Chief Operating Officer

Job content

We are recruiting a new COO to deliver large scale smart retrofit projects to social housing clients in Belgium, the UK and beyond as well as support our wider growth objectives.

The COO is responsible for developing the systems and processes needed to deliver energy renovation at scale while maintaining exemplary standards of Health, Safety and Quality Assurance.

The KES Quality Assurance remit covers construction quality, energy monitoring, excellent service to clients and positive experiences for residents who live in their homes during renovation.

The COO will also ensure that these standards are upheld by the operations team and by KES sub-contractors.

You will report to the Managing Directors and will be required to work closely with KES-CFO and Commercial Team to ensure client satisfaction and competitive offer to the market.

Your direct report will be Construction Program Manager, the Head of Building Research, the Head of Project Infrastructure and the Senior Technical Advisor.

Main tasks are :

Managing Operations Team

• Deliver strategic objectives set by the Managing Directors in line with the company’s values,
  
• Have overall responsibility for the delivery of KES’s renovation and new build projects,
  
• Support the operationalization of new business activities beyond the current renovation and new build projects,
  
• Ensure a high level operational excellence in the delivery of identify and manage operational risks and opportunities for improvement,
  
• Convene the Health and Safety Task Force working closely with the Internal Prevention Advisor and External Prevention Advisor (Securex) to ensure pro-active and reactive H&S monitoring is implemented across the Operations Team and its projects.
  
• Set departmental objectives that promote a coordinated and integrated approach to managing information, quality and innovation in renovation.
  
• Work with Heads of Department to enhance project tracking and reporting to support communication and decision-making at all levels.
  

Develop systems and processes for scale

• Identify and prioritize systems and processes required to scale up the delivery of renovation projects as well as new build projects and other business activities,
  
• Establish internal project teams and/or convene task forces where necessary to design and develop systems and processes to support the operations team,
  
• Identify cross-departmental dependencies, risks and opportunities and work with stakeholders to support development of company-wide systems and processes,
  

Technological and Operational Integration

• With the support of the Senior Technical Advisor, work closely with the Building Research, Data Science and Product teams to ensure that reporting is integrated and responds to the needs of the renovation projects,
  
• With the Commercial Team, ensure that the Operation Team’s deliverables and departmental technology roadmaps align with the needs of clients and the commercial context.
  

The ideal candidate will have a background in operations management.

• 5-10 years of experience managing public contracts, projects or large teams in the construction sector, or another fast paced, high risk sector,
  
• Experience developing and maintaining relations with building chain partners,
  
• Strong track record managing change and/or rapid scale up,
  
• Excellent understanding of public procurement in the EU member states,
  
• Strong interest in and openness towards technological advances in the construction sector,
  
• Ability to effectively communicate with all levels of the organization,
  
• Excellent organizational and interpersonal skills,
  
• Fluent in English and either Dutch or French.
  

Desirable Requirements

• An understanding of the policy drivers and technical requirements of social housing energy profits in Belgium,
  
• Enthusiasm for tackling climate change, decarbonization and being part of the green recovery/green industrial revolution.
  

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