Head of Housing Works (16616)

Head of Housing Works

We’re looking for a proven leader to join Southampton City Council as the Head of Housing Works. This is a rare opportunity to lead a large and fast-paced in-house direct labour organisation (DLO) – Southampton’s preferred and much prized delivery partner for maintaining and improving over 16,000 homes - while driving a shift to a more modern, performance-driven service that underpins the whole Housing system.

You’ll play a pivotal role in turning day-to-day delivery into a reliable, high-quality service for tenants, while acting as an intelligent supplier to Housing as it moves from recovery and reactive operations towards a more proactive, customer-centred landlord that delivers consistently strong services.

About the team

We’re part of the Council’s Residents’ Services Directorate, which brings together housing, customer services and community support around a shared purpose: to make sure every resident has access to a safe, affordable and sustainable home, and to strengthen the communities that make Southampton a city of opportunity.

Housing Works plays a critical delivery role within Housing’s commissioning model - delivering repairs, maintenance, compliance, planned works and estates services across the city’s housing stock. Through a large in-house workforce and supply chain, the service is responsible for ensuring homes are safe, well-maintained and available to meet demand.

Working closely with colleagues across Housing and related services including Homelessness, Housing Works translates priorities, standards and investment decisions into effective delivery. It ensures that work is well planned, resources are used effectively and services are delivered consistently across the city - forming a key part of a joined-up housing system focused on better outcomes for tenants.

This is a newly designed structure, and you will be joining at the point where it moves from design into delivery - shaping how Housing Works operates in practice and establishing the standards, culture and performance needed for short, medium and long-term improvement.

About the role

In August 2024, the Regulator for Social Housing identified serious failings in how we met the consumer standards. That judgement has been a turning point - and we’re now using it to drive lasting improvements for tenants, residents and communities. Our intention is to rebuild confidence and deliver real, sustained change that improves the quality of homes and the lives of people who live in them – building on the progress we have already made over the last twelve months.

As Head of Housing Works, you’ll be a key member of the Housing Directorate Senior Leadership Team (SLT). Together, the SLT is responsible for ensuring Housing operates as part of a coherent system – owning delivery of Housing’s overall purpose and making sure services operate in a joined-up, effective way.

Within that, you will lead a large and complex delivery service responsible for repairs, maintenance, compliance, planned works and estates services across the city’s housing stock and neighbourhoods. You will ensure services are safe, compliant and deliver value for money, giving tenants, the Council and the Regulator confidence that that Housing is under control and improving.

You’ll provide clear operational leadership across a large workforce and supply chain – setting priorities in line with commissions from your clients, establishing strong performance expectations and ensuring that work is outcome-focussed, well planned, delivered consistently and to customer expectations.

You’ll also lead the modernisation of Housing Works - improving productivity, strengthening planning and scheduling, and embedding better use of data and systems. With new core systems being introduced to support mobile working and scheduling, you will build on these foundations to establish more consistent, efficient and modern ways of working, and to drive better value from both the in-house workforce and the wider supply chain.

You’ll work closely with colleagues across Housing to act as an intelligent supplier - translating priorities, standards and investment decisions into effective delivery. This means shaping Housing Works as a high-performing, commercially aware delivery partner that makes the best use of its own capacity and external suppliers, delivers strong value for money, and feels fully part of a joined-up Housing team. You’ll balance day-to-day operational grip with longer-term improvement, ensuring Housing Works supports the wider system to achieve better outcomes for tenants.

Success will depend on working with others across Housing, the wider Council and partners. Together with the other Heads of Service, you’ll help make Housing operate well as a coherent system that connects commissioning with delivery - maintaining performance today while driving sustained improvement over time.

Everything you do will contribute to Southampton’s vision to be a city of opportunity where everyone thrives through more equal, healthier, safer, growing and greener communities.

Key responsibilities include:

• Lead a large in-house workforce and supply chain (over 400 staff and c.£33m p.a. spend) to deliver repairs, maintenance, compliance and planned works - ensuring services are safe, reliable, deliver value for money and meet regulatory requirements.
• Set clear priorities and performance expectations for staff - ensuring work is well planned, delivered consistently and right first time, where possible.
• Drive improvements in productivity, planning, scheduling and use of resources - reducing waste and improving outcomes for tenants.
• Act as an intelligent supplier to Housing - translating priorities, standards and investment decisions into effective delivery, and shaping demand and outcomes with commissioning colleagues.
• Develop Housing Works as a high-performing, commercially aware and modern delivery partner - making effective use of in-house capacity and external suppliers to deliver strong value for money.
• Lead and embed change across Housing Works - increasing flexibility and adaptability in how the service operates as part of Housing’s new commissioning model, so it can respond to changing demand, new ways of working and wider local government reorganisation.
• Build strong leadership and management capability across Housing Works - developing depth, resilience and clear accountability at every level, so the service performs consistently without over-reliance on central control.

About you:

We’re looking for an experienced and credible operational leader who can run a large, complex delivery service while driving sustained improvement in performance, value and customer outcomes.

You will need:

• Degree-level education and/or a relevant professional or leadership qualification, or equivalent senior leadership experience in a complex operational environment.
• Significant experience leading large-scale operational services, ideally within housing, property, construction or a comparable environment - with accountability for delivery, performance and budgets.
• Strong commercial and financial awareness, with experience managing supply chains, improving productivity and delivering value for money across in-house and external delivery models.
• A track record of driving service improvement and change - strengthening planning, performance management and ways of working to deliver more consistent, reliable outcomes.
• The ability to lead through others - building strong leadership and management capability, creating clear accountability and enabling teams to perform without over-reliance on central control.
• Strong communication and influencing skills, with the ability to work effectively across organisational boundaries and build trusted relationships with colleagues, partners and stakeholders.

Join us in delivering essential services and building a sustainable Southampton for all.

For further information about this role, please view the job description.

What we can offer you:

Salary: The salary band for this role is £83,643 - £91,823. The starting salary is £83,643 with annual progression through the salary bands.  

Here at SCC we have a range of different benefits, a few examples can be found below.

• Excellent local government pension with 16.8% employer contribution
• Death in service benefit of x3 salary, and optional salary sacrifice shared cost AVC (additional voluntary contribution)
• Generous holiday 25–31 days, based on role and service
• Flexible working options (role-dependent)
• Family-friendly policies - Maternity, Paternity, Adoption, Shared/Unpaid Parental Leave, Time off for Dependents
• Training and development, including coaching and mentoring
• Health and wellbeing support - Employee Assistance Programme, Menopause Pledge, Mental Health First Aiders and access to a variety of staff networks
• Veteran-friendly employer with the Armed Forces Covenant
• Retail discounts and savings through the Southampton City Council benefits platform
• Discounted memberships at local sports and fitness centres
• Sustainable travel benefits - low emission car scheme, cycle to work, season ticket loans
• Employee volunteering scheme with 2 paid days leave to volunteer

For further information on our benefits package, please visit: Employee benefits (southampton.gov.uk)

If you feel you have the necessary background, experience, and skills to undertake this role we would like to hear from you.

Contact information

Southampton City Council

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