Repairs Director, Thirteen, Middlesbrough, £118,935

Lead one of the North East’s largest repairs services. Thirteen is looking for a Repairs Director to lead a frontline service that matters every day to customers: responsive repairs, empty homes, compliance-related activity, damp and mould, depots, stores and supply chain services. This is a major Director role with real scale: around 700 colleagues, a budget of approximately £60m and the opportunity to shape one of the region’s largest repairs services as part of Thirteen’s senior leadership team.

About Thirteen: Thirteen is a large, values-led housing association working across the North East, Yorkshire and the Humber. It provides over 36,000 homes and services for more than 100,000 customers, while retaining a strong social purpose and a clear commitment to communities. Alongside its core housing role, Thirteen supports people through employment initiatives, homelessness prevention and services for vulnerable residents. Its long-term strategy is focused on fantastic homes, happy customers and brilliant people.

At a glance:

• £118,935 salary + excellent benefits
• Middlesbrough / hybrid working
• Around 700 colleagues across a large frontline service
• Approximately £60m budget
• Responsibility for responsive repairs, empty homes, compliance-related activity, damp and mould, depots, stores and supply chain services
• Opportunity to influence organisational strategy and the delivery of Our House, Our Future

The challenge: Repairs is one of the services customers notice most. It affects trust, safety, satisfaction and confidence in the organisation. Thirteen has already made progress. The repairs backlog has reduced from around 8,500 jobs to approximately 4,500, supported by investment, a revised leadership structure, new specialist capacity around damp, mould and structural issues, and an engine room function to support planning and delivery. The next stage is about turning that progress into a consistently strong, reliable and customer-focused service. That means improving empty homes performance, strengthening data and reporting, embedding Awaab’s Law readiness, developing supply chain performance and making sure repairs works effectively across the whole organisation.

What you’ll lead:

• A large, customer-facing repairs and property service at regional scale
• Responsive repairs, empty homes and specialist damp, mould and structural activity
• Commercial management, contracts, depots, stores and wider property assets
• Performance improvement across cost, quality, productivity, customer experience and compliance-related activity
• A large frontline workforce through a period of operational, cultural and technology change

Where the role sits: The role sits within Thirteen’s Customer directorate and reports to Chief Customer Officer Serena Heathcote. The directorate brings together customer-facing services including housing, customer experience, repairs and specialist housing, with a shared focus on safe, reliable and consistent services for customers.

Who we’re looking for: You will bring senior leadership experience in repairs, property services, compliance, supply chain, empty homes or a closely related operational environment. Candidates from housing will understand responsive repairs at scale and the demands of leading a high-profile, customer-facing service. Thirteen is also open to leaders from other large, complex and regulated environments where there is estate complexity, service-user scrutiny, safety, compliance and operational delivery at scale. This could include the NHS, higher education, local government, care, infrastructure or other property-led organisations. Whatever your background, you will bring commercial awareness, strong people leadership, confidence with contracts and suppliers, and a practical understanding of health and safety, compliance and risk. Direct experience of damp and mould, Awaab’s Law and housing regulation would be helpful, but the ability to transfer relevant experience from another safety-critical setting is also valuable.

For the right person: This is a role with scale, visibility and purpose. You will inherit progress, but also a genuine opportunity to improve performance, strengthen customer experience and lead a major frontline service through change. It is a chance to combine senior leadership influence with practical delivery – helping Thirteen provide safer, better and more responsive services for thousands of customers across the North.

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion: At Thirteen, we believe everyone is an individual. That is why we don’t just provide properties; we offer a home to suit each person’s needs. We are responsible for promoting inclusivity for everyone, particularly people from underrepresented or marginalised groups. We aspire to have inclusive working culture and embrace diversity across ‘Thirteen’ for both our customers and colleagues. In 2024 we were awarded a Bronze Talent, Inclusion and Diversity Evaluation (TIDE) Award for our approach to embedding an inclusive work culture.

If you have a disability, a learning difficulty such as dyslexia, a medical condition or an individual need which you believe may affect your performance at selection, we’ll be happy to adjust our processes to enable you to perform at your best.