Head of Delivery & Performance (Business Operations)

Job Description:

Adepto Technical Recruitment are partnered exclusively with a rapidly expanding carbon capture business, who are driving towards their next phase of scale.

To support this, our client is now looking to hire a Head of Delivery & Performance who will play a crucial role in the executing the companies business strategy and driving operational standards and practices to acheive key objectives and milestones.

If you are someone who enjoys building structure, clarity and momentum in growing organisations, whilst thriving in an entrepeneurial environment where impact is visible and meaningful then this might just be the role for you.

This is a senior, hands-on leadership role responsible for end-to-end delivery, operational alignment, and performance enablement across Technical, Commercial, and Operations teams. You will act as the company’s central delivery lead — ensuring strategy is translated into clear plans, teams are aligned, and progress is visible, measurable, and reliable.

This role goes beyond coordination. You will establish the systems, cadence, and accountability required for a fast-moving, high-growth climate-tech business — helping teams succeed, addressing issues early, and ensuring commitments turn into outcomes.

Key Responsibilities

Company-Wide Delivery Leadership

• Translate Board and leadership priorities into clear, resourced, and time-bound delivery plans.
• Own and maintain the integrated master plan across R&D, scale-up, commercial, grants, operations, finance, and corporate activity.
• Proactively identify critical paths, capacity constraints, and delivery risks — driving mitigation and recovery actions where needed.

Execution Framework & Performance Visibility (Systems, KPIs, OKRs)

• Own the project management system as the company’s single source of truth for projects, milestones, tasks, and KPIs.
• Define clear, measurable objectives for individuals and teams aligned to company OKRs and strategic milestones.
• Ensure every team member has clarity on priorities, deliverables, deadlines, and success metrics.
• Produce clear weekly and monthly delivery dashboards for the CEO, COO, and Board.

Delivery Cadence & Accountability

• Lead structured weekly execution reviews, cross-functional stand-ups, and deep-dive delivery sessions.
• Run regular 1:1 delivery and performance check-ins with team members and functional leads.
• Foster a culture of ownership, transparency, and continuous improvement.

People Performance & Support

• Act as a first-line delivery and performance partner for teams across the business.
• Use objective delivery data (milestones, quality, responsiveness, ownership) to identify where additional support, clarity, or intervention is required.
• Work closely with HR and the CEO/COO to structure improvement plans where expectations are not being met, ensuring fairness, clarity, and consistency.

Cross-Functional Alignment

• Ensure R&D, Scale-Up, Commercial, and Operations plans are fully aligned and mutually supportive.
• Manage dependencies across chemistry, scale-up, product trials, partnerships, sales, grants, procurement, and finance.
• Surface conflicts early and support leadership decision-making on priorities and trade-offs.

Risk, Issue & Recovery Management

• Own and maintain the company RAID log.
• Drive root-cause analysis and structured recovery plans with clear ownership and timelines.
• Escalate material risks that could impact company milestones, funding, or credibility, with clear recommendations.

Executive & Board Reporting

• Prepare concise, fact-based delivery and performance reports for leadership and the Board.
• Clearly articulate progress, risks, recovery actions, and decisions required.

Essential Experience & Capabilities

• Proven experience in senior project, programme, or operations leadership roles within deep-tech, engineering, industrial, or scale-up environments.
• Proven experience leading delivery across multi-disciplinary teams
• Track record of building delivery discipline, clarity, and accountability in complex organisations.
• Experience working with HR on performance improvement processes in a constructive, evidence-based manner.
• Confidence to challenge assumptions, priorities, and underperformance — respectfully and effectively — at all levels.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to escalate issues clearly and proportionately.

Highly Desirable

• Experience in climate-tech, chemicals, materials, or industrial scale-up.
• Familiarity with OKRs, stage-gate processes, and board-level reporting.
• Background in engineering or scientific organisations.