Advert Close date: 30/07/2026
Purpose of Role:
At The Crown Estate, we create lasting and shared value for the nation. As Safety First Lead, you will play a pivotal role in shaping and driving a culture where health, safety and environmental excellence are embedded across a diverse and complex property portfolio.
Acting as a strategic partner and trusted advisor, you will lead the development of best-in-class HSE frameworks, ensuring compliance, strengthening operational resilience and supporting the delivery of safe, sustainable places for our customers, communities and colleagues.
This is a highly influential role operating across portfolio management and portfolio operations, spanning commercial, retail and residential assets, as well as activations, refurbishments and capital projects. You will work closely with internal teams, contractors, tenants and external stakeholders to strengthen governance, improve performance and embed a proactive “Safety First” culture throughout the portfolio.
Context of opportunity / Main accountabilities:
Leading the development, implementation and continuous improvement of health, safety and environmental management systems aligned to ISO 45001 and wider regulatory requirements.
Partnering with Portfolio Operations and Portfolio Management teams to identify, assess and manage HSE risks across a broad range of activities and projects.
Creating and maintaining a portfolio-wide risk register and driving effective risk mitigation strategies.
Developing and reviewing HSE policies, procedures and governance frameworks to ensure compliance and operational effectiveness.
Supporting building surveying and project teams to ensure health and safety considerations are embedded from project inception through delivery.
Leading incident and near-miss investigations, identifying root causes and implementing preventative actions.
Chairing governance forums and driving behavioural and cultural change initiatives across the organisation.
Designing and delivering HSE training programmes to build capability and ensure compliance with legislative requirements.
Providing meaningful performance insights, reporting and recommendations to senior stakeholders.
Managing audit, inspection and assurance activities, including supplier and contractor performance reviews.
Collaborating with the wider HSSEW team to deliver strategic action plans and continuous improvement initiatives.
Most important skills based requirements:
Extensive experience in health, safety and environmental management within property, facilities management or a related sector.
Chartered IOSH membership preferred.
NEBOSH Diploma or equivalent qualification.
Strong knowledge of UK health, safety and environmental legislation and industry best practice.
Expertise in at least one specialist risk area such as Working at Height, CDM Regulations 2015, Business Continuity Planning, Fire Engineering or Fire Safety Design.
Understanding of residential compliance requirements, including the Building Safety Act and associated legislation.
Experience delivering fire safety, building safety or related compliance projects.
Practical experience implementing and maintaining ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001 and HSG65 frameworks.
Strong auditing, governance, compliance monitoring and performance reporting experience.
Excellent project management, stakeholder engagement and influencing skills.
Proven ability to develop policies, procedures and operational standards.
Strong communication skills with a collaborative, customer-focused approach.
Ability to work independently, manage competing priorities and deliver results in a fast-paced environment.
Demonstrated experience driving continuous improvement, behavioural safety programmes and values-led cultural change.
Our Offering / benefits:
As well as a competitive salary, pension and performance related bonus offering, we have a wealth of benefits available ranging from flexible working; market leading family policies and shopping discounts in the West End, to private healthcare; life and critical illness cover and 28 days holiday with the option to buy more. We value work life balance and your wellbeing highly, enabling you to be your best self to work.
Disability Disclaimer:
We are a proud disability confident employer and operate the offer of interview scheme Disability Confident employer scheme - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
We are happy to offer alternative application methods or formats and can be flexible on our process to enable you to have the best opportunity.
If you have any questions about our recruitment process or would like to talk about adjustments, please contact us directly, or at careers@thecrownestate.co.uk
Please note that if we receive a high volume of applications, we may close this advert early. We encourage you to apply as soon as possible.
At The Crown Estate, our role is to put the nation’s interests first.
We manage land, property and the seabed across England, Wales and Northern Ireland - independently, commercially and for our nation’s future.
We’re investing and playing a key role in delivering net zero and energy security, nature recovery and biodiversity, and supporting inclusive communities and economic growth, all while responsibly creating financial value for the UK.
We return our profits to the UK government for public spending, which has totalled more than £5 billion over the last ten years.
We manage a diverse £15 billion portfolio, making a lasting impact, today and for generations to come. This includes urban centres and development opportunities; one of the largest rural holdings in the country; Regent Street and St James’s in London’s West End; and Windsor Great Park. We also manage the seabed and much of the coastline around England, Wales and Northern Ireland, where we have an ambitious vision for how the UK’s seabed can support nature recovery and the transition to clean energy.
