Job Description

Few environments offer the scale and operational complexity of Heathrow. When disruption occurs, strong resilience planning, clear leadership and a coordinated response are essential to maintaining safe and effective airport operations.

We are looking for an experienced resilience professional to lead Engineering’s approach to operational resilience, contingency planning and incident response.

You will lead the Engineering Resilience team, manage and develop the Engineering Incident Response Team and work across Heathrow to strengthen preparedness, response and recovery arrangements. You will ensure that critical Engineering services, assets and operational dependencies are supported by effective plans that are regularly tested and improved through exercises and learning from incidents.

The role combines strategic leadership with practical delivery. You may be leading a major exercise, advising a project on resilience requirements, briefing senior leaders on preparedness or providing leadership during a significant incident.

You will also participate personally in Heathrow’s on call incident response arrangements, undertaking an appropriate command and control role during significant disruption. This responsibility attracts additional payment in accordance with the relevant Heathrow on call policy.

• Lead and develop the Engineering Resilience team, setting clear priorities and building capability, competence and readiness.
• Identify critical services, assets and operational dependencies and ensure that proportionate resilience arrangements are in place.
• Lead the development, maintenance and assurance of Engineering resilience and contingency plans.
• Establish a risk prioritised programme of desktop, simulation and live exercises to test plans and command and control arrangements and manage and develop the Engineering Incident Response Team, including recruitment, training, exercising and readiness assurance.
• Participate in Heathrow’s on call incident response arrangements and provide calm, credible leadership during significant disruption and lead incident and exercise debriefs, ensuring that lessons result in clear actions and sustained improvements.
• Provide senior leaders with clear reporting and assurance on resilience risks, preparedness and improvement priorities and provide resilience expertise to projects, programmes, organisational change and the introduction of new assets, systems and services.
• Proven experience of developing, exercising and assuring resilience, contingency and recovery plans.
• Experience of performing a senior role within formal incident response or command and control arrangements.
• Experience of designing and delivering exercises, including debriefing and ensuring that identified improvements are delivered.
• Proven experience of leading and developing teams and building organisational capability. Strong understanding of operational risk, critical services, infrastructure dependencies and the consequences of significant disruption.
• Strong stakeholder leadership and influencing skills, with the ability to provide credible advice and constructive challenge at all levels.
• A relevant professional qualification, degree or equivalent professional experience in resilience, emergency planning, business continuity, crisis management or a related discipline.

There’s something so special about working at the world’s most iconic airport. Its sights. Its sounds. Its constant air of excitement. Heathrow is an amazing backdrop to a career filled with unique opportunities.

Every day, you’ll discover a world full of fresh possibilities and end the day buzzing with stories to tell, as you encounter people from all cultures, nationalities and experiences. A world full of pride for what we do and no end of exciting career prospects to explore.

It brings out the best in all of us. And inspires everyone to deliver on our ambitious plans. Together, we’re working to welcome millions more passengers while ensuring aviation can continue to be a force for good by leading global efforts in sustainability.

Join us on that journey and we'll help you achieve your ambitions too. Supporting you to learn, encouraging you to be yourself, backing you to achieve more than you might ever have imagined. Because there’s no place like Heathrow.

Our rewards

We offer competitive salaries and excellent benefits that will support you now and in the future. As well as performance-based annual bonuses and our longer-term Share in Success Bonus plans, we also offer generous annual leave allowances and market-leading pensions. With family friendly policies, access to private health insurance and a wide range of wellbeing tools, we’ll support you to be at your best inside and outside work. And of course, we’ll provide varied learning and development opportunities too. Here you’ll find everything you need for a fulfilling career journey that can take you in exciting directions.

Working Location

Our Hybrid working approach offers the opportunity for colleagues in some roles to work from home for an average of two days a week, providing the flexibility to work in an agile way whilst ensuring we deliver for the operational needs of Heathrow. Working arrangements vary from team to team and will be confirmed during the recruitment process. You’ll need to be based in the UK and within a commutable distance to Heathrow.

Sustainable Travel to work

Heathrow’s Sustainable Travel Guide sets out easy and sustainable travel options that everyone can access.

Equal Opportunities

As an equal opportunities employer, we encourage applications from all. We believe that diverse talent makes us stronger – not least because we welcome passengers from all corners of the globe, every single day. Heathrow is an accessible place to work. With five diversity networks, we champion inclusivity and celebrate individuality.