Operations Director in New Milton

Location: Field-based (South East Region)

Contract: Permanent

Hours: Monday to Friday, 9am–5pm (35 hours per week)

Why FirstPort?

• Impactful Work: You will directly support FirstPort’s mission to elevate industry standards and provide an exceptional service to our customers.
• Professional Growth: With access to accredited training and development programmes, you will be empowered to reach your potential.
• Supportive Environment: We foster a culture where collaboration and innovation thrive, ensuring you feel valued and supported every step of the way.
• A Future of Opportunity: Be part of a forward-thinking organisation that is shaping the future of residential property management in the UK.

At the core of everything we do are our leadership principles:

• Collaborative: We work together, combining expertise to deliver outstanding outcomes for our customers.
• Consistent: We deliver dependable results, building trust with customers and colleagues.
• Simple: We simplify the complex, ensuring our financial processes are straightforward and understood.
• Clear: We communicate with clarity, making information accessible and transparent to all stakeholders.

Your Role, Your Impact

As an Operations Director, you will play a critical leadership role in delivering this vision across the South East region—leading high-performing teams and driving operational excellence at scale. You will hold full regional accountability for operational performance, client satisfaction, and commercial delivery across a significant portfolio. You will lead a team of Associate Directors, ensuring consistent, high-quality service delivery across all developments while embedding a culture of accountability, performance, and continuous improvement. This is a strategic and operational leadership role, requiring strong commercial acumen, people leadership, and the ability to influence at all levels.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership & Regional Performance: Set and deliver the regional strategy, aligned to FirstPort’s overall business objectives. Own P&L accountability for the region, ensuring financial performance meets or exceeds targets. Drive sustainable growth, identifying opportunities to expand services and improve commercial outcomes. Act as the senior operational leader for the South East, ensuring consistency of standards and service delivery.
• Leadership & People Development: Lead, coach, and develop a team of Associate Directors, building a high-performing leadership structure. Create a strong talent pipeline, developing future leaders within the business. Foster a culture aligned to FirstPort’s leadership principles: Collaborative, Consistent, Simple, and Clear. Ensure robust performance management, succession planning, and engagement across all teams.
• Operational Excellence: Ensure delivery of KPIs, SLAs, and customer service standards across the region. Drive continuous improvement, identifying and implementing efficiencies in processes and systems. Oversee large, geographically dispersed teams, ensuring alignment and consistency. Lead the embedding of new systems, technology, and operational processes.
• Client & Stakeholder Engagement: Build and maintain strong relationships with key clients, developers, and stakeholders. Act as a senior escalation point for complex issues. Lead on high-level client meetings, ensuring satisfaction and retention. Champion a customer-first culture that consistently delivers excellent service.
• Commercial & Business Development: Partner with the business development team to support bids, tenders, and growth opportunities. Contribute to product and service innovation. Use data, insights, and market knowledge to inform decision-making and strategic direction.

Required Skills & Experience

• Significant leadership experience within property management/factoring or a related sector.
• Proven track record of leading large, multi-site operational teams through senior leaders (e.g., Associate Directors).
• Strong commercial acumen, with P&L responsibility and data-driven decision-making capability.
• Experience in delivering operational transformation and performance improvement programmes.
• Skilled in stakeholder management, including senior clients and internal executive teams.
• Exceptional communication and influencing skills, both written and verbal.
• Demonstrated ability to develop senior leaders and build high-performing teams.
• Strong understanding of the UK residential property market (desirable).

What’s in it for you?

Our customers deserve the best and the same applies to our people. We will provide you with the technology, training and support that you need to do your job well. We offer competitive salaries and a range of benefit packages depending on the grade of your role, such as private medical insurance, pension contributions and life assurance. In addition, we also offer a range of exclusive discounts on extra benefits to help you, and your family make the most of your money, safeguard your future and look after your health, including discounted gym membership for all colleagues.

Diversity

We’re committed to promoting diversity at FirstPort and recruit on merit. We will ensure we make any adjustments that we can to support both through the recruitment and on‑boarding process.

Ready to make a difference? If you’re ready to take the next step in your career and make a difference we’d love to hear from you! All applicants must be eligible to live and work in the UK without restrictions, and documented evidence of eligibility will be required. Join us at FirstPort, where we not only manage properties but strive to lead and transform the industry. Together, we can make a difference – for our customers, our colleagues, and the future of residential property management in the UK. Elevate your career. Reset the standard. Join FirstPort.