Building Facilities Manager in Newcastle upon Tyne

Salary £47,389 to £50,253 per annum with progression to £56,535. Closing Date 29 June 2026.

The Role

Lead a large operational team and shape a high‑quality service across a vibrant university environment. This key leadership role is responsible for delivering proactive, customer‑focused cleaning, portering and mail services across multiple sites, ensuring they are safe, effective, efficient and continuously improving. The role involves shaping service delivery, driving innovation and making a real impact on the campus experience.

Key Accountabilities

• Lead the review, monitoring and enhancement of the Building Facilities service to meet the evolving needs of the University.
• Develop, implement and maintain service level standards in consultation with stakeholders, ensuring alignment with operational capability, budget constraints and optimal use of resources.
• Benchmark the service against peers and external providers, evaluating alternative strategies for delivery to demonstrate best practice and cost efficiency.
• Effectively manage and motivate the team, ensuring appropriate resources and clear objectives to meet Service Level Standards.
• Ensure all employment‑related processes are correctly managed and comply with current legislation and University regulations.
• Lead the development and delivery of training and development within the service to ensure statutory compliance and promotion of best practice.
• Establish and maintain effective communication links with Schools, Services and colleagues within Estates & Facilities through regular meetings, providing proactive and collaborative solutions to challenges.
• Develop and maintain up‑to‑date operating procedures for the Building Facilities Team, communicating changes in a timely and effective manner.
• Produce an annual planned maintenance schedule in consultation with Team Leaders, Schools, Services and other Estates & Facilities teams, coordinating cleaning and portering with maintenance and improvement projects and campus events.
• Procure and financially manage services, ensuring purchase of contracted services where no in‑house provision is available and adherence to University Financial Regulations and statutory regulations.
• Oversee financial planning, budgeting and procurement, ensuring value for money and compliance.
• Coordinate planned maintenance schedules alongside wider estates activities and events.
• Prepare budgets and supporting planning statements, manage the annual budgetary allocation and monitor the financial position against budget, producing standard reports on expenditure, forecasts and management information at regular intervals throughout the financial year.
• Ensure relevant Health & Safety policies, legislation and codes of practice are followed, reporting and budgeting for safety inspections, audits and training, and keeping H&S records up to date.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• IT literacy with the ability to analyse and produce meaningful data relating to service performance, budgets and benchmarking.
• Proven problem‑solving skills.
• Administrative and organisational skills that enhance the customer experience.
• Experience matching service level standards to available resources, reviewing and modifying systems and procedures to maximise service delivery.
• Effective communication skills with the ability to sell ideas and strategies to a diverse range of colleagues and customers, influencing stakeholders at all levels.
• Experience directing a large operational team through considerable change.
• Hands‑on experience of planning, organising and delivering excellent customer service, with the ability to flex the service to meet ever changing demands.
• Strong understanding of service delivery, resource planning and performance management.
• Experience working with budgets, financial reporting and procurement processes.
• Solid knowledge of Health and Safety legislation and compliance requirements.

Attributes and Behaviour

• Think on both operational and strategic levels and can be instrumental in transferring objectives into actions.
• Recognise the need for change and promote the benefits to others.
• Encourage and support a free flow of communication and information across the Building Facilities Team and beyond, choosing appropriate communication tools given the team size and relationship complexity.
• Recognise urgency and take decisive action, developing objectives and KPIs to ensure university needs are met and performance is measurable.
• Understand the value of learning from mistakes and experimental processes, building a culture of continuous improvement and supporting the development of others.

Qualifications

• Educated to degree level or possess relevant experience of working in a highly demanding facilities management role.
• Significant knowledge of legislation relating to facilities management, including health and safety.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution. We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society. We value diversity as well as celebrating, supporting and thriving on the contributions of all employees and the communities they represent. We are a proud equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who complement our existing teams. We hold a Gold Athena Swan award for good employment practices in gender equality and a Race Equality Charter Bronze award. We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme. In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe.

Benefits

We offer a generous holiday package, the opportunity to buy additional holidays, a comprehensive pension scheme and a range of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.