Desktop Supervisor in Sittingbourne

Axis, part of Axis CLC, is a trusted property services specialist delivering responsive repairs, planned works, refurbishments and voids services across the UK. Backed by over 110 years of combined experience and the wider strength of Axis CLC, operating from 23 UK offices and employing more than 2,500 people nationwide, we support housing providers and public sector clients with high-quality maintenance and compliance services that help keep residents safe, properties well maintained and communities supported.

We are looking for an experienced and technically competent Electrical Desktop Supervisor to join our Social Housing team, supporting our Responsive Repairs and Voids contracts.

The Role:

We are looking for an experienced, organised and commercially aware Desktop Supervisor to take day-to-day operational control of reactive maintenance delivery across our social housing contracts.

This is a key operational role, providing the link between our planners, field operatives, supervisors, commercial teams and client. Working predominantly from the desktop, you will actively manage jobs from allocation through to completion, ensuring works are delivered safely, correctly, efficiently and in accordance with contractual requirements.

This is not simply a job-monitoring role. You will use your technical and operational knowledge to challenge poor diagnosis, inappropriate Schedule of Rates (SOR) coding, excessive or unnecessary works, repeat visits and inefficient working practices.

You will be responsible for maintaining control of the live workload, supporting operatives with technical and coding queries, identifying jobs that require escalation and ensuring that completed works are properly evidenced and ready for closure and commercial review.

Above all, you will help ensure that residents receive a professional, safe and responsive repairs service while protecting quality, compliance and value for money.

Key Responsibilities:

Operational Control

• Take day-to-day desktop control of reactive maintenance activity and the live operative workload.
• Monitor jobs throughout the working day, ensuring appointments, priorities and resources are effectively managed.
• Work closely with planners to ensure operatives are allocated work appropriate to their trade, location, skills and available capacity.
• Identify jobs at risk of failure, delay or missed target and intervene before service standards are affected.
• Challenge unnecessary repeat visits, avoidable follow-on works and poor job progression.
• Ensure operatives provide clear and accurate completion information, photographs and supporting evidence.
• Drive jobs through to effective completion rather than allowing work to remain unnecessarily open.
• Escalate complex, high‑risk or technically challenging works to the appropriate operational or technical manager.

Technical & SOR Control

• Review and validate Schedule of Rates (SOR) coding against the works actually undertaken.
• Ensure codes, quantities and supporting evidence are accurate, appropriate and contractually defensible.
• Challenge incorrect, excessive, duplicated or unsupported coding.
• Support operatives and planners in selecting appropriate SOR codes and understanding the scope included within them.
• Recognise where works cannot reasonably or appropriately be delivered within the standard SOR and escalation for technical or commercial review.
• Prevent retrospective coding from becoming a substitute for proper diagnosis and job control.
• Support consistent coding standards across the operational team.

Productivity & Commercial Awareness

• Monitor operative productivity, utilisation, completed value and job performance.
• Identify trends affecting productivity, including excessive travel, poor planning, repeat attendance, material delays, incorrect diagnosis or inefficient working methods.
• Challenge significant variations between expected and actual job outputs.
• Support the business in achieving productivity and commercial targets without compromising safety, quality or resident service.
• Understand that good operational control directly affects contract performance, cost recovery and value for money.
• Work with operational and commercial colleagues to ensure completed work is properly evidenced and capable of being validated for payment.

Quality & Compliance

• Carry out desktop quality assurance using job records, photographs, notes, certificates and other available evidence.
• Undertake targeted site inspections where desktop evidence is insufficient or where performance or quality concerns have been identified.
• Ensure works comply with relevant company procedures, RAMS, health and safety requirements and contractual standards.
• Identify potential compliance concerns and immediately elevate matters involving resident safety, structural defects, electrical safety, fire safety, asbestos, working at height or other significant hazards.
• Ensure that jobs requiring certification, specialist inspection or further technical assessment are identified and correctly routed.
• Support the effective management of emergency and statutory repair obligations, including requirements arising from Awaab's Law and housing hazard response times.
• Maintain clear and auditable job records capable of demonstrating what was identified, what action was taken and when.

Operative Supervision & Performance

• Provide daily remote supervision, technical support and direction to field operatives.
• Set clear expectations regarding productivity, quality, evidence, conduct and job completion.
• Identify recurring performance issues and provide constructive feedback and coaching.
• Escalate persistent performance, conduct, safety or competency concerns through the appropriate management process.
• Support new operatives during induction and ensure they understand operational procedures, SOR requirements, systems and expected standards.
• Encourage ownership and accountability rather than simply processing jobs through the system.

