Billable Works Project Manager - Plymouth

Overview

Location: Plymouth, Devon, GB, PL6 5DW

Contract Type: Full Time

What We Do

Who We Are — VIVO provides facilities management and accommodation maintenance for the UK military and its partners. VIVO embodies both experience and innovation.

What We Do — We put our Customers and Families First. They are the driving force behind everything we do. We drive forward improvements for them to ensure the service they receive, whether reactive repairs or a major project, is completed safely and on time. In order to achieve this, we have 4 core values: open, caring, agile and collaborative. These are at the heart of everything we do.

Permanent, Full time

Salary: £38,000-£45,000 depending on experience

The Role

The Billable Works Manager plays a pivotal role in delivering a diverse programme of refurbishment, maintenance, and improvement projects across a substantial Defence housing portfolio of more than 30,000 properties. This is an exciting opportunity for an ambitious and highly motivated professional to join the Billable Works team, contributing directly to the successful planning, procurement, delivery, and close-out of projects ranging from minor remedial works and full internal refurbishments through to major seven-figure schemes. With VIVO delivering more than £100m of billable works each year, this role is central to ensuring projects meet time, cost, quality, and compliance expectations while maintaining an exceptional customer experience.

Operating within a large and rapidly developing organisation created to support the UK Defence estate, the Billable Works Manager oversees the full project lifecycle, from early scoping and design through procurement and delivery to final handover. Working closely with the Regional Manager, senior project managers, and maintenance teams, the role ensures that every project — whether a single small refurb or a complex £3m re-roofing or external façade upgrade — is managed to rigorous contractual and compliance standards. The position demands a proactive and organised leader who is capable of managing high-volume, fast-paced works while maintaining strategic oversight, accuracy in reporting, and full adherence to company, MOD, and regulatory requirements.

A key focus of the role is effective supply-chain management. The Billable Works Manager leads a network of contractors and suppliers, ensuring they are fully briefed, meet contract performance standards, and deliver value for money and consistently high-quality outcomes. They ensure all works proceed in line with approved briefs, specifications, cost plans, and tender documentation, with robust adherence to Health & Safety legislation, including CDM and asbestos control regulations. Accurate record-keeping, performance monitoring, and budget management are essential to ensure audit readiness and contractual compliance.

Strong relationship-building skills are fundamental, as the role requires daily engagement with Service families, DIO representatives, internal teams, suppliers, and external partners. The Billable Works Manager maintains excellent communication throughout delivery, providing clear updates, managing expectations, resolving issues efficiently, and ensuring that customer satisfaction remains at the heart of every project. They also play an important role in safeguarding VIVO’s reputation by upholding VIVO’s values, promoting a “one team” culture, and working collaboratively across operational teams to secure successful outcomes.

In addition to operational delivery, the Billable Works Manager supports strategic objectives by preparing frequent performance and contract management reports, analysing programme data, forecasting spend, and identifying opportunities to improve process efficiency and compliance. They are responsible for scoping works accurately, identifying risks, providing technical guidance where required, and ensuring projects remain aligned with contractual, legal, and internal standards. This role also requires continuous professional development, proactive engagement with industry best practice, and an ongoing commitment to enhancing personal technical and leadership capability.

What You'll Bring

The ideal candidate brings proven project management experience within housing or property services, combined with strong commercial understanding, contractor management capability, and a structured approach to planning, reporting, and problem-solving. They demonstrate excellent communication, stakeholder engagement, analytical and organisational skills, and the ability to thrive in a fast-moving environment with varied priorities. A recognised construction or property qualification, SMSTS certification, and demonstrable commitment to CPD underpin their professional competence, supported by confident use of Microsoft Office tools including MS Project.

Ultimately, the Billable Works Manager ensures that every project delivered reflects the highest standards of safety, quality, efficiency, and customer service — contributing meaningfully to the modernisation and improvement of Defence accommodation and supporting VIVO’s mission to deliver outstanding service for military families across the UK.

What We Offer

• 6% employee matched pension contribution
• 25 days annual leave
• Single private medical cover
• Company car/car allowance
• Life assurance 2x annual salary

VIVO Defence Services

The role you have applied for is with VIVO Defence Services, a joint venture between Serco and EQUANS. By applying for this role, please be aware that information contained within your CV may be shared between VIVO Defence Services, Serco and EQUANS during the recruitment process.

At VIVO, we are committed to building a diverse and inclusive organisation that supports the needs of all. Therefore, we will make reasonable adjustments at interview through to employment for our candidates and strongly encourage applications from a diverse candidate pool.

We are open to discussions around flexibility and flexible working and operate a hybrid work structure in many of our business areas. We are proudly a Disability Confident Leader. Disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job will be given the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities at an interview.