We continue our series on social mobility with Sara Nicholson, General Manager at Equitix Management Services, whose career journey shows that opportunity in infrastructure is not confined to traditional routes or city-based pathways. From beginning her career locally in finance to developing a broader role across facilities management and social infrastructure, Sara’s story highlights the value of practical experience, community connection, and remaining open to unexpected opportunities.
Beginning close to home
Growing up in a rural community in Dumfries and Galloway shaped Sara’s early view of opportunity. Careers in sectors such as infrastructure were not ones she had been exposed to, and they often felt like something that happened elsewhere. Looking back, however, growing up in a close-knit community also instilled an appreciation of responsibility, the importance of building trusted relationships and the role that schools, hospitals and other community assets play in everyday life. there is often an assumption that careers in sectors like infrastructure and asset management lie only in cities, where projects and professional networks appear more concentrated. Sara’s experience in social infrastructure, (including her time at EMS), has shown that this is not necessarily the case.
After leaving school, Sara made the decision not to go to university or move away to a city, which at the time felt like a significant choice, particularly as many of her peers took that route. Instead, Sara chose to start her career locally in finance; building experience within a business environment rooted in the same community she lived in.
Sara’s route into infrastructure was not conventional. Starting out in finance with a local company and later progressing into a Finance Manager role, gave her a solid commercial grounding and a practical understanding of performance, accountability, and delivery. During the COVID period, Sara moved into facilities management. That change gave the first real exposure to live environments and critical services, bringing her closer to the operational side of infrastructure and laying foundation to the subsequent transition into EMS.
Bringing assets to life
Immersion in facilities management marked a turning point in Sara’s career. The work moved beyond financial reporting and process – it focused on assets that people rely on every day. Whether it is a hospital, a school, or another essential public facility, the infrastructure needs to function safely and effectively, in partnership with the people delivering services on the ground.
“Coming from a finance background, one of the early challenges was earning credibility in an operational environment. Understanding the numbers behind an asset remains fundamental, particularly when you’re managing infrastructure on behalf of investors, but I quickly realised that was only one part of the picture. Spending time alongside operational teams and understanding how services are actually delivered gave me a very different perspective on what good asset management really looks like.”
Sara approached that transition by establishing connections with operational teams and delivery partners and building a stronger understanding of how these assets function in practice. Developing that operational perspective helped bridge the gap between financial performance and service delivery, strengthening both her contribution and understanding of how infrastructure performs day to day.
The role became about brining assets to life in a very practical and tangible way.
Infrastructure as {a} service
That experience has shaped how Sara thinks about infrastructure and the role it plays within communities. Living close to the assets reinforces that perspective. When infrastructure sits within your own community, there is a heightened sense of service and responsibility. These are not abstract investments or remote balance sheet entries. They are facilities that neighbours, friends and local families rely on every day.
Ensuring those assets remain compliant, operational and available for community use carries a different weight when the role they play locally can be seen first-hand. This includes overseeing regulatory requirements, managing supply chains and working closely with delivery partners to ensure facilities are safe, resilient and performing as they should.
“Commercial discipline will always be fundamental. Performance, accountability and investor confidence matter. But over time I’ve come to realise that good asset management is about much more than performance measures. Today I live only a short distance from the assets I oversee, and that has undoubtedly shaped my perspective. They aren’t just assets or contracts. They’re places that people rely on every day, and that reinforces the responsibility we have to ensure they remain safe, compliant and available.”
Learning from others
The importance of guidance and perspective became increasingly important as Sara’s career progressed. Consistently seeking out people, both professionally and personally, whose judgment is trusted has been a key to growth/success. Sometimes that support is not part of a formal arrangement – often they are individuals within the organisation or wider network who are willing to challenge your thinking, share experience and provide a sounding board before key decisions are made. Having access to that kind of perspective has been invaluable in shaping Sara’s confidence and approach.
More than one route in
One of the key lessons in Sara’s journey is the realization that there are multiple pathways into professional roles within infrastructure. A university degree is one route, and apprenticeships are becoming increasingly popular, but they are not the only options. What matters is finding an employer that recognises and values different career paths, academic, vocational and everything in between, and is willing to invest in development based on capability, curiosity and commitment.
In Sara’s experience at EMS, working in an environment where progression is shaped by contribution and potential, rather than a single prescribed route, makes a significant difference.
Beyond the city
Living and working in a rural setting has shaped Sara’s perspective throughout. It is not the setting most people immediately associate with an infrastructure career, and friends and family sometimes struggle to fully grasp what happens day to day. But it has never felt like a limitation. If anything, it has reinforced how widely social infrastructure reaches and how embedded these assets are in everyday community life, not just in large metropolitan areas.
“Managing assets and partnerships that span decades encourages a different mindset, one that goes beyond short-term outputs and towards sustained performance, collaboration, and impact. In many ways, that shift in perspective has shaped my thinking and taken my career in directions I would not necessarily have imagined at the outset.”
A Sector with Longevity
Looking ahead, Sara sees significant opportunities within the sector. Infrastructure offers variety, progression and exposure across commercial, operational and stakeholder facing disciplines. Whilst some roles may be city based; the assets themselves are distributed across the country.
For those from rural settings in particular, it’s worth recognising that careers in infrastructure are not limited by geography and do not always follow a traditional pathway. Sara’s route into the sector was not conventional, but the experience she gained along the way has shaped how she approaches the role today.
“One of the things I’ve come to appreciate is that there isn’t one route into this sector. Different experiences give you different perspectives, and I genuinely believe my background has helped the way I approach the role today. If sharing my story encourages someone to look at infrastructure differently, or realise these opportunities exist closer to home than they might think, then that’s a really positive outcome.”
Infrastructure is often discussed in financial or technical terms, but behind every asset are the communities that rely on it and the people responsible for keeping it performing. For people starting their careers, or those considering a change in direction, particularly outside major cities or coming from non-traditional pathways, it is a sector that offers far more opportunity than many people realise.
