Group Director of Safety, Health, Environment, and Quality & Compliance (SHEQ) - ML046

Job Summary

The Group Director of SHEQ for UK&I Bus and Coach Division will be a strategic leader and trusted advisor to the business and the board.

Driving a transformational change agenda across the UK & Ireland Bus and Coach Division. This role is critical in shaping a high-performing compliance-led, safety-first culture, embedding group-wide best practices and standards across operations.

The Group Director of SHEQ will lead the evolution of SHEQ from being operational to a strategic enable department, championing cultural change, ISO-accredited excellence, and future-ready risk management.

This includes supporting business tenders, delivering safety strategy, and influencing behaviour change at all levels of the business,.

This role requires a visionary leader with a proven track record of delivering large-scale transformation in complex, regulated, customer facing environments.

Main Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership & Governance

• Lead the development and execution of the SHEQ strategy across the UK & Ireland Bus and Coach division, ensuring alignment with the wider group’s objectives and regulatory environment.
• Advise the executive board on SHEQ risks, opportunities, and performance metrics

Transformational Change

• Drive and deliver cultural transformation across safety, wellbeing, environment and compliance – shifting mindsets, behaviours, and practices to create a proactive , accountable safety culture

Tender & Bid Support

• Play a key role in tender submissions and mobilisation for new contracts, particularly where SHEQ requirements are mission critical. Provide thought leadership in SHEQ design for future operations

Group Best Practice

• Act as a champion for consistency and innovation across the Group, sharing insights and standardising approaches where appropriate to raise the overall safety and compliance standard.

Compliance & Risk Management

• Ensure full legal and regulatory compliance across all SHEQ matters, including reporting, investigation and resolution of incidents. Lead internal governance processes and readiness for external inspections.
• Ensure full compliance with UK legislation, regulatory requirements, and ISO standards (ISO 9001, ISO 45001, ISO 18001), ensuring robust audit, assurance, and risk mitigation practices.
• Standardise Safety, Risk, Quality and Environmental Frameworks and Policies across the Group
• Create annual audit program to ensure compliance to all standards and frameworks

Claims / Insurance

• Provide strategic leadership to the claims teams and have oversight of the group’s insurance claims management approach, ensuring effective governance, risk reduction, and alignment with operational and legal requirements across all our businesses.
• Lead the group’s corporate insurance strategy, working with internal stakeholders and insurance partners to ensure fit-for-purpose coverage that protects the organisation’s assets and operations.

Corporate Risk

• Set the direction for group-wide risk management, ensuring robust frameworks are in place to identify, assess, and mitigate strategic, operational, and reputational risks across CDG UK&I Bus and Coach.

Sustainability

• Oversee the coordination and quality assurance of all Group Reporting related to ESG, safety, governance, and risk, ensuring insight-driven outputs that support executive and board-level visibility and action.

Stakeholder Engagement & Influence

• Represented the business with industry bodies, regulators, and key partners.
• Liaise with the HSE, Environmental offices, Councils, contractors, fire service and other regulatory and professional bodies, in regard of investigations, introduction of new technologies, and future development of sites.
• Work collaboratively with operational teams, unions, and engineering staff across all our businesses to promote ownership of SHEQ standards at every level

People Leadership

• Lead, inspire and develop the SHEQ Business Unit Heads, ensuring they are empowered, capable and aligned top a high-performance culture.
• Built team capability for the future
• (This list is not exhaustive)
• Degree-qualified, ideally in a related field such as Engineering, Environmental Science, Occupational Health & Safety, or Risk Management
• Chartered Member or Fellow of a recognised professional body (e.g. IOSH, IEMA, CQI)
• Proven track record of delivering SHEQ transformation in complex, multi-site, regulated environment – ideally in transport, infrastructure, utilities, or similar safety critical sectors.
• Minimum 10 years experience in senior operational SHEQ roles
• Experience contributing to complex tenders or mobilisation of large contracts
• Strong working knowledge of UK health & safety and environmental legislation and best practices

Essential Criteria

• Degree-qualified, ideally in a related field such as Engineering, Environmental Science, Occupational Health & Safety, or Risk Management
• Chartered Member or Fellow of a recognised professional body (e.g. IOSH, IEMA, CQI)
• Proven track record of delivering SHEQ transformation in complex, multi-site, regulated environment – ideally in transport, infrastructure, utilities, or similar safety critical sectors.
• Minimum 10 years experience in senior operational SHEQ roles
• Experience contributing to complex tenders or mobilisation of large contracts
• Strong working knowledge of UK health & safety and environmental legislation and best practices

Competencies & Skills

• Must be a good communicator and have the ability to influence the safety culture;
• Confident influencer with gravitas, credibility, and excellent stakeholder management skills
• Strong analytical, strategic thinking, and problem solving capabilities
• Ability to manage own workload effectively and work to strict deadlines;
• Ability to use initiative and identify solutions when a problem or difficult situation arises;
• An understanding/appreciation of the service requirements and the management of day to day operational issues;

How to apply

Interested parties should apply via this link only as we have engaged our Executive Recruitment Agency to manage the process

The Equality Act

ComfortdelGro is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment with due regard to legal obligations for protected characteristics i.e. age, disability, marriage and civil partnership, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion and belief, sex and sexual orientation.

Applications

Applications should include:

• the reasons you are applying for the post;
• why you believe you are a suitable candidate;
• provide examples of how you meet the competencies & skills;
• any relevant qualifications or experience.