UK Director of Facilities in London

Are you a strategic leader in facilities and executive services, eager to shape a world-class workplace for a global research firm? Do you thrive on leading complex projects, driving sustainability, and safeguarding leadership time with impeccable service? Ipsos UK invites you to make a real impact.

The role

As UK Director of Facilities, you will be the senior leader responsible for the end-to-end workplace experience across 15 sites and 120,000 sq ft of Ipsos’ estate. You will own the facilities strategy, supplier governance, procurement, and the delivery of large capital projects, while integrating executive support, reception and site administration to deliver a consistently excellent, client-focused service. This is primarily an on-site London-based role with some UK travel, leading a distributed team of facilities professionals, executive assistants, and site administrators, and setting the standard for service excellence, continuity, and resilience.

What you will do:

• Define and execute the UK facilities strategy, aligning with sustainability and ESG objectives.
• Lead large capital projects (refurbishments, fit-outs) and manage budgets, service charges and commercial negotiations.
• Oversee facilities operations, executive services and reception to deliver a seamless, high-quality workplace experience.
• Partner with landlords, property stakeholders and cross-functional teams to embed energy reduction and sustainable practices.
• Champion business continuity, on-site resilience and incident response; act as senior escalation point.
• Develop and motivate a diverse, geographically distributed team; invest in learning, succession planning and career development.
• Drive digital and data-driven improvements; leverage technology and AI to optimise space planning, maintenance, and service delivery.

About you:

• Proven experience leading multi-site facilities and executive support services across a distributed estate.
• Ability to influence senior stakeholders and motivate diverse teams across locations.
• Track record of delivering major facilities projects on time and within budget (refurbishments, fit-outs, relocations).
• Strong sustainability/ESG credentials with experience in energy reduction and environmental management.
• Expertise in supplier management, contract negotiations, cost control and governance.
• Data-driven, with excellent project management and a mindset for digital transformation and process improvement; comfortable with AI-enabled tools.
• Commitment to colleague experience, coaching, succession planning and building strong team capability.

Essential skills:

• Strategic leadership for facilities management and executive services
• Health & safety, risk management, statutory compliance and governance
• Budgeting, financial planning, procurement and contract management
• Operational management of core facilities functions
• Supplier management, performance measurement and SLA frameworks
• Change management, continuous improvement, and data-driven decision making
• Stakeholder engagement and cross-functional collaboration
• Familiarity with building services and how they impact operations

Desirable skills:

• Experience leading a UK/region-wide multi-site portfolio
• Strong knowledge of energy management and ESG initiatives
• Experience managing landlord/property relationships and complex negotiations
• Digital mindset with demonstrated AI adoption in facilities or executive services
• Professional membership in relevant bodies (e.g., facilities, property, engineering)
• Availability for occasional travel and willingness to operate in a dynamic, fast-paced environment

Benefits:

We offer a comprehensive benefits package designed to support you as an individual. Our standard benefits include 25 days annual leave, pension contribution, income protection and life assurance. In addition, there are a range health & wellbeing, financial benefits and professional development opportunities.

This role will be based at our London office full time, but with some flexibility.

We are committed to equality, treating people fairly, promoting a positive and inclusive working environment and ensuring we have diversity of people and views. We recognise that this is important for our business success – a more diverse workforce will enable us to better reflect and understand the world we research and ultimately deliver better research and insight to our clients. We are proud to be a member of the Disability Confident scheme, certified as a Level 2 Disability Confident Employer. We provide an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. Your application will be reviewed by someone from our Talent Team who will be in touch either way to let you know the outcome.

Ready to have an impact? Apply now!