Director of Specialist Housing

Midland Heart is a housing association that delivers homes and services across the Midlands. They own and manage over 35,000 homes and are dedicated to providing high-quality, safe and affordable homes, combined with excellent services to over 70,000 tenants.

This is a unique opportunity to join the organisation at a pivotal time, following their recent achievement of a C1 rating from the Regulator of Social Housing. The successful candidate will play a central role in shaping the future of specialist housing provision across the Midlands, helping tenants to live independently in high-quality homes which are tailored to their needs.

As Director of Specialist Housing, you will be responsible for the strategic leadership and delivery of a broad range of housing services – including leasehold and mutual housing management, specialist accommodation, and key partnerships with third-party managing agents.

Reporting to the Executive Director of Tenancy Services and sitting as a key member of the Directors’ Group, you will drive forward transformation, performance improvement, and regulatory compliance across the service portfolio, always keeping tenant outcomes at the forefront.

Key responsibilities include:

• Lead and shape core services including leasehold, mutuals, and third-party managed housing in alignment with Midland Heart’s Corporate Plan.
• Modernise and continuously improve specialist housing functions, improving TSMs and delivering inclusive, tenant-centred services.
• Act as the strategic lead for stakeholder relationships, ensuring effective contract oversight and service accountability.
• Enhance performance across property compliance, lease enforcement, asset standards, and commercial premises.
• Provide values-led leadership to a multidisciplinary team, encouraging high performance, collaboration, and innovation.
• Manage service budgets and deliver services that offer value for money, sustainability, and measurable benefits for tenants

Midland Heart is looking to appoint a senior leader who has the following attributes:

• Extensive knowledge of social housing practice, landlord responsibilities, and regulatory requirements.
• Proven ability to deliver strategic outcomes within a complex, customer-driven housing environment
• Strong commercial acumen, with experience overseeing performance, procurement, and contract management.
• A robust approach to risk and compliance, and the ability to drive forward continuous improvement.
• An unwavering focus on resident satisfaction, particularly for vulnerable and older adults.
• Strong stakeholder engagement skills across local authorities, third-party providers, and statutory bodies.
• Articulate, clear communicator able to translate complex issues into understandable forms for a range of audiences.

For more information, please contact Tom Neely (tomneely@neemarsearch.com), or Eliot Jeffries (eliotjeffries@neemarsearch.com).