Engineering and Facilities Manager

JOB TITLE: Engineering and Facilities Manager

DEPARTMENT: Facilities

REPORTS TO: Head Of Estates and Technical Services

LOCATION: Greater Manchester (Initially based in
Stockport with a move to Manchester Science Park in 2026) with regular travel to other premises.

PURPOSE OF THE ROLE:
Our client has a new and exciting opportunity for an Engineering and Facilities Manager. You will be a key part of a small team that is responsible for delivering a customer-focussed, high quality and efficient facilities management and engineering management service. This is a varied and challenging role based principally at their new headquarters (in construction on the Manchester Science Park), which will open partially in October 2025, and fully by Autumn 2026. This is a great opportunity to join an organisation which is passionate about its mission to enable scientific discoveries that improve human health and which has a complex, evolving and interesting technical infrastructure and growing estate within which you can make a real difference.
This is a very hands-on role where you will have responsibility for supporting the facilities management and engineering needs of our client’s brand-new state of the art headquarters, including fault diagnosis and first line repairs on numerous plant and laboratory systems, with an emphasis on large-scale and automated ultra-low temperature biological sample storage, sample processing, laboratory equipment and supporting services.
You will have accountability to, and be line managed, by the Head of Estates and Technical Services who has organisation-wide responsibility. You will manage a small team Of facilities specialists and liaise closely with specialist engineering support from suppliers. The team support all of our client’s locations (currently two sites in Stockport, our new site on Manchester Science Park, Newcastle, Reading, Bristol, together with serviced facilities in London and Oxford) and you will need to travel to these on regular basis as required.

PRINCIPAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
Lead engineering and facilities management for our client’s new headquarters (Greenheys, Manchester Science Park) under the direction of the Head of Estates and Technical Services.
Deputise for and support the Head Of Estates and Technical Services with all aspects of engineering and facilities management across multiple sites in the UK. Provide leadership and management for a small and growing team Of Senior
Facilities Officers and Facilities Officers”

Provide maintenance, fault diagnosis and first line repairs to all plant and
emergency/security systems.

Undertake regular checks of key systems onsite and remotely.

Assist with installation, commissioning, validation, calibration and ongoing maintenance of plant, equipment and systems, working with support engineers and other personnel from suppliers.

Create and maintain documentation and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for all key systems, creating a shared knowledge base.

Assist in quality and efficiency improvement programs, applying relevant process improvement methods where appropriate.

Manage onsite contractors in line with UK Biobanks Permit to Work system and Health and Safety regulations.

Liaise with the operators of Manchester Science Park, the main construction contractor and sub-contractors, the Greenheys landlord, and other building tenants on facilities matters before, during and after practical completion is achieved.

Work with the Health, Safety and Environment team to assist in the day-to-day management Of onsite Health, Safety and Environmental Management, including inspections and active monitoring of the facilities, systems and safety equipment. Willing to support out of hours working responding to system / site faults and activating UK Biobanks Business Continuity Plan when necessary.

PERSON SPECIFICATION
Essential Experience and Knowledge:
Experience of supporting complex facilities infrastructure and services.
Willing and able to complete all aspects of facilities maintenance.
Experience Of managing a team and having direct reports.
Experience in facilities management or engineering ideally in a hospital, clinical or laboratory environment.
Demonstrable customer-service focus for facility and equipment users. Able to work effectively in a team but also to complete agreed tasks with a minimum of supervision.
Able to work accurately to verbal or written instructions, and/or SOPs.
Willing and able to travel regularly to other UK Biobank locations in the UK.
Able to plan own workload and balance multiple priorities and tight deadlines.
Able to listen and clearly communicate results or issues.
IT literate, including use of Microsoft Excel, Word etc. or similar.
Full UK driving license.
Recognised facilities management, electrical or mechanical engineering qualification.
Desirable Experience and Knowledge:
Experience of working to a recognised quality system (e.g. ISO 9001). Experience of working with cryogenic storage systems and supporting services. Experience of Construction Design and Management (CDM) regulations and practice.
Experience in working with complex Heating, Ventilation and Airconditioning (HVAC) systems, refrigeration and refrigerant handling.
Experience of process improvement methods (e.g. Lean Six Sigma).