Head of Maintenance

The Head of Maintenance is a senior leadership role responsible for overseeing all maintenance operations across a large and diverse portfolio, including multiple large sites and hundreds of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs). This role will lead the delivery of both reactive and planned preventative maintenance, ensuring high standards of service, compliance, efficiency, and tenant satisfaction. The successful candidate will manage internal teams, external contractors, and maintenance partners while driving continuous improvement across all maintenance functions.

Main Duties & Responsibilities

• Leadership & Strategy
  • Provide strategic direction for the maintenance function across the organisation.
  • Lead, develop, and structure a team of approximately 30 engineers, with a focus on introducing effective supervision and team hierarchy.
  • Oversee the Maintenance Manager responsible for external maintenance contracts.
  • Work closely with the CEO and senior leadership team to align maintenance operations with business objectives.
  • Identify opportunities to improve service delivery, cost efficiency, and operational performance.
  • Develop and implement the long-term maintenance strategy for the Stef & Philips property portfolio, ensuring properties remain compliant, safe, and maintained to the highest operational standards.
  • Produce monthly or quarterly operational reports for the CEO outlining maintenance performance, operational risks, portfolio maintenance trends, budget performance, and strategic improvement recommendations.
• Operations Management
  • Oversee all reactive and planned maintenance activities across the portfolio.
  • Ensure effective scheduling, prioritisation, and completion of maintenance works.
  • Lead the development of preventative maintenance programmes across the portfolio to reduce reactive repairs and implement proactive repairs.
  • Manage and optimise the performance of in-house engineers and administrative staff.
  • Ensure smooth coordination between Maintenance, Utilities, Allocations, Essex team and Compliance departments.
  • Monitor and improve response times, first-time fix rates, and overall service quality.
  • Implement and monitor maintenance performance using KPIs such as response times, completion rates, first-time fix rates, and backlog levels.
  • Establish performance frameworks, ensuring maintenance teams, contractors, and suppliers are operating efficiently and meeting service level expectations.
  • Analyse performance data to identify trends, inefficiencies, and areas for improvement.
• Contractor & Supplier Management with Maintenance Project Manager
  • Oversee outsourced maintenance services, including void servicing and external contractors.
  • Manage relationships with third-party suppliers and ensure service level agreements (SLAs) are met.
  • Review contractor performance, cost-effectiveness, and quality of work with Maintenance Project Manager.
  • Ensure the organisation achieves value for money across all outsourced services.
• Compliance & Quality Assurance
  • Work alongside the compliance team to ensure all properties meet statutory and regulatory requirements.
  • Maintain high standards of health & safety across all maintenance activities.
  • Implement and monitor quality control processes.
  • Ensure accurate record-keeping and reporting for all maintenance activities.
• Team & Resource Management
  • Lead and support a team of engineers, administrators, and support staff.
  • Drive performance management, training, and development initiatives.
  • Foster a culture of accountability, professionalism, and continuous improvement.
  • Ensure effective use of internal and external resources.
• Financial Management
  • Manage maintenance budgets and control operational costs.
  • Identify cost-saving opportunities without compromising service quality.
  • Support financial planning and forecasting related to maintenance operations.
• Systems & Process Improvement
  • Oversee and optimise the use of the Salesforce CRM system within the maintenance function.
  • Ensure accurate job tracking, data integrity, and reporting within the system.
  • Identify and implement system improvements to enhance workflow efficiency and visibility.
  • Work with internal stakeholders to improve processes, automation, and reporting capabilities.
  • Drive adoption and best practice use of systems across the maintenance team.

Skills & Knowledge

• Experience managing a large maintenance team and property portfolio.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, with the ability to communicate effectively and maintain appropriate professional boundaries.
• Proficiency in operating modern maintenance technology, including ERP and CRM systems (Salesforce experience would be ideal).
• Well-versed in technical/engineering operations and facilities management best practices.
• Experience in managing HMO properties.
• Ability to implement protocols and procedures.
• Technical understanding of electrical, mechanic and hydraulic systems for planning and troubleshooting purposes.
• Good verbal communication skills, including active listening and the ability to translate technical information.
• Organisational skills for scheduling maintenance tasks and ensuring job completion.
• Attention to detail, ensuring maintenance tasks are prioritised.
• Ability to work effectively in a high-pressure environment and adhere to deadlines.
• Strong team ethic, with the proven ability to work effectively and collaboratively within a team or independently.

Ideal but not Essential

• Experience in Microsoft packages and Accounting packages.

Benefits

• 23 days leave, plus bank holidays.
• Additional holiday days for long service – up to 30 days.
• Celebration of tenure: 3 years £500, 5 years £1000, 10 years £5000.
• Private health insurance with Vitality.
• Birthday off.
• One well-being day off per year after passing probation.
• Maternity/Paternity Pay.
• Pension schemes increase – after 2 years.
• £500 referral scheme for staff who refer a new employee, paid upon passing probation.
• Company payday lunch.
• Daily Fresh fruit.