Plant Operator

Job Title:             Plant Operator
Location:             Chatham, Kent
Compensation:   £30,554.01 – £32,770.63 Depending on Licences + Benefits
Role Type:           Full time / Permanent 
Role ID:               SF68810

Drive the Future of Defence Engineering

At Babcock, we’re working to create a safe and secure world, together. If you join us, you can play your part as a Plant Operator at the Royal School of Military Engineering (RSME), near Chatham, Kent.

The role
As a Plant Operator, you’ll be at the heart of maintaining and supporting the plant training areas at RSME Medway. This is a hands-on role where you’ll operate a range of military and commercial vehicles and plant equipment, directly contributing to the delivery of essential training for the UK’s defence sector. You’ll be part of a close-knit team, helping to ensure our training environments are safe, functional, and fit for purpose.

Day-to-day you’ll be:
•    Operating plant equipment such as dozers, rollers, and tracked vehicles across training areas (when trained to do so)

•    Driving and manoeuvring military and commercial vehicles around site
•    Supporting the transport of personnel and equipment to training exercises
•    Maintaining the condition and usability of plant training zones
•    Collaborating with a team of 14 to deliver high-quality operational support

Please note that this position involves manual work. This could include lifting, bending, using tools or standing for extended periods of time.

The role is based onsite at RSME, Brompton Barracks and the set working times are Monday to Thursday 7:30am–4:30pm, Friday 7:30am–4:00pm, totalling 37 hours per week.

Essential experience of the Plant Operator:
•    Proven experience operating plant machinery 

•    Comfortable working in a physically active, outdoor environment 
•    Ability to work collaboratively within a team 
•    Strong awareness of safety and compliance standards

Qualifications for the Plant Plant Operator:
•    C Licence (HGV Class 2) highly desirable

•    Dozer operator experience highly desirable

Security Clearance

The successful candidate must be able to achieve and maintain Standard (BPSS) clearance for this role.

Many of the positions within our company are subject to national security clearance and Trade Control restrictions. This means that your eligibility for certain roles may be affected by your place of birth, nationality, current or former citizenship, and any residency you hold or have held. Further details are available at United Kingdom Security Vetting: clearance levels - GOV.UK.

What we offer

• Generous holiday allowance
• Matched contribution pension scheme, with life assurance
• Access to a Digital GP, annual health check, and nutritional consultations through Aviva DigiCare+
• Employee share scheme
• Employee shopping savings portal
• Payment of Professional Fees
• Reservists in the armed forces receive 10-days special paid leave
• Holiday Trading is a benefit that allows UK Babcock employees to buy additional leave or to sell up to one working week of annual leave from their annual entitlement. This Window opens February through to March annually.
• ‘Be Kind Day’ enables employees to take one working day's paid leave a year (or equivalent hours) to undertake volunteering work with their chosen organisation or registered charity
• Excellent development opportunities and benefits package including an employee assistance programme supporting physical, mental and financial wellbeing.

Babcock

We’re Babcock — a global FTSE 100 organisation with over 26,000 people working together to make a difference.
Here, you’ll be part of something bigger. From initial design to final decommissioning, your work will contribute to products and services that are essential to national security and public infrastructure. Together, we’re building a future that lasts — not just through the impact we make, but through meaningful careers that respect your work-life balance. 

We call that lifetime engineering.
Join us and see how far we can go, together.

We are a disability confident committed employer. If you have a disability or need any reasonable adjustments during the application and selection stages, please email babcock.careers@babcockinternational.com with the subject header ‘Reasonable adjustments requirement’. We’re committed to building an inclusive culture where everyone’s free to thrive. We are happy to talk about flexible working – please ask about alternative patterns of work at interview.

Closing date: 04/02/2026