Security and Public Safety Discipline Lead

About this role

The Security & Public Safety Discipline Director provides strategic, commercial, operational, technical and people leadership for the UK+ Security & Public Safety Consulting Discipline. The role is accountable for sustainable growth, profitability, technical quality, client success and the development of a capable, collaborative and resilient team aligned with Buro Happold’s business objectives and values.

The role represents the discipline internally and externally, builds market presence, maintains high standards of professional practice and ensures that immediate commercial priorities are balanced with long-term capability, succession and service development.

This is both an operational and strategic role. The discipline exists as a part of a range of technical disciplines which together create the Specialists Consulting group. The discipline itself needs to operate profitably and within an atmosphere of mutual support and personal development which we would expect the Discipline Leader to encourage and implement. The Discipline Leader would seek to grow the capability of the team as a response to the growing demands of our clients.

Beyond the discipline we would look to the Discipline Leader to work with other technical disciplines and Project Principals to create new commercial opportunities for Buro Happold through collaborations between teams. Specifically, we would seek a leader of this group who can nurture a world class leading Security consultancy and continue developing our offer at a global level within the firm collaborating with façade leaders in other regions.

Ultimately, the Discipline Leader will provide leadership to individuals and team, as well as the UK Security group as a whole. The Discipline Leader will demonstrate commitment to leadership, commercial performance, technical innovation and work winning as well as stretching boundaries of the service offer.

Core accountabilities*

Strategy and growth

•

Develop and maintain the discipline delivery plan, aligned with business unit, regional and corporate objectives.

•

Define short-, medium- and long-term growth priorities, including emerging markets, new services and strategic opportunities.

•

Establish and communicate a clear direction for the discipline, supporting constructive change and continuous improvement.

•

Represent the discipline in internal leadership forums and through selected external industry, client and professional networks.

Commercial performance and finance

•

Accountable for commercial performance, including revenue, gross margin, operating profit, profitability, utilisation, revenue per head, budget performance and overhead expenditure.

•

Lead annual business planning, budgeting, forecasting and performance review with relevant regional and finance leadership.

•

Maintain clear visibility of pipeline, conversion, opportunities, risks and operational efficiency, taking action where performance requires improvement.

•

Ensure project portfolios under the role holder’s leadership are commercially successful, risk-managed and appropriately reported.

Clients, work winning and market development

•

Develop and maintain strategic client relationships both internally and externally, supporting key accounts, repeat business and direct-to-client commissions.

•

Sponsor major pursuits, framework opportunities, proposals, submissions and interviews where senior discipline leadership is required.

•

Work with technical and business development colleagues to convert high-quality opportunities aligned with Buro Happold’s strategy and values.

•

Contribute to market development through publications, speaking engagements and participation in professional forums where appropriate.

Technical leadership, quality and governance

•

Provide senior technical leadership and assurance across the discipline, supporting consistent standards, quality processes and professional practice.

•

Be a credible technical lead in at least one area of security consulting, such as protective security, cyber security, blast engineering, resilience, operational security, security systems engineering or public safety advisory.

•

Sponsor technical guidance, methodologies, tools, innovation and knowledge-sharing across the discipline and wider practice.

•

Ensure design rigour, quality assurance, risk management and technical reviews are planned and delivered on relevant projects.

•

Project leadership and delivery

•

Provide executive project leadership where appropriate, including acting as Project Director on selected projects or multidisciplinary commissions.

•

Support client relationships, project performance, delivery quality, commercial outcomes and portfolio risk management.

•

Balance project and non-project commitments to support personal delivery, business leadership and discipline development.

People, culture and inclusion

•

Create the conditions for a high-performing, engaged, inclusive and collaborative discipline culture.

•

Support line managers and project leaders with clear expectations, coaching, delegation, feedback and accountability.

•

Lead recruitment planning, workforce growth, succession planning, capability reviews, mentoring, professional registration support and leadership development.

•

Promote wellbeing, inclusion, internal progression and constructive collaboration between offices, teams, regions and disciplines.

Resource, capacity and operations

•

Oversee discipline resource planning, utilisation, workload balancing and workforce forecasting.

•

Coordinate workshare and skills deployment across offices, regions and international teams where appropriate.

•

Maintain visibility of capability gaps, capacity constraints and operational issues, and work with relevant teams to resolve them.

Service development and innovation

•

Develop and improve consulting services, including advisory-based offers, digital and automated solutions, recurring revenue opportunities and improved delivery methods.

•

Encourage experimentation, creativity and continuous learning while ensuring that new services are commercially viable and technically robust.

•

Build relationships across clients, industry, government, academia and professional bodies to support capability growth and market relevance.

•

Risk, compliance and reporting

•

Ensure compliance with corporate governance, quality, health and safety, equality, diversity, inclusion, ethical and risk management requirements.

•

Protect the reputation of the business through clear governance, responsible decision-making and appropriate escalation of risk.

•

Report discipline performance, risks, opportunities and actions through relevant UK Specialist Consulting and regional leadership forums.

Success measures

•

Success will be assessed through a balanced set of financial, growth, client, technical, people, operational and governance outcomes, including:

•

Delivery of the discipline strategy and achievement of agreed business plan targets.

•

Sustainable revenue growth, profitability, utilisation, gross margin, operating profit and revenue per head.

•

Growth in work won, pipeline value, conversion, direct client revenue, repeat business and strategic account development.

•

Strong client satisfaction, consistent technical quality, effective assurance and reduced project rework or avoidable issues.

•

Employee engagement, retention, wellbeing, inclusion, internal progression, succession readiness and reduced key-person dependency.

•

Effective resource planning, collaboration, workshare, capacity management and workforce forecasting.

•

Launch and growth of relevant services, innovation initiatives, market profile and strategic partnerships.

•

Robust governance, audit outcomes, risk visibility and timely completion of agreed actions.

Experience and qualifications*

Essential

•

Significant experience leading a security consulting, engineering, advisory or related professional services business, practice or discipline.

About security roles for ex-police

Security management, operations and consultancy roles. Years of operational policing — command, incident response, public order — translate directly into corporate security, and employers in this sector actively rate police experience.