Head of Heat Network Management

About the Company

FirstPort is the UK's leading residential property management business, managing thousands of developments across England, Scotland, and Wales. A TPI-accredited, Property Ombudsman‑registered company, FirstPort serves close to a million residents and works with developers, freeholders, RMCs, and RTMs to deliver consistently excellent property management. Across its portfolio of 100+ residential and mixed‑use heat networks, FirstPort is making a significant investment in energy governance and compliance in response to the Energy Act and the emergence of Ofgem as the active regulator for the sector.

The Role

Reporting to the Director of Portfolio and Growth, the Head of Heat Network Management will own the full compliance, governance, metering, billing and customer protection agenda across FirstPort's entire heat network portfolio. This senior, high‑profile role combines deep regulatory expertise with hands‑on leadership of a specialist multi‑disciplinary team spanning technical staff, accountants and customer service representatives. The successful candidate will act as the organisation's primary interface with Ofgem, take formal accountability for compliance sign‑off and build the frameworks and controls that give senior leadership and the Board confidence in the organisation's regulatory position. The role also mandates driving data quality improvement, developing metering strategy, and positioning the function as a centre of excellence, and in time, a value‑generating part of the business.

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.
• Track legislative and regulatory developments proactively, adapting internal policy, procedures, and team training in response to changes as they emerge.
• Provide expert input into the organisation's broader strategic response to the Energy Act, leasehold reform, and related regulatory developments.

Regulatory Leadership & Policy – Ofgem Interface

• Act as the organisation's lead interface with Ofgem, ensuring accurate, timely, and transparent regulatory reporting and full readiness for audit and inspection.
• Build and maintain effective working relationships with Ofgem and other relevant regulatory and industry bodies, positioning FirstPort as a credible and well‑governed operator.

Compliance Assurance & Risk

• Provide oversight and formal assurance that all heat network activities meet regulatory requirements, identifying and mitigating compliance, financial, and reputational risk across the portfolio.
• Establish governance structures and reporting frameworks that give senior leadership and the Board clear, timely visibility of compliance status, risk exposure, and portfolio performance.

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 across the portfolio.
• Drive improvements in data quality and management systems to meet current and emerging regulatory requirements, with a credible roadmap toward smart metering and buildings capability.
• Ensure billing governance, reconciliation, and data validation processes are robust, well‑documented, and consistently applied.

Debt & Financial Governance

• Ensure debt management practices across the heat network portfolio are fair, compliant, and effectively governed, balancing financial performance with resident protection.
• Maintain strong analytical oversight of debt data, arrears trends, and financial risk, providing timely recommendations to senior leadership.

Leadership & Team Development

• Lead, develop, and align a specialist multi‑disciplinary team including technical specialists, accountants, and customer service representatives, fostering a culture of accountability, transparency, and continuous improvement.
• Build cross‑functional capability across the team, ensuring colleagues understand regulatory obligations and the standards expected of them in day‑to‑day delivery.

Customer Protection & Experience

• Embed customer protection, transparency, and fairness into all aspects of heat network delivery, ensuring positive resident outcomes and full compliance with consumer protection obligations.
• Ensure the team responds effectively to customer concerns and escalations, maintaining the standards expected of a regulated operator.

Supply Chain Oversight

• Monitor site‑specific plant maintenance across the heat network portfolio, ensuring supply chain performance is effectively managed, works are appropriately scoped, and maintenance proposals represent fair value and sound technical justification.

Personal Specification – Essential

• Strong, working knowledge of heat network regulation and energy compliance frameworks, including the Energy Act and emerging Ofgem requirements.
• Significant experience in metering and billing operations within a regulated environment, with demonstrated oversight of billing governance, reconciliation, and data validation.
• Proven experience engaging with Ofgem or equivalent regulatory bodies, including formal reporting, audit preparation, and compliance assurance.
• Experience designing and implementing compliance frameworks, translating regulatory requirements into operational policy and controls.
• Demonstrable experience supporting or overseeing debt management strategies in a customer‑facing, regulated context.
• Senior leadership and line management experience, with the ability to lead multi‑disciplinary teams and build cross‑functional capability.
• Strong analytical capability with the ability to interpret complex data, identify risk, and present clear findings to senior stakeholders.
• Excellent communication skills, comfortable engaging with regulators, executive leadership, residents, and operational teams.

Personal Specification – Desirable

• Experience working within a large‑scale residential property management or housing business.
• Familiarity with leasehold legislation, property deed requirements, and the obligations of property managers in relation to heat network delivery.
• Experience developing or overseeing smart metering strategy or a smart buildings platform implementation.
• Exposure to a PE‑backed or high‑growth business environment.
• Experience contributing to regulatory consultations or industry working groups.

Key Competencies

• Regulatory authority: the ability to represent FirstPort confidently with Ofgem, industry bodies, and executive stakeholders, with the credibility that comes from genuine expertise.
• Governance‑led thinking: a natural instinct to build structures, frameworks, and controls that deliver consistent, auditable outcomes rather than managing compliance reactively.
• Clarity under complexity: the ability to translate fast‑changing legislation into clear, actionable internal policy without unnecessary delay or over‑complication.
• Commercial awareness: an understanding of how compliance and financial performance interact, and how the function can add value beyond pure risk mitigation.
• Collaborative leadership: a leader who brings people along and builds effective working relationships across technical, financial, and operational functions.
• Resilience and agility: the confidence to operate in a fast‑changing regulatory environment, hold firm on standards when it matters, and adapt quickly when the rules change.

What FirstPort Offers

• Competitive base salary, dependent on experience.
• Private medical insurance and life assurance.
• Pension with matched employer contributions.
• Accredited CPD and professional development support.
• Employee wellbeing and discount programme including discounted gym membership.
• Extended maternity and paternity provisions.
• Board‑level visibility and genuine career development prospects.
• The opportunity to build and lead a compliance function with real scope and strategic significance.