Accommodation Solutions Manager - 1 X Perm and 1 X 2yr FTC 666 in London

Secure safe housing and lead frontline support for residents in urgent need. Facing housing crises or homelessness is a critical moment for our residents. We're all in to provide stable temporary accommodation, ensuring our frontline service is compliant, clear, and compassionate.

Working Style: We have one permanent and one 2‑year fixed‑term position available, both operating on a hybrid arrangement with a minimum of three days a week based in the office to effectively support your team and residents. You will lead a frontline team of six accommodation solutions officers, ensuring they deliver an efficient, compliant, and supportive service to residents requiring temporary housing.

Your day‑to‑day work involves managing urgent placements for households in crisis, including those experiencing homelessness or fleeing domestic abuse. You will oversee suitability assessments, ensure sign‑ups follow robust procedures, and manage complex cases that require legal precision and multi‑disciplinary coordination with social services, police, and health professionals. Monitoring performance through regular one‑to‑ones and appraisals is a key part of your leadership, helping your team meet targets and manage workloads effectively. Additionally, you will monitor the service budget and implement strategic solutions to safely reduce temporary accommodation numbers and associated costs. Working collaboratively with housing management and providers, you will maximise available properties while handling member enquiries and formal complaints with transparency and care.

What you'll bring: You bring a solid foundation in housing and homelessness, with a clear understanding of relevant legislation and tenancy procedures. Experience in a frontline housing or customer service role is essential, as you will regularly navigate challenging environments and guide residents through complex, stressful situations. Your exceptional interpersonal and soft skills enable you to conduct difficult conversations with empathy, transparency, and authority, particularly when supporting vulnerable people. You are a resilient leader who thrives under pressure, capable of managing tight deadlines, strict key performance indicators, and financial challenges without losing focus on service quality. You also bring strong analytical skills to manage budgets and resolve operational issues systematically. Above all, you possess a deep commitment to equality and hold values that align with putting communities first, demonstrating honesty, integrity, and a collaborative approach to teamwork.

Why join us: At RBKC, we're all in - investing in our people, our communities and our future. We offer a competitive salary alongside extensive opportunities for professional training and career growth, making this role an excellent stepping stone toward senior service management. You will lead a highly accountable, knowledgeable, and supportive team that takes pride in its work, having recently successfully reduced overall service complaints. This position provides a real opportunity to develop your management skills within a structured environment where your leadership directly shapes the workplace culture. By joining us, you will receive regular mentoring and supervision to help you navigate financial and operational pressures, ensuring you feel supported as you help your team succeed.

About us: Kensington and Chelsea is home to diverse communities, thriving businesses and unique local places. Everything we do is focused on supporting our residents, strengthening our approach and creating a fairer borough. As a competent and caring Council, we take pride in our work every day, ensuring our services are delivered with care and competence. We listen to our residents, act with integrity and work together to build a borough that is greener, safer and fairer for all. In the temporary accommodation service, getting stuck in is exactly how we meet the demands of a high pressure environment. Whether you are supporting your team in the office, coordinating with partners in the field, or working from home to manage budgets, your commitment ensures we provide vital stability to residents in crisis. It is not always smooth sailing, especially when balancing tight targets and financial challenges, but every ounce of effort pays off when a vulnerable household is safely housed. By fully committing to robust processes and fair assessments, you turn daily operational challenges into opportunities for professional growth and meaningful service development.

We are committed to promoting equality and respecting diversity and welcome applications from all sections of the community. We are a Disability Confident Employer - committed to ensuring that our recruitment and selection process is inclusive and accessible. We are committed to fair, transparent, and consistent pay practices. New hires will start at the minimum of the advertised salary range. Employees receive annual salary increases until they reach the top of the pay scale. In addition, employees will receive any agreed cost of living pay rises.