Heat of Heat Network Management

Salary: Competitive Salary plus benefits

Contract: Permanent

Hours: Monday to Friday – 9am to 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 the Head of Heat Network Management, you will lead governance, regulatory compliance, metering, billing and debt management functions across a portfolio of 100+ residential and mixed‑use heat networks, while overseeing maintenance supply chain performance and ensuring compliance with all relevant legislation, leasehold obligations and property deed requirements. The role is accountable for ensuring the organisation meets all regulatory, statutory and policy obligations relating to heat networks, including engagement with Ofgem and other regulatory bodies. They will interpret regulatory developments, translate them into actionable policy and operational controls, and provide formal compliance sign‑off and assurance. In addition, the role will provide strategic oversight and expert input into the organisation’s metering and billing strategy, ensuring regulatory compliance and future readiness. The role will lead and develop the Heat Network Management team, embedding a culture of accountability, customer protection, transparency and continuous improvement.

Key Responsibilities:

• Regulatory Leadership & Policy: Lead the interpretation and implementation of heat network regulation, translating legal and policy requirements into robust internal frameworks aligned with leasehold obligations.
• Regulatory Engagement & Reporting: Act as the organisation’s lead interface with Ofgem, ensuring accurate, timely and transparent regulatory reporting and readiness for audit and inspection.
• Compliance Assurance & Risk: Provide oversight and formal assurance that all heat network activities meet regulatory requirements, identifying and mitigating compliance and financial risks.
• Metering, Billing & Data Governance: Set and oversee the strategy and controls for metering, billing and data management to ensure accuracy, integrity and full regulatory compliance.
• Debt & Financial Governance: Ensure debt management practices are fair, compliant and effectively governed, balancing financial performance with customer protection.
• Governance & Reporting: Establish and maintain governance structures and reporting frameworks that provide clear visibility of compliance, risk and performance to senior leadership and the Board.
• Leadership & Capability: Lead, develop and align a specialist team, fostering cross‑functional collaboration and building capability in regulatory, technical and financial governance.
• Customer Protection & Experience: Embed customer protection, transparency and fairness into all aspects of heat network delivery, ensuring positive outcomes and regulatory compliance.
• Supply Chain Oversight: Monitor site‑specific plant maintenance across the heat network portfolio, ensuring supply chain performance is effectively managed, works are necessary and appropriately scoped, and maintenance quotations represent reasonable value and technical justification.

Required Skills and Qualifications:

• Strong understanding of heat network regulation and energy compliance frameworks.
• Significant experience in metering and billing operations within a regulated environment.
• Experience developing or overseeing metering & billing strategy.
• Strong understanding of billing governance, reconciliation and data validation.
• Experience engaging with Ofgem or other regulatory bodies.
• Experience designing and implementing compliance frameworks.
• Demonstrable experience supporting or overseeing debt management strategies.
• Strong analytical capability with ability to interpret debt data, arrears trends and financial risk.
• Senior leadership and line management experience.

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? 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.