the delivery of both customer and company requirements.
4. Increase organisational knowledge, capacity, capability, and consistency relating to SHE through the sharing and implementation of best practices.
5. Lead investigations into accidents, incidents, and service strikes, liaising with regulators where required, establishing root causes and implementing corrective actions with shared learning across the business.
6. Ensure regional compliance with environmental management through inspections and risk assessments.
7. Measure and report regional and national SHE performance, advising the Main Board and Regional Boards on areas for improvement and implementation.
8. Chair the National SHE Steering Group, facilitating collaboration and communication.
9. Communicate national initiatives and our response to changes in legislation simply and efficiently.
10. Foster a customer-centric approach within the SHE team, delivering high-standard support and service.
11. Understand the business's operations, identifying areas for improvement while adapting to challenges to achieve optimal results.
The Ideal Candidate:
12. Experienced leader, ideally of a central team, used to working in a matrix organisation serving multiple business areas.
13. Relationship builder and trusted advisor– someone who is respected by Directors and can communicate at their level.
14. An inspiring leader with initiative and a drive to make things happen.
15. Willing to challenge the status quo and find simpler, more efficient ways of working.
If you're ready to drive excellence in Safety, Health, and Environment, join us at Willmott Dixon and make a positive impact on our projects and people.
This is a hybrid role with your team located throughout England and Wales. So, although we don’t have a major preference to your home location you would need a willingness to travel to connect with your team, meet our people, see our projects, lead meetings, etc.
We value leadership, innovation, and the ability to drive change so whilst we would prefer construction experience, we would consider experience in another sector but you should have a knowledge of CDM (Construction Design Management).
Essential and Desirable Criteria
Essential
16. Able to use Microsoft suite of office programmes including Excel, Word, Outlook, and PowerPoint.
17. Chartered Member (CMIOSH) of the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH).
18. Level 6 qualification in Occupational Safety and Health.
19. Associate member of IEMA.
20. Valid driving licence.
21. Ongoing CPD to a professional standard.
Desirable
22. Fellow Member (FIOSH) of the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH).
23. Safety, Health & Environment related degree.
24. Relevant experience in operational work stream and transferable skills.
25. Specialist knowledge in some key areas of H, S & E e.g. CDM Regulations, Waste Management, lifting operations, asbestos management, occupational health management etc.
26. Appropriate CSCS Card
Proven experience of:
27. Managing a successful team.
28. Working with Senior managers and health, safety and environmental teams to improve performance standards.
29. Data and root cause analysis.
30. Managing Safety, Health, and Environment procedures
31. Reading and interpreting safety, health, and environmental documents and legislation.
32. Educating others on issues surrounding safety, health, and the environment.
33. Leading and supporting internal and external audits of ISO45001, ISO9001 and ISO 14001 standards.
34. Report writing and written communications.
35. Demonstrable experience in leading and supporting incident investigations.
36. Experience in presenting and/or public speaking, including training.
37. Using Health and Safety Executive, Building Safety Regulator and Environment Agency/ Natural Resources Wales’ publications and other industry websites to improve safety performance.
38. Establishing and managing professional relationships with representatives from enforcing authorities.
39. Reviewing new products and standards and making recommendations for implementation.
Benefits
In return we reward our people generously with a competitive package that gives you flexible benefits to fit your lifestyle and priorities. This includes but is not limited to, an enhanced pension scheme, full / heavily discounted private medical, life assurance, incentive bonus and a car scheme which will make us a market leader in sustainable company travel. Applicable roles will benefit from a motoring expenditure allowance (MEA) and everyone can access a new generation of low carbon and electric cars via the Willmott Dixon-run car leasing scheme.
Willmott Dixon was awarded No1 in the Best "Big" Companies (2022) to work for and already holds the Times Top 50 Employers for Women 2022. We have recently been honoured in the King’s Awards for Enterprise for Social Mobility (2023) and Sustainable Development (2024). These sit proudly alongside our Queen’s Awards in 2014, 2018, and 2019 making us the first company to secure five awards.