Technical Services Director – Alton Towers Resort

Alton Towers Resort

Operations | Senior Leadership

It starts with play.

At Merlin, we create extraordinary experiences that bring people together through play. And at Alton Towers Resort, behind every thrill, every overnight stay and every unforgettable guest moment is an extraordinary technical operation making it all possible.

We’re looking for a Technical Services Director to join the Senior Leadership Team at Alton Towers Resort and lead the strategic direction of one of Merlin’s largest and most complex engineering and infrastructure portfolios.

This is much bigger than keeping the rides running.

You’ll have strategic responsibility for the engineering, technical services, infrastructure and long-term asset strategy that supports the entire Resort from our theme park, hotels and waterpark to heritage buildings, historic landscapes and critical infrastructure.

The opportunity

As Technical Services Director, you’ll be the principal engineering adviser to the Vice President and Resort Senior Leadership Team.

You’ll shape how we invest in and care for our assets for the long term, balancing safety, resilience, guest experience and commercial performance while making sure our engineering capability is ready for what comes next.

You’ll also have a voice beyond Alton Towers, representing the Resort across Merlin’s engineering community and helping influence technical standards, engineering policy and asset management across the Group.

You’ll lead across:

• Engineering strategy & governance – setting the long-term direction for engineering, technical services and infrastructure across the Resort.
• Assets & investment – shaping significant operating and capital investment priorities to maximise safety, resilience, performance and long-term value.
• Operational excellence – ensuring the assets behind millions of guest experiences are safe, reliable and ready to perform when it matters most.
• Innovation & future capability – modernising infrastructure and embracing technology and new ways of working to strengthen our engineering capability.
• Commercial partnerships – leading strategic supplier relationships and ensuring our partners deliver quality, innovation and measurable value.
• Sustainability & resilience – driving engineering approaches to decarbonisation, energy resilience and long-term infrastructure sustainability.
• A truly unique estate – helping protect and preserve the heritage buildings and historic landscaped gardens that make Alton Towers unlike anywhere else.
• People & leadership – leading a large, multidisciplinary technical organisation through your senior leaders, building capability, accountability and a high-performance culture.

What you’ll bring

• We’re looking for an established engineering leader who has operated at scale in a complex, safety-critical environment.
• You’ll bring significant experience leading large engineering operations, enterprise asset management, infrastructure investment and statutory governance, alongside the commercial judgement to make decisions that balance risk, investment and business performance.
• You’ll be comfortable advising Executive and senior leadership teams, leading significant operating and capital budgets and providing clear direction when the stakes are high.
• A degree or equivalent in Engineering, Facilities Management or a related technical discipline is essential, alongside strong knowledge of health & safety legislation and engineering compliance regimes including LOLER, PUWER and PSSR.
• Chartered Engineer status, experience managing heritage estates and a track record of leading sustainability initiatives would all be advantageous.

Why this role matters

Alton Towers isn't a conventional engineering environment and this isn't a conventional engineering leadership role.

The decisions you make will influence how one of the UK’s most iconic resorts operates today, how we invest for tomorrow and ultimately how millions of guests experience Alton Towers.

You’ll protect what makes the Resort extraordinary while helping us imagine what it could become next.

Bring your expertise. Bring your curiosity. And help shape the future of Alton Towers Resort.

Because at Merlin, it starts with play.