Director - Engineering - P&T Southampton

Director – Engineering – Southampton  

About the Role

DP World Southampton is seeking a Director of Engineering to lead the strategic direction, performance, and transformation of our terminal engineering function. This is a critical leadership role, accountable for maximising asset uptime, optimising operational performance, and enabling safe, efficient, and profitable terminal operations.

You’ll lead all aspects of engineering across mobile plant, cranes, workshops, and ancillary equipment, while shaping and delivering a long‑term asset management strategy. Working closely with terminal operations and the wider UK business, you’ll play a key role in supporting growth, driving continuous improvement, and leading the terminal’s automation and decarbonisation agenda.

NOTE: This is a full-time role that requires daily on-site presence.

How You Will Contribute

• Set and deliver the long‑term engineering strategy, aligned to terminal operations, business goals, and UK objectives.
• Lead the safe, reliable delivery of engineering services, ensuring high asset uptime, performance, and quality.
• Provide strong people leadership, developing engineering managers and building a high‑performance, inclusive culture.
• Partner closely with Operations and cross‑functional teams to support terminal performance, growth, and change.
• Take a leading role in terminal safety, environmental management, decarbonisation, and sustainability initiatives.
• Drive continuous improvement and innovation, embedding best practice across engineering processes and performance.
• Own the engineering budget and resource strategy, ensuring effective cost control, capability, and workforce planning.
• Lead the adoption of automation, AI, and new technologies in line with the UK engineering strategy.
• Define and embed a robust Asset Management strategy, ensuring assets are optimised across their full lifecycle.
• Monitor asset performance and lead cross‑functional solutions to improve reliability, value, and utilisation.
• Support governance by chairing or deputising within Asset Management forums and guiding organisational change.

What You Will Bring

• Qualified engineer with a strong grounding in engineering principles, systems thinking, and asset‑intensive environments.
• Extensive experience in engineering leadership, leading managers and large, complex technical teams.
• Proven ability to lead engineering functions through growth, change, or transformation.
• Strong expertise in asset management, reliability, and engineering governance within operational environments.
• Demonstrated leadership in safety, risk, compliance, and quality management.
• Experience overseeing large projects or programmes, from planning through to delivery.
• Commercially astute, with experience in budget, resource, and cost management.
• Ability to assess and balance risk, probability, and consequence in line with wider business priorities.
• Strong strategic thinker with the ability to translate strategy into executable plans.
• Confident communicator, able to influence senior stakeholders and cross‑functional teams.

Compensation

DP World offers exciting and challenging roles within a growing international organisation. We strive to hire and develop the right people, locally and globally, stimulating personal growth and self-development within an informal atmosphere. We offer a market competitive compensation package.

About DP World

Trade is the lifeblood of the global economy, creating opportunities and improving the quality of life for people around the world. DP World exists to make the world’s trade flow better, changing what’s possible for the customers and communities we serve globally.

With a dedicated, diverse and professional team of more than 103,000 employees spanning 75 countries on six continents, DP World is pushing trade further and faster towards a seamless supply chain that’s fit for the future.

We’re rapidly transforming and integrating our businesses—Ports and Terminals, Marine Services, Logistics and Technology—and uniting our global infrastructure with local expertise to create stronger, more efficient end-to-end supply chain solutions that can change the way the world trades.

We're reshaping the future by investing in innovation. From intelligent delivery systems to automated warehouse stacking, we’re at the cutting edge of disruptive technology, pushing the sector towards better ways to trade, minimising disruptions from the factory floor to the customer’s door.

WE MAKE TRADE FLOW
To Change What's Possible For Everyone

Diversity & Inclusion

DP World is committed to the principles of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO). We strongly believe that employing a diverse workforce is central to our success and we make recruiting decisions based on your experience and skills. We believe that employees are happiest when they’re empowered to be their true, authentic selves. So, please come as you are. We can’t wait to meet you.