Head of Service Charge Accounting in London

We identify and shape places that create opportunity, enhance quality of life, and bring joy to the people connected to them. This is how we’ve created the UK’s leading portfolio of urban places and one of the largest real estate companies in Europe. Our £10 billion portfolio is built around premium workplaces, the country’s pre-eminent retail platform, and a residential pipeline that will redefine urban life.

This role is based at London, Victoria and offers hybrid working (Minimum 3 days in the office).

You will lead the Service Charge Accounting team within Group Finance, working closely with colleagues across Finance Operations, Financial Reporting, Commercial Finance as well as our Operations and site teams based at head office and at our shopping centres and office assets across the country. The team sits at the heart of the organisation and plays a key role in supporting Landsec’s internal and external financial reporting including service charge reporting to customers. The team culture is collaborative, supportive, and focused on continuous improvement.

The Head of Service Charge Accounting is responsible for providing strategic and operational leadership of the Service Charge Accounting function. The role holds full accountability for the integrity, governance and transparency of service charge budgeting, expenditure control, variance analysis and insight to drive performance as well as robust and timely year‐end reconciliations across the portfolio.

Acting as a strategic business partner, the role drives continuous improvement and automation, champions new systems and ways of working, and ensures service charge processes deliver value for money, regulatory compliance and customer confidence. A core expectation of the role is to drive change and improvements, proactively identifying opportunities to simplify processes, improve controls, enhance reporting quality and embed more efficient, data‐driven ways of working across the service charge lifecycle.

PRINCIPLE ACCOUNTABILITIES

• Lead, develop and inspire the Service Charge Accounting team, with full accountability for recruitment, onboarding, performance management, capability development and succession planning to ensure high performing, future-ready function.
• Set clear expectations and standards, embedding a culture of ownership, accountability, continuous improvement and customer focus.
• Build strong, credible relationships with internal stakeholders, acting as a trusted advisor on service charge matters and influencing decision‐making through expertise, insight and constructive challenge.
• Lead engagement with tenants, service charge consultants and external partners, resolving issues pragmatically while protecting Landsec’s reputation and customer trust.
• Work closely with our external partners to conduct cost reviews, challenge spend and drive efficiency and value‐for‐money outcomes.
• Act as a role model for proactive leadership, professional judgement and collaborative working, setting the tone for high standards and constructive partnership across teams.
• Work closely with the Operations team and take ownership of service charge budgeting processes, ensuring robustness, consistency and alignment with operational plans and business priorities.
• Review, challenge and approve service charge budgets and year‐end reconciliations, ensuring accuracy, transparency and full compliance with lease obligations and best‐practice requirements.
• Oversee service charge expenditure across the portfolio, proactively identifying, investigating and addressing variances and emerging risks.
• Produce and own portfolio‐level variance analysis, providing clear insight and actionable commentary to senior stakeholders.
• Provide service charge expertise to support acquisitions and disposals, ensuring risks, liabilities and assumptions are clearly understood, accurately assessed and effectively managed.
• Lead the review and allocation of central service charge costs, ensuring fairness, transparency and consistency.
• Drive system optimisation and process improvement initiatives, championing new tools, controls and ways of working to improve efficiency, insight and data quality.
• Continued maintenance of process documentation, ensuring end‐to‐end finance processes are clearly documented, kept up to date, and aligned to current controls, governance requirements, and ways of working.
• Review KPI performance and reporting leveraging Power BI, providing clear narrative and insights that support informed management action.
• Partner closely with the D&T team to create and develop a suite of reports for Service Charge providing clear, standardised analysis and insight into the business supporting decision making.

ESSENTIAL CRITERIA

• Proven leadership experience, with a strong track record of building high‐performing teams and driving accountability, ownership and consistent delivery against expectations and deadlines.
• Solid understanding of complex budgeting, accruals, reconciliations and variance analysis ensuring accuracy and strong financial governance.
• Demonstrated ability to operate as a senior business partner, influencing stakeholders across finance, operations and external partners through insight and constructive challenge driving performance.
• Highly analytical and commercially minded, with the confidence to challenge existing practices and recommend improvements.
• Proactive, pragmatic and solutions‐focused approach, with a continuous improvement and growth mindset and the ability to challenge and improve processes.
• Resilient in the face of challenges and adversity whilst demonstrating integrity and courage through decision making.
• Track record of driving change from concept through to implementation, holding teams to account for delivery and ensuring improvements are embedded into business‐as‐usual governance and ways of working.
• Strong ability to prioritise effectively in a fast‐paced, complex environment, making sound, transparent decisions where there are competing deadlines, risks and stakeholder needs.
• Strong change and improvement mindset, with the ability to pragmatically assess existing processes, challenge the status quo and embed sustainable improvements.
• Strong communication skills, able to distil complex financial issues clearly for non‐financial stakeholders.
• Agile and flexible, willing to champion new systems and ways of working.
• High level of accountability and ownership of deliverables and outcomes.
• Demonstrated ability to manage detail pragmatically, balancing accuracy with efficiency and business priorities.

Experience with service charge accounting would be helpful in getting up to speed, but it is not essential. We are most interested in individuals who can build and lead a high‐performing team, take ownership of processes, and actively drive system and operational improvements. The role calls for someone with resilience, initiative, and a proactive, hands‐on approach, who is motivated to make a meaningful impact and continuously evolve how we work.