Senior Technical Manager

Role Overview

Reporting to the Head of Technical Services, the Senior Technical Manager is responsible for leading multidisciplinary technical teams to deliver safe, compliant, and efficient estates and engineering services within a complex acute healthcare environment. The role provides leadership across mechanical, electrical, building fabric, and project delivery functions, ensuring maintenance services meet statutory, contractual, and operational requirements.

Core responsibilities include health and safety leadership, statutory compliance, financial control, and effective communication across all organisational levels. The role also provides technical leadership across other regional sites as required and deputises for the Head of Technical Services when necessary.

Impact

The role operates within a strict Service Level Agreement (SLA) and Key Performance Indicator (KPI) framework. Planned and reactive maintenance activities must be delivered within defined response and completion times to avoid service failure points and associated financial deductions.

Budgets are set and reviewed monthly to ensure financial control, profitability, and value for money across the contract and operating unit. Strong collaborative working is essential to ensure works are delivered in line with contractual obligations and client expectations.

Duties and Responsibilities

Leadership & Management

Provide visible, effective leadership to technical teams, ensuring contractual commitments are met or exceeded.

Promote and maintain a respectful, inclusive workplace culture, leading with professionalism and integrity.

Champion organisational values and best practice.

Act as senior technical escalation point and deputise for the Head of Technical Services when required.

Lead multidisciplinary technical managers, supervisors, and operatives, ensuring effective performance management.

Ensure succession planning, competency management, and authorisation frameworks are in place.

Health, Safety & Compliance

Ensure safe systems of work are implemented and adhered to at all times.

Maintain full compliance with statutory standards, regulations, and healthcare technical guidance.

Ensure health and safety policies are implemented across all direct labour and subcontractor activities.

Lead and support technical safety working groups and governance forums.

Maintain up-to-date compliance records, audit trails, and assurance documentation.

Technical Delivery

Oversee delivery of mechanical, electrical, and building fabric services in line with contract requirements.

Ensure maintenance standards are consistently achieved and improved year on year.

Allow discipline-specific technical managers to focus on business-as-usual delivery while acting as the primary client interface.

Manage planned preventative maintenance systems, lifecycle planning, and reactive response performance.

Act as an Appointed Person where required, subject to competence and experience.

Financial & Commercial

Ensure financial targets are achieved within agreed budget years.

Own forecasting, cost control, and performance reporting.

Identify and exploit opportunities for business growth, service development, and increased value.

Drive efficiency through continuous improvement and modernised working practices.

Performance & Continuous Improvement

Manage KPI reporting and performance evidence.

Promote harmonised, collaborative team working.

Drive digitisation of maintenance systems, asset data, and compliance records.

Lead continuous improvement initiatives to enhance service delivery and resilience.

Stakeholder Engagement

Act as the senior technical interface with healthcare stakeholders.

Attend Health & Safety forums, technical governance groups, union meetings, and staff engagement sessions.

Provide reliable, defensible, and clinically aware technical advice.

Support wider regional sites and business development activities as required.

On-Call & Additional Responsibilities

Participate in the on-call rota following appropriate training and experience.

Manage staff performance, appraisals, disciplinary matters, and grievances.

Proactively manage training and professional development needs.

Undertake any other duties reasonably required by management.

Role Complexity

This role operates within a high-acuity, 24/7 clinical environment where engineering decisions directly impact patient safety, clinical continuity, and regulatory compliance. It requires expert oversight of safety-critical mechanical, electrical, and building fabric systems across a major hospital estate.

The postholder is accountable for end-to-end statutory compliance aligned with national healthcare engineering governance frameworks. This includes maintaining comprehensive assurance evidence for audits, validation, risk assessments, authorised person activities, and safe systems of work.

Safety-Critical Mechanical Systems

The role requires advanced technical understanding of healthcare mechanical systems, including:

Ventilation systems supporting theatres, isolation rooms, and critical care environments.

Water safety systems, including hot and cold water services, infection control, and written schemes.

Medical gas pipeline systems, including alarm systems, validation, and defined authorised responsibilities.

Clinical Service Continuity

Planned and reactive works must be delivered within live clinical areas without compromising infection control, air quality, water hygiene, or clinical operations. Mechanical or electrical system failures can directly impact theatres, intensive care, diagnostics, and patient flow.

Contractual & Financial Pressure

The role operates within a performance-driven contract model where missed SLAs can result in financial penalties. Budget ownership, forecasting accuracy, lifecycle planning, and performance reporting are core responsibilities.

Leadership & Workforce Management

The role leads multidisciplinary technical teams, ensuring competence, authorisations, succession planning, and a safety-first culture. It serves as the senior technical authority and regularly deputises for the Head of Technical Services.

Modernisation & Digital Transformation

The role drives digital transformation of maintenance delivery, asset intelligence, compliance management, and adoption of industry best practice.

Qualifications and Experience

This job description outlines the main responsibilities of the role and may be amended following consultation with the postholder.

Essential

Full driving licence.

HNC (or equivalent) in a relevant engineering or building services discipline.

Extensive technical competence in mechanical and/or electrical engineering.

Proven management experience in healthcare or critical environments.

Experience managing planned preventative maintenance systems.

Strong understanding of statutory compliance and alternative maintenance regimes.

Experience conducting audits, technical reviews, and report writing.

Subcontractor management experience.

IOSH Managing Safely or equivalent.

Desirable

Degree or equivalent in a relevant engineering discipline.

Experience in complex, long-term service contracts.

Membership of a relevant professional institution.

Previous experience as an Authorised Person.

Strong working knowledge of healthcare technical guidance and governance frameworks.