National HVAC and Water Manager

About the role

The National HVAC & Water Manager provides strategic leadership, technical governance and portfolio-wide performance oversight for HVAC, water hygiene and building environmental systems across a large national retail portfolio. Working Monday to Friday 08:00-16:30, home-based with national travel, the role defines engineering strategy, assures supplier delivery, drives asset performance and leads national improvement programmes supporting operational resilience, compliance, energy efficiency and customer experience. It owns the annual Fit for Summer and Fit for Winter programmes and acts as principal advisor on HVAC engineering, water hygiene compliance, asset strategy, lifecycle planning, sustainability and business continuity.

Key responsibilities

• Develop and maintain the long-term HVAC and water strategy, portfolio standards, engineering policies and maintenance philosophies, and lead continuous improvement programmes.
• Own the Fit for Summer and Fit for Winter programmes, coordinating suppliers, contractors and the National Mobile Team for seasonal readiness, pre-season inspections and preventative maintenance.
• Provide strategic direction for the National Mobile Team and coordinate national engineering support during major incidents and critical asset failures.
• Own HVAC and water asset strategies, develop lifecycle plans based on condition, age and operational risk, and support capital investment, replacement and refurbishment programmes.
• Lead relationships with service providers, monitor supplier performance against KPIs and contractual commitments, and drive corrective action plans.
• Oversee statutory compliance, technical assurance reviews and audits, ensuring partners meet legal obligations and technical standards.
• Own the water management strategy and water hygiene compliance, including ACOP L8, HSG274, Water Regulations and legionella management, overseeing legionella control, temperature monitoring, sampling, tank and calorifier inspections, flushing programmes, TMV servicing and water treatment.
• Serve as the senior HVAC and Water representative in executive governance forums, advising on asset investment and portfolio risk and presenting performance, risk and improvement plans to senior leadership.

Required profile

• Significant experience managing HVAC, water hygiene or building services across large multi-site portfolios.
• Experience managing outsourced service providers and governance frameworks.
• Excellent stakeholder management, influencing and reporting skills.

Required skills

• Knowledge of commercial HVAC systems, BMS, ACOP L8 and HSG274 requirements.

OCS UK & Ireland is a facilities management company with more than 50,000 colleagues and a turnover exceeding £2bn, offering digital learning through its academy, retail perks via the Hapi app, professional growth opportunities and flexible pay through the Wagestream App.