Resident Service

• Ensure operational decisions recognise that works are being undertaken in residents' homes and communities.
• Promote professional, respectful and empathetic behaviour at all times, particularly when dealing with vulnerable residents.
• Support the resolution of difficult or sensitive repair cases before they develop into complaints or service failures.
• Ensure resident vulnerabilities, access requirements and relevant property information are considered when works are planned and delivered.
• Challenge poor communication, incomplete appointments and avoidable disruption to residents.

Client & Team Communication

• Maintain effective working relationships with planners, supervisors, contract managers, commercial teams and client representatives.
• Provide clear operational updates on complex, overdue or high‑risk jobs.
• Respond professionally to client queries and ensure decisions are supported by appropriate evidence.
• Attend operational and performance meetings where required.
• Contribute positively to the relationship between Axis and its clients while appropriately protecting the contractual and commercial position of the business.

Performance Management & Continuous Improvement

• Monitor and report on key performance indicators including productivity, first‑time fix, overdue works, repeat visits, job completion, variations and quality.
• Use operational data to identify patterns and areas requiring intervention.
• Support the development of improved working practices, processes and controls.
• Identify recurring property, operative, trade, supplier or coding issues and elevate them rather than treating each occurrence in isolation.
• Work with management to improve service delivery, resident satisfaction, operational efficiency and commercial performance.

About You

You will be comfortable working in a fast‑moving social housing repairs environment where priorities can change quickly and good judgement is essential.

You will have sufficient technical knowledge to understand repairs rather than simply administer them, together with the confidence to challenge operatives, planners and contractors where something does not look right.

You will be commercially aware but understand that safety, compliance and quality must never be compromised in pursuit of productivity or financial performance.

You will be able to look at a job record, photographs, operative notes and SOR coding and form a reasoned view of whether the repair has been properly diagnosed, completed, evidenced and coded.

Most importantly, you will take ownership. When a problem is identified, you will actively drive it towards resolution.

Essential Requirements

• Experience within social housing repairs, property maintenance or a comparable operational environment.
• Strong practical understanding of responsive/reactive maintenance.
• Experience supervising or coordinating directly employed operatives and/or subcontractors.
• Good working knowledge of Schedule of Rates and the principles of measured‑term maintenance contracts.
• Ability to review job information, photographs and technical evidence critically.
• Strong understanding of productivity, job costing and value‑for‑money principles.
• Good understanding of health and safety requirements within occupied residential properties.
• Excellent organisational skills with the ability to manage a significant live workload and competing priorities.
• Confident communicator capable of challenging performance professionally and constructively.
• Strong IT skills and experience using repairs/job‑management systems, Microsoft Office and performance reporting tools.
• Ability to interpret operational data and identify trends requiring intervention.
• Full UK driving licence and willingness to undertake occasional site inspections.

Desirable

• Previous supervisory experience within a social housing responsive repairs contract.
• Detailed knowledge of NHF/M3NHF Schedule of Rates.
• Experience using Dynamics 365 or similar repairs management software.
• Experience using Power BI or similar performance reporting systems.
• Understanding of Awaab's Law, HHSRS and statutory housing repair obligations.
• Relevant trade, construction, property maintenance or supervisory qualification.

What Success Looks Like

A successful Desktop Supervisor will maintain clear control of the operation rather than simply react to problems as they occur.

Operatives will understand what is expected of them, planners will receive clear direction, jobs will progress efficiently, SOR coding will be accurate and defensible, evidence will support the works undertaken, and problems will be identified early.

The result should be safer repairs, fewer repeat visits, stronger productivity, better first‑time completion, improved resident experience and greater commercial control.

Benefits

• Competitive annual salary.
• 25 days' annual leave plus bank holidays.
• Up to £2,000 colleague referral fee.
• Long‑service awards at key milestones.
• Perkbox – discounts across retail, travel, entertainment and wellbeing.
• One paid volunteer day each year.
• Ongoing training, development and career progression.
• A business committed to developing and promoting talent from within

Our Commitment

Axis delivers services in people's homes, often supporting residents who may be vulnerable or experiencing difficult circumstances.

We therefore expect everyone working on our contracts to combine technical and operational competence with professionalism, integrity, empathy and respect.

The Desktop Supervisor plays an important part in setting and maintaining those standards, ensuring that operational pressure never becomes an excuse for poor quality, unsafe working or unacceptable resident service.

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