General Manager

iQ Student Accommodation; Greater London; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

iQ Student Accommodation is hiring a General Manager to lead a busy site and create a safe, welcoming environment for residents while driving commercial results. You will balance operational excellence with staffing, budgeting, and stakeholder relationships, evolving the on-site experience to achieve a fully leased, high‑performing building.

You’ll switch between strategic planning and hands-on leadership, coaching your team and coordinating with contractors to maintain high standards.

Qualifications

• Energetic leader who can drive a busy site.
• Strong people skills and a passion for developing others.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management abilities.

Responsibilities

• Lead site operations to ensure smooth daily running and safety.
• Balance operational excellence with commercial performance.
• Own the site balanced scorecard and drive improvements.
• Manage budgets and financial processes in collaboration with Credit Control.
• Maintain university partner relationships and monitor market trends.
• Drive customer satisfaction through NPS and reviews.
• Recruit, onboard, coach and develop the team for excellent service.
• Oversee health & safety, audits, risk assessments and incident reporting.
• Provide escalation support and resolve site issues promptly.
• Coordinate with contractors and support teams to maintain standards.

Skills

Leadership

People skills

Communication

Team management

Job description

Doing the right thing, even when nobody's watching? It's an iQ thing.

iQ is one of the UK's biggest providers of student accommodation, committed to giving over 37,000 students in 86 sites across 29 UK cities their'Best Year Yet'. Our site teams are made up of supportive, driven, hands‑on people who love providing our residents with a home from home.

Think that sounds like you? Here's a bit about the role...

About the role

As a General Manager (GM), you take the lead of our busy buildings. You're responsible for making sure everything runs smoothly day to day while creating a safe, welcoming environment for residents and a positive, high‑performing environment for the team.

You balance operational excellence with commercial performance, keeping the building safe and compliant, shaping the resident experience, and driving results through strong decision‑making. With the site balanced scorecard as your guide, you spot opportunities, remove barriers, and drive continual improvement, all while pushing your site towards being fully leased and achieving a 'Full House'.

You're comfortable switching between big‑picture planning and hands‑on support, doing whatever's needed to keep things running like clockwork. You won't be doing it alone, we'll give you the tools, training and support you need to grow, so you can be the best you can be here at iQ. No two days are ever the same and that's all part of the excitement!

What you'll be doing

• Managing budgets, reviewing financial processes and collaborating with Credit Control
• Monitoring performance, analysing market trends and maintaining university partner relationships
• Driving NPS, Google reviews and converting opportunities
• Recruiting, onboarding, developing and coaching the team to ensure they are fully equipped to deliver the best customer service across hours of operation
• Running regular check‑ins, performance reviews, and coaching sessions with the team
• Taking ownership of all health & safety responsibilities and coordinating audits, inspections, compliance actions, risk assessments, and incident reporting
• Reviewing feedback, resolving complaints and being the main point of escalation resolution at site
• Always looking for opportunities to improve the site operation and challenging the status quo