General Manager

Colby River; City of Edinburgh; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual bonus

Travel allowance

Pension

Health cash plan

Career development

Job summary

Colby River Student Living in the UK seeks a General Manager to lead one community. You’ll own resident experience, people, and commercial performance, ensuring safety, high standards and day-to-day operations.

You’ll motivate on-site teams, drive occupancy and income, and deliver outstanding service in a fast-paced PBSA environment.

This role offers visibility, accountability and a real opportunity to shape a thriving student community across peak periods.

Qualifications

• Proven operational leadership in PBSA, Build to Rent, residential property or hospitality.
• Experience leading a multi-disciplinary on-site team.
• Strong commercial and financial awareness with budgets and KPIs.
• Track record delivering excellent resident experiences.
• Ability to handle complaints and sensitive situations.
• Knowledge of building operations, maintenance, and Health & Safety.
• Strong organization, communication, and decision-making skills.
• Experience with Yardi or similar platforms.
• Full UK driving licence and willingness to travel.
• Flexibility for out-of-hours escalation rota.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop on-site team to deliver outstanding resident experience.
• Drive occupancy, income, debt, conversion, and other KPIs with Leasing Manager.
• Own site budget, expenditure, invoices, and variances.
• Ensure bedrooms and communal spaces are safe and well-presented.
• Oversee maintenance, contractors and statutory servicing.
• Recruit, onboard and develop staff; foster accountable culture.
• Lead peak periods and out-of-hours support.

Skills

Leadership

Team leadership

Commercial acumen

Budget management

KPIs tracking

Resident experience

Customer service

Operational excellence

Health & Safety

Decision making

CRM systems

Yardi

Driving licence

Travel availability

Tools

Yardi

Job description

General Manager – Student Living

Colby River Student Living | Full-Time | Permanent | Site Based

Bring the energy. Lead the experience. Own the results.

We’re looking for an exceptional General Manager to take ownership of one of our Colby River Student Living communities.

This is a high-impact leadership role where you’ll have responsibility for the complete performance of your property — resident experience, people, commercial performance, building standards, safety and day-to-day operations.

We’re a growing Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) operator creating premium, student-first communities across the UK. We’re ambitious, hands-on and full of ideas, and we want a General Manager who brings the same energy.

If you love leading from the front, building great teams and creating places where students genuinely want to live, this could be the role for you.

Your role

As General Manager, you are the driving force behind your property.

You’ll be visible, approachable and right at the heart of the operation. You’ll lead and develop your on-site team, create an outstanding resident experience and make sure the building is safe, welcoming and performing commercially.

You'll have direct leadership responsibility across Resident Management, Resident Services, Maintenance and Housekeeping, giving you the opportunity to shape the culture and standards of the entire site.

Create a brilliant resident experience

From the first pre-arrival message and check-in through to events, everyday support, rebooking and departure, you'll make sure every stage of the resident journey counts.

You'll listen to residents, act on feedback and create an inclusive community where people feel safe, supported and proud to call it home.

You'll also take ownership of complaints and service recovery and ensure welfare, safeguarding or resident concerns are handled professionally and sensitively.

Drive commercial performance

This is also a genuinely commercial leadership position.

You'll take ownership of your site's performance across occupancy, income, debt, conversion, rebookers and other key KPIs, working closely with our Leasing Manager to deliver the property's leasing strategy.

You'll understand your local student market, keep an eye on competitors and university demand and look for smart opportunities to improve occupancy, income and overall performance.

Own the numbers

You'll have responsibility for your site's operating budget, reviewing income, expenditure, purchase orders, invoices, accruals and variances.

We want someone who can do more than report the numbers. You'll understand what they're telling you and what needs to happen next, providing clear insight into the performance of your property.

Keep the building at its best

You'll make sure bedrooms, communal spaces and back-of-house areas are safe, secure and presented to a consistently high standard.

You'll oversee planned and reactive maintenance, contractors and statutory servicing, while taking the lead during the biggest operational moments of the year — particularly check-out, summer turnaround and check-in.

Lead a team that delivers

Great buildings need great people.

You’ll set the tone for your team through clear expectations, regular one-to-ones, coaching and honest feedback. You’ll lead recruitment, induction and development and create an environment where people feel supported but are also accountable for delivering high standards.

You'll build a culture that celebrates great work, learns quickly and is always looking for a better way.

What we're looking for

You'll already have proven operational leadership experience within PBSA, Build to Rent, residential property, hospitality or another complex customer-focused environment.

You'll bring:

• Experience leading and developing a multi-disciplinary on-site team

• Strong commercial and financial awareness, including budgets and KPIs

• A track record of delivering excellent resident or customer experiences

• Confidence dealing with complaints and challenging or sensitive situations

• Good knowledge of building operations, maintenance, contractors and Health & Safety

• Strong organisation, communication and decision-making skills

• Confidence using property, CRM, finance or compliance systems

• Experience of Yardi, or a comparable platform, would be advantageous

• A full UK driving licence and willingness to travel when required

• Flexibility to participate in an out-of-hours escalation rota and support the property during peak periods

The kind of person who'll thrive here

You're visible, positive and credible and comfortable leading from the front.

You're commercially switched on without losing sight of the resident experience. You're decisive when you need to be, calm under pressure and prepared to challenge when standards aren't where they should be.

Most importantly, you take ownership. You don't wait for someone else to solve the problem — you bring people together and make things happen.

What's in it for you?

Alongside a competitive salary, you'll receive:

• Performance-related annual bonus

• Company mileage or travel allowance and business expense reimbursement

• Contributory pension

• Health cash plan

• Genuine opportunities to learn, develop and grow your career as our Student Living portfolio expands

Come and build something brilliant with us

This is much more than managing a building.

It's an opportunity to lead a community, develop a great team and take real ownership of the performance of your property.

If you've got the energy, commercial confidence and operational experience to make that happen, we'd love to hear from you.

Why Colby River?

Colby River combines disciplined investment with operational expertise and a commitment to quality at every stage of the asset lifecycle.

Joining us means being part of a business with clear direction and strong governance — where your contribution, whether operational or strategic, plays a vital role in our continued growth.