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Director of Safety & Compliance

International Remit | Aviation, Quality & QHSE | Executive Leadership

We are supporting an international, highly regulated organisation with the appointment of a Director of Safety & Compliance to lead its Safety, Quality and Compliance function across multiple international entities.

Reporting directly to the Managing Director, this is a senior group-level appointment with responsibility for establishing a consistent Safety & Compliance strategy across the organisation, bringing together specialist teams operating within individual businesses and providing executive-level assurance around regulatory compliance, quality, safety and risk.

The organisation operates within safety-critical markets where the quality and reliability of its products genuinely matter. It has a strong market position, ambitious growth plans and an exceptionally low level of employee turnover.

The Role

The Director of Safety & Compliance will sit at the top of the group's Safety, Quality and Compliance structure, providing strategic leadership across both aviation regulatory compliance and wider Quality/QHSE activities.

Responsibilities will include:

• Providing group-level leadership across Safety, Quality and Compliance.
• Establishing a consistent strategy, governance framework and reporting structure across multiple international entities.
• Providing oversight of aviation regulatory approvals and ensuring continued compliance with applicable approval-holder obligations.
• Leading the organisation's approach to ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001.
• Providing executive oversight of regulatory, certification, customer, internal and supplier audit programmes.
• Ensuring effective Management of Change, risk monitoring and corrective-action processes.
• Providing oversight of Safety Management Systems and wider safety governance.
• Monitoring regulatory change and ensuring requirements are effectively implemented across the organisation.
• Bringing together specialist Safety & Compliance personnel across different locations and creating an effective group-wide operating model.
• Acting as a trusted adviser to senior leadership and providing assurance around regulatory, safety and compliance risk.
• Building credible relationships with regulatory authorities and other external stakeholders.

The Background

There are potentially two routes into this position.

You may already be an experienced Aviation Safety & Compliance leader, with exposure to environments such as EASA/CAA Part 21, Part 145, aerospace manufacturing, MRO, aviation services or other aviation approval-holder organisations.

Alternatively, you may be a senior Quality/QHSE leader from another highly regulated engineering, manufacturing, defence, energy or safety-critical environment, with extensive experience of ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 and the capability and appetite to develop your knowledge of aviation regulation.

Deep specialist aviation knowledge is therefore highly desirable but not essential.

What is essential is the ability to operate credibly at senior level, challenge technical specialists, bring different teams together and provide leadership with confidence that regulatory and compliance obligations are being properly managed.

Experience across ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 will be particularly important.

The Opportunity

This is not simply an operational compliance position.

The successful individual will have the opportunity to lead the Safety & Compliance agenda across an international group, working directly with senior leadership while drawing upon established technical specialists within the individual businesses.

Contact information

James Nelson