Operations Director - Sustainability - Cities and Places lead at Mace Consult Limited

At Mace, our purpose is to redefine the boundaries of ambition. We believe in creating places that are responsible, bringing transformative impact to our people, communities and societies across the globe. Within our consult business, we harness our unique combination of leading-edge practical expertise and project delivery consultancy to unlock the potential of every project. Our values shape the way we consult and define the people we want to join us on our journey, they are:

Safety first - Going home safe and well
Client focus - Deliver on our promise
Integrity - Always do the right thing
Create opportunity - For our people to excel

The role:

We are a purpose led organisation that places diversity and inclusion at the heart of everything we do. Our global Responsible Business Centre of Excellence (CoE) bring themselves to work each day to make a difference. To create a connected and resilient world, shaping cities and building thriving communities, and helping our clients realise ambitions beyond delivery.

You will be the Responsible Business EU Market lead for Cities and Places, to be based in the UK. This is a leadership role, working with ambitious and outcomes focussed clients and colleagues to deliver purpose-led impacts.

You’ll be responsible for:

·         Leading the Market for the Cities and Places, working closely with the EU Hub and Global Responsible Business CoE lead and senior leadership across the Cities & Places markets, to set strategy and deliver the business plans

·         Driving service excellence and client satisfaction, assuring standards and processes across the Market, delivering purpose-led and measurable outcomes for clients, with particular focus on decarbonisation and climate change, biodiversity and social value

·         Driving growth of income from Responsible Business services and leading work winning with clients across Cities & Places projects and programmes

·         Oversight and awareness of the financial performance of Responsible Business consultancy services, ensuring commercial performance is in line with revenue, margin and utilisation targets

·         Enhancing the RB Cities and Places consultancy service offers, developing market differentiators, as well as identifying and bringing new service offers and products to market

·         Leading a team of 30+ people, supporting a right shoring in Spain, collaborating with CoE colleagues in the Americas, APAC and MEA Regional Hubs

·         Identifying, coaching and mentoring talent; supporting professional and career development, while building capability in the regional hub

·         Working collaboratively with other Mace CoE, including Project & Programme Management, PMO & Planning, Cost & Commercial Management, and Business Advisory, to help integrate responsible business outcomes into all service lines

·         Representing the company and clients in a public forum, attending internal and external events to represent and raise the profile of Mace and Responsible Business services

·         Championing Market for the Cities and Places contribution to the delivery of the Mace 2026 business strategy priorities and corporate targets, in particular our Pursuit of a Sustainable World to maximise our carbon handprint and help our clients save 10 million tonnes of carbon emissions, generate £1.3bn of social value, and create 500ha of new biodiverse space

Your technical expertise:

•       Mastery in delivery of sustainability and social value services

•       Experience across several Cities and Places sectors

•       Awareness of contract and commercial procedures

•       Excellent communication (written, verbal & presentational) skills, alongside the ability to assure service delivery and provide meaningful / actionable insights

•       Strong problem-solving skills

•       Up to date on key tools available in the market in the service delivery arena.

•       External networking, collaboration & business development skills. May represent the business on professional institution / industry wide committees / boards

About you:

•       Able to engage, motivate and coach others at all levels, role modelling inspirational and inclusive leadership

•       Able to persuade and influence at all levels, be an active member of the Regional Hub leadership team and to delegate effectively

•       Able to build and lead high performing teams

•       Able to navigate and manage across a matrix organisation

•       Able to navigate politics and cultural sensitivities

•       Have high levels of empathy

•       Able to deal with conflicting demands and juggle priorities

•       Are curious and able to respond to new and changing market demands and opportunities