Why You’ll Love Working With Us
Some of the key benefits for the position and employment at Programmed, include:
- Competitive compensation: Receive an attractive base salary aligned with your experience + $18,200 vehicle allowance.
- Exclusive employee perks: Access discounts and benefits with over 600 retailers, including Coles, Woolworths, BWS, Dan Murphy’s, The Good Guys, JB Hi-Fi, BCF, SuperCheap Auto, and many more!
- Salary sacrifice benefits: Take advantage of novated vehicle leasing, income protection insurance, and other financial perks.
- Investment in you: We're passionate about personal and professional growth, offering access to certificates, webinars, mentorship, and practical training to help you thrive in your career.
- Your well-being, our priority: Strong safety culture, generous paid parental leave and access to our Employee Assistance Program, including tailored well-being initiatives designed to support your personal and family needs.
About the Opportunity
We are seeking an experienced and commercially astute Operations Manager to lead the delivery of electrical, plumbing, and general trade maintenance services and project upgrades at Melbourne Airport. This permanent full‑time role is responsible for the safe, efficient, and high‑quality delivery of services across a critical, long‑term customer contract.
Based on site at Melbourne Airport (VIC), you will have end‑to‑end accountability for operational performance across three core trade streams; Electrical, Plumbing, and General Trades, and lead a workforce of approximately 50 staff.
This is a highly visible role requiring strong stakeholder engagement, operational leadership, and a data‑driven mindset. You will play a key role in translating operational data into actionable insights, improving service delivery, driving productivity, and identifying cost‑saving and continuous improvement initiatives while maintaining exceptional safety and compliance standards.
This opportunity offers the chance to shape and optimise service delivery in a complex, high‑profile airport environment, while strengthening client relationships and driving sustainable operational outcomes.
Key Responsibilities
- Provide overall leadership and operational oversight for electrical, plumbing, and general trade maintenance services and project upgrades across the Melbourne Airport contract.
- Lead, coach, and support a team of Facilities Managers (FM), Supervisors and operational support staff, ensuring strong performance, engagement, and accountability across all trade streams.
- Maintain full responsibility for contract delivery, including safety, quality, financial performance, compliance, and customer satisfaction.
- Utilise operational and financial data to identify trends, risks, and opportunities, translating insights into practical improvements and cost‑saving initiatives.
- Drive continuous improvement across systems, processes, and service delivery, enhancing efficiency, productivity, and reliability.
- Build and maintain strong, collaborative relationships with key client stakeholders, subcontractors, and internal business partners.
- Oversee project upgrade works, ensuring scope, cost, schedule, and quality outcomes are achieved in line with contractual and operational requirements.
- Ensure all activities comply with relevant legislation, airport requirements, and company safety, quality, and environmental standards.
- Provide accurate reporting on operational performance, financial outcomes, risks, and improvement initiatives.
- Act as a visible safety leader, embedding a strong safety culture across all teams and activities.
About You
To succeed in this role, you will bring a strong background in operational leadership within maintenance, facilities management, construction, or asset‑intensive environments, ideally within regulated or high‑risk settings. You are a confident people leader who combines operational excellence with strong commercial acumen and a practical, solutions‑focused approach.
You are highly capable of using data to inform decisions, improve performance, and deliver measurable outcomes, while maintaining a strong focus on client service and workforce engagement.
Additionally, you will demonstrate and possess the following:
- Proven experience leading multi‑disciplinary operational teams, including FM, supervisors and frontline trades.
- Demonstrated understanding of electrical, plumbing, and general maintenance operations, with trade qualifications, maintenance experience, or a technical background considered advantageous, not essential.
- Demonstrated experience managing large contracts and workforces in complex operating environments.
- Advanced capability in analysing operational and financial data to drive performance improvements and cost efficiencies.
- Strong commercial acumen, including budgeting, forecasting, and cost control.
- Exceptional stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to build trust and influence at all levels.
- A proactive, pragmatic problem‑solver with the ability to manage competing priorities and operational challenges.
- Commitment to safety leadership, compliance, and continuous improvement.
- Alignment with our core values: Safety Leadership, Care & Empathy, Customer Service, and Diversity, Inclusion & Equality.
About Us
Programmed is a leading provider of operations and maintenance services across all industry sectors including education, health, infrastructure, manufacturing, transport and mining in Australia and New Zealand.
Our Facility Management business unit partners with our valued clients to deliver a comprehensive range of facilities management from small repair work to managing large-scale facilities and infrastructure networks.
We encourage career development, support flexibility and care about your personal wellbeing and safety. Join the Programmed team today.
Work With Us
Submit your application today and join us on our mission to build outstanding people, strong customers, and great communities.
Our Commitment
Programmed and PERSOLKELLY supports a workplace culture of zero harm and encourages this in all that we do.
Programmed and PERSOLKELLY strives for diversity, inclusion and equality of our people. We seek a workforce that is representative of the communities we work in. We encourage people of all cultures, gender, age, sexual orientation or abilities to apply.
To learn more about working with Programmed and PERSOLKELLY, we encourage you to visit our website.