Business Support Manager

Mitie; Carlisle; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading facilities management provider is seeking a Head of Soft Services in Carlisle. In this role, you will oversee all soft services including portering, catering, and cleaning, ensuring high-quality service delivery. Key responsibilities involve budget management, staff supervision, and compliance with policies. A degree and significant management experience, preferably in the NHS, are essential. Benefits include financial wellness support and flexible lifestyle options, alongside a commitment to employee development.

Benefits

Virtual GP access

Flexible lifestyle benefits

High-street discounts

Enhanced pension contributions

Recognition awards

Qualifications

• Significant management experience in an NHS setting.
• Experience managing a large unionised workforce.
• Proven ability to oversee multiple services in Soft FM.

Responsibilities

• Support the Contract Director in service provision.
• Supervise, develop, and motivate staff in Soft FM.
• Manage budgets across various services.
• Drive continuous improvement and identify new service opportunities.

Skills

Excellent verbal and written communication

Negotiation skills

Team management

Decision-making skills

Education

Degree or relevant professional qualification

Job description

Job Overview

The Contract covers both Hard and Soft services and the Head of Soft Services will be responsible for overseeing the delivery of all soft services on the site including Portering, Domestic, Catering, Retail, Security, Waste Management, and Linen Services.

Main Duties

1. To support the Contract Director in ensuring the provision of a high quality, cost effective services to meet the requirements of the major PFI client.
2. To ensure that staff within all the Soft FM services are supervised, developed and motivated.
3. Ensure that all Trust policies and procedures and current legislation is adhered to and that staff are aware of their individual responsibilities.
4. Provide day to day leadership across the site to all service leads, supporting and coaching as appropriate.
5. Develop and maintain good communications and working relationships with all client stakeholders and colleagues.
6. Regularly liaise with service users and attending stakeholder meetings as required ensuring compliance across the site on all legal and contractual requirements.
7. Responsible to significant budget management across the full range of services.
8. Drive continuous improvement across the service, identifying and development new service opportunities as appropriate.
9. Attend Trust and related meetings, constructively contribute and react to react to requirements.
10. Provide professional and technical decisions on the spectrum of Soft FM Services.
11. Responsible for reviewing ongoing performance levels from data / reports produced by the Facilities Management Monitoring / Quality Assurance system. Initiating appropriate actions to ensure agreed performance standards are maintained including if necessary producing and implementing service improvement plans.
12. Undertake employee appraisals / performance reviews including the identification of training and development needs.
13. Advise on cost reduction programmes for Soft FM areas.

What we are looking for

• A degree and / or relevant professional qualification
• Significant management experience preferably some of which is in an NHS (or similar in size / complexity) setting.
• Previous experience of managing a large unionised workforce.
• Previous large site budget responsibility.
• Experience of managing multiple services in NHS Soft FM environment.
• Excellent verbal and written communication and presentation skills suitable for a range of audiences.
• Excellent negotiation and decision‑making skills.
• Demonstrate ability to manage and motivate teams.

Benefits

Our market‑leading offering provides you with benefits that suit your lifestyle.

We have a virtual GP on hand for you and members of your household. So you can get expert advice by video or phone without having to leave your home. We offer financial wellbeing assistance through our Salary Finance scheme. For example, you could access 50% of your earned pay before payday for a small fee. Salary Finance also offers competitive loans.

When you join us, we’ll give you a link to our flexible lifestyle benefits platform, Choices. You might choose to purchase up to five extra days’ holiday each year. You might buy critical illness insurance, seek dental treatment or buy technology products at an affordable cost. There are many choices!

We give you access to high‑street discounts from thousands of well‑known retailers, gyms and more through our MiDeals platform. And we have a cycle‑to‑work scheme. Life cover of up to four times your salary is available. We also offer enhanced pension contributions, a save‑as‑you‑earn scheme, and a Mitie Matching Share Plan (you could even be awarded free shares in Mitie).

We award our employees with Mitie Stars as recognition for their hard work. There are cash prizes up for grabs each month and at the end of the year there’s a chance to scoop a top prize of £10,!

Our success is a direct result of the experience and quality of our people. Progressing your career is therefore a top priority for us. We offer a diverse variety of training and development avenues via a wide selection of learning resources to suit you.

We are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible to all. If you have a disability or long‑term condition (for example dyslexia, anxiety, autism, a mobility condition or hearing loss) and need us to make any reasonable adjustments, changes or do anything differently during the recruitment process, please let us know by emailing Vishakanandhan Sivasellamuthu at .