Head of Asset Optimisation in Liverpool

Salary: £84,239.41 per annum (£93,106.72 is achieved after 12 months successful performance in the role)

Working Hours: Full time 35 hours per week

Working Pattern: Monday to Friday- Hybrid

Location: Liverpool, London or Carlisle

The difference you will make as a Head of Asset Optimisation:

You will lead the delivery of Riverside’s strategic asset transformation agenda, encompassing sustainability, rationalisation, and the optimisation of asset performance. This role ensures that homes are future-proofed, efficient, and aligned with customer needs and corporate objectives. The postholder will play a central role in shaping and reviewing the Homes Strategy, providing clear reporting on progress and oversight of strategy across the organisation.

About you:

• Strategic Asset Management: Proven experience in leading asset transformation programmes, including sustainability and rationalisation, within a complex organisational context.
• Technical Expertise: Experience supporting or leading asset rationalisation activity, including disposals and portfolio change, informed by financial, operational and customer considerations. Deep understanding of sustainability and retrofit planning.
• Data-Driven Decision Making: Ability to interpret and apply asset performance data, risk assessments, and option appraisals to inform asset decisions.
• Customer and Community Focus: Demonstrated ability to improve customer outcomes through asset decisions that enhance affordability, wellbeing, and housing quality.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Strong communication and influencing skills, with experience engaging a wide range of stakeholders including regulatory and funding bodies, commercial partners and sector peers.

Role Profile:

• Lead a multi‑disciplinary asset optimisation function, setting clear direction, priorities and accountabilities aligned to portfolio performance and corporate objectives.
• Provide leadership across rationalisation, sustainability and asset strategy, ensuring teams and partners are aligned to shared outcomes.
• Translate strategy into deliverable priorities, ensuring clarity of roles, responsibilities and expected outcomes across the function.
• Manage performance through clear objectives, regular review and use of data and insight.
• Build capability across the service, including asset analysis, sustainability and strategic decision‑making.
• Work across organisational boundaries to influence delivery teams and ensure alignment between asset strategy and operational delivery.
• Foster a culture of accountability, continuous improvement and evidence‑based decision making.

Strategic Asset Optimisation:

• Lead the implementation of asset optimisation priorities aligned to the Homes Strategy, ensuring alignment with corporate priorities and regulatory requirements.
• Oversee the planning and prioritisation of energy efficiency and decarbonisation roadmaps, including the development of roadmaps and investment scenarios for delivery and business planning.
• Use asset performance data and option appraisal insights to identify underperforming or non‑strategic assets, informing decisions on disposals, acquisitions, and reconfigurations.
• Support asset investment decisions through option appraisal and rationalisation, working in close collaboration with the Investment Planning team ensuring a cohesive and insight‑led approach to asset transformation.

Customer and Community Impact:

• Support a planned and prioritised approach to asset rationalisation, ensuring decisions are informed by portfolio performance, financial considerations and customer outcomes.
• Ensure that homes are healthy, energy‑efficient, and free from hazards such as damp, mould, and poor air quality, through the strategic use of asset data, investment planning, and rationalisation.
• Enable the delivery of Healthy Homes by coordinating planning, prioritisation, and cross‑team collaboration to drive measurable improvements in customer outcomes.
• Support initiatives that improve affordability, wellbeing, and climate resilience by ensuring the right homes are in the right places, and that investment and rationalisation decisions reflect customer and community needs.

Stakeholder Engagement and Collaboration:

• Build strong relationships with local authorities, funders, commercial partners, and sector peers to share best practice, inform strategic asset decisions, and support effective delivery of disposals, acquisitions, and investment programmes.
• Lead internal stakeholder engagement to ensure alignment across asset transformation priorities, enabling joined‑up planning and decision‑making.
• Represent Riverside in external forums, networks, and professional groups that support asset optimisation, sustainability and portfolio development.

Data, Risk and Performance Management:

• Oversee the use and analysis of property data to inform plans and strategic decision‑making.
• Identify and manage risks, ensuring robust mitigation strategies are in place.
• Track the progress of the Homes Strategy, providing cyclical reviews ensuring it is underpinned by high‑quality data and that objectives continue to be aligned with operational and strategic priorities.
• Champion the continuous improvement of asset data quality, systems and reporting to enable effective investment planning and long‑term portfolio optimisation.

Funding and Resource Management:

• Identify and secure funding opportunities to support asset transformation priorities, including sustainability and rationalisation.
• Provide oversight of budgets and resource planning to ensure value for money, alignment with strategic priorities and effective delivery of programmes.
• Lead the development and delivery of income activity through the disposal of assets, ensuring commercial decisions are well‑informed, timely and aligned with the Homes Strategy.
• Support the development of business cases and funding proposals, ensuring that investment decisions are evidence‑based and deliver measurable impact.

Leadership and Culture:

• Provide visible leadership across strategic asset optimisation, fostering collaboration and accountability across sustainability, rationalisation and investment‑related functions.
• Promote a culture of innovation, commercial awareness and continuous improvement, ensuring teams are empowered to deliver complex programmes with clarity and purpose.
• Build capability across asset transformation functions, embedding technical knowledge, strategic thinking and customer focus into training and development.
• Work across organisational boundaries to align strategy, investment planning and delivery.

Person specification:

• Knowledge, Skills and Experience:
• Proven experience in leading asset transformation programmes, including sustainability and rationalisation, within a complex organisational context.
• Experience supporting or leading asset rationalisation activity, including disposals and portfolio change, informed by financial, operational and customer considerations. Deep understanding of sustainability and retrofit planning.
• Ability to interpret and apply asset performance data, risk assessments and option appraisals to inform asset decisions.
• Demonstrated ability to improve customer outcomes through asset decisions that enhance affordability, wellbeing and housing quality.
• Strong communication and influencing skills, with experience engaging a wide range of stakeholders including regulatory and funding bodies, commercial partners and sector peers.
• Experience in managing complex programmes and budgets, with a focus on delivering value.
• Proven ability to lead cross‑functional teams, foster collaboration and promote a culture of innovation, accountability and continuous improvement.
• Experience in shaping and reviewing long‑term strategies that align with corporate objectives, regulatory expectations and customer needs.
• Relevant academic qualification or professional membership (e.g. IEMA, RICS, CIOB).