Director of Development & Sales in Birmingham

Midland Heart is a housing association, providing quality affordable homes across the Midlands with 70,000 customers through the provision of 35,000 affordable, safe and well-maintained homes.

You will provide strategic leadership of the end-to-end development and sales lifecycle, embedding a high quality, compliant and value for money affordable housing programme across the Midlands operating region. Deliver a financially sustainable programme aligned to the Corporate Plan, shaping long term direction and building influential partnerships to enable successful delivery across new business, programme management, construction quality, sales and disposals. Ensure strong governance, commercial performance, and alignment between development activity and organisational objectives. Inspire and lead a high-performing multi-disciplinary team, championing a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement to achieve outcomes for our tenants, communities and the organisation.

KEY ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead the origination, appraisal and successful acquisition of new development opportunities across the West and East Midlands.
• Shape and deliver Midland Heart’s housing delivery strategy in line with the Corporate Plan.
• Build and maintain a strong pipeline of new business across Section 106 and develop partner land-led and grant-funded schemes.
• Bring, maintain and grow a high-quality network of contacts across the developer market, including intermediaries, local authorities, West Midlands Combined Authority and Homes England.
• Secure competitive advantage through trusted partnerships and repeat delivery models.
• Present new business projects and investment propositions to governing committees and Boards, securing approvals.
• Provide strategic direction and oversight of a large affordable homes programme allocation.
• Ensure full compliance with Homes England requirements, including Funding Guidance, grant conditions, audit evidence and information governance.
• Own accurate forecasting, reporting and the timely drawdown of grant, ensuring deliverability against contractual milestones.
• Oversee programme planning, risk management and governance, maintaining clear stage-gates, controls and decision rights.
• Work closely with Financial Planning to ensure the development cashflow is commensurate with the financial metrics of the organisation.
• Ensure contracted homes are high quality, safe and sustainable, meeting design standards, building safety duties and environmental objectives.
• Drive on-time and on-budget delivery, deploying contractual mechanisms (e.g. under JCT or equivalent) to remedy delays, defects and non-compliance.
• Ensure compliance with planning, building regulations and all relevant regulatory requirements throughout the build process.
• Champion quality, design and excellence to deliver great customer and stakeholder outcomes from inception to handover.
• Lead effective management of contractors and consultants, ensuring clear scopes, KPIs and performance management.
• Drive value for money across all development activity, balancing cost, quality and risk to optimise financial and social value.
• Create the environment for robust financial appraisals, cost control and performance management, including market benchmarking and post-project review.
• Direct the team delivering first-tranche sales of shared ownership properties to secure cashflow and optimise sales values and demand.
• Support wider organisational disposals through the identification and sale of strategic disposals, aligned to funding needs and the development pipeline.
• Ensure sales processes comply with regulatory and consumer standards and deliver excellent customer experience.
• Lead, inspire and develop a highly motivated, accountable and strongly performing team, with clear objectives and succession plans.
• Act as a senior leader, collaborating with fellow Directors to support the Executive in organisational decision-making and value creation.
• Provide clear, accurate and timely reporting and presentations to the Board and relevant committees, including progress, risks and mitigations.
• Maintain robust governance, controls and assurance across development activities, ensuring clear audit trails and compliance with policies.
• Champion equality, diversity and inclusion; health, safety and wellbeing; and a culture of continuous improvement.

EDUCATION, QUALIFICATIONS AND TRAINING

• Degree in a construction or housing related discipline or equivalent work experience.
• Achieved (or willing to work towards) a level 5 CIH qualification.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE

• End to end demonstrable understanding of affordable housing or mixed tenure development process.
• Experience of developing and maintaining strategic partnerships with external stakeholders such as Homes England, local authorities, developers and contractors.
• In depth knowledge of Homes England processes and funding/compliance requirements, with experience of managing grant funded programmes.
• Thorough understanding of Building Regulations, construction contract law and JCT and other standard forms of contract.
• Strong grasp of investment appraisals, viability and risk management.
• Extensive experience of leading multi-disciplinary development and sales teams, and managing external contractors and consultants.
• Strong track record of securing Section 106 opportunities alongside land led developer backed transactions using Affordable Homes programme grant funding.
• Experience of overseeing shared ownership sales and strategic disposals within a regulated environment.
• Experience of presenting to Board/committees, influencing strategic decision making at a senior level.

Goodman Masson are the exclusive partner for this search, please reach out to Jamie Fitch via DM or contact details below to receive the full candidate pack and to discuss confidentially.

📞 07596 946 910 📧 jamie.fitch@goodmanmasson.com