Performance & Quality Lead

Are you ready to make a lasting impact on one of the UK’s most iconic road networks?

Connect Plus (CP) is the consortium that manages the 30-year National Highways flagship M25 DBFO contract, with over 140,000 assets and a management system certified to ISO 55001. The contract end date is 2039.

Connect Plus Services (CPS), a Balfour Beatty, AtkinsRéalis and Egis Roads Operation UK Joint Venture, operates and maintains the M25 motorway network on behalf of Connect Plus (CP).

The Performance & Quality lead is responsible for:

• Ensuring that business performance requirements defined in the M25 DBFO contract are clearly defined and measured.
• Defining and implementing Quality Management System policies and procedures compliant with relevant standards ISO 55001 and ISO 9001.
• Monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of the Quality Management System, including undertaking compliance and business improvement audits to ensure compliance with applicable standards and regulations.
• Ensuring business performance is measured, analysed and contract Performance Points tracked and reported.
• Developing business and contract performance metrics and reporting tools to effectively demonstrate performance alignment and focus areas for presentation to senior leadership and the CPS Board.
• Supporting engagement across internal directorates, with the DBFO Co (Connect Plus) and the end-client (National Highways) to understand their view of performance on the contract.
• Identifying Performance Improvement Plans for areas of weak performance and proposing mitigation in agreement with internal stakeholders and ensuring regular progress updates to relevant stakeholders.
• Supporting CPS business areas to retain industry accreditations, such as ISO 27001 Information Security, by guiding teams through the audit process and engaging with external audit organisations.
• Supporting specialist business efficiency measures, such as Lean/6-Sigma, with the objective of delivering ongoing operational cost savings across the business through the removal of waste support or other improvement processes.

Accountabilities:

• Implementing and managing CPS business ISO 9001 compliant Quality Management System, policies and procedures to deliver the requirements of the DBFO contract and drive efficient internal business quality and reporting.
• Developing and delivering a Business Improvement Plan that supports the overall CPS Business Strategy.
• Implementing a robust internal audit and review procedure and plan to effectively evaluate and identify improvement opportunities across all areas of the CPS organisation and ensure compliance with applicable standards and regulations.
• Proactively monitoring key performance and contractual metrics and indicators to facilitate proactive intervention prior to non-conformances occurring.
• Managing the process of performance reporting in line with contract requirements, including collating monthly KPI information as well as quarterly and annual reporting required by the business and contract.
• Supporting client liaison and stakeholder management to respond effectively to escalated performance and quality concerns.
• Managing the process of Performance Point Events (PPE) and Investigations, promoting the use of self-policing of compliance as well as ensuring that compliance issues raised by CP or NH are properly investigated and addressed in collaboration with the relevant business unit.
• Working closely across the business and with stakeholders to support a programme of business improvements and the delivery of the business strategic improvement targets, applying Lean/6-Sigma principles to improve business efficiency and drive continuous improvement.

What you will bring:

Qualifications/ skills/ experience:

• A relevant professional qualification, ideally a Quality Assurance professional certified to ISO 9001 or similar qualification with a recognised UK institution.
• Project-focused leader with demonstrable experience building collaboration in teams for continuous improvement.
• Strong experience and application of ISO 55000 for highways infrastructure or similar environment.
• Strong stakeholder influencing and management skills.
• Experience of developing quality and business assurance policies, processes and procedures.
• Experience of quality auditing and implementing business performance monitoring reporting using Power-BI or similar digital tools.

Personal attributes:

• An inspirational leader who sees the big picture, empowers decisions and influences problem solving.
• Effective strategic communicator with the ability to confidently challenge and achieve positive outcomes.
• Emotionally intelligent leader, with demonstrable skills to nurture and develop outcome-focused and positive teams.
• Strong analytical, planning and decision-making skills to drive continuous improvement.
• A problem solver who identifies and implements solutions to challenging business issues.
• Commercially and politically astute to navigate complex issues.
• Ability to be resilient and adaptable in a dynamic environment.

Behaviours:

• Inspiring: Champions curiosity and continuous improvement, role modelling change and managing risks to achieve project outcomes.
• Energising: Role models positive and energised project-focused attitudes towards continuous improvement.
• Challenging: Seeks and advocates improvements to add value and drive continuous performance.
• Challengeable: Encourages a culture of skilled challenging and seeks to understand and explore challenges to enable improvement.
• Influencing: Builds commitment and consensus, and role models CPS leadership behaviours to deliver our goals.

About Us:

CPS represents an exciting collaboration between industry giants Balfour Beatty, AtkinsRéalis, and Egis! Together, we spearhead the operation and maintenance of none other than the M25—the bustling heartbeat of European motorways. Imagine the thrill of orchestrating over £100 million of annual investment into this vital highway infrastructure, meticulously planning and executing projects amidst the constant flow of traffic. Whether you’re already immersed in the world of Highways or eager to embark on this exhilarating journey, the M25 promises an unparalleled experience, brimming with challenges and opportunities that simply cannot be matched elsewhere!

We foster diversity and inclusivity in our workplace, actively welcoming applications from qualified individuals of all backgrounds. Regardless of race, colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status, all are encouraged to apply. Our goal is to cultivate a supportive and respectful environment where every employee can excel. If you need accommodations during the recruitment process, please inform us.

Location:

This is a hybrid role designed to fully maximize team collaboration on the project, we therefore expect a minimum of 60% of your time to be spent at CPS offices.

Note to all internal CPS employees:

If you are interested in applying, please submit your application through your parent company’s careers portal by entering the job title in the search bar. If your employing company is not advertising this role, please submit your CV and the role title to recruitment@connectplusm25.co.uk.

We are committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive community – a place where we can all be ourselves, thrive and develop. To help embed inclusion for all, from day one, we offer a range of family-friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements and employee networks to support staff from different backgrounds. As an Equal Opportunities Employer, we value applications from all backgrounds, cultures and abilities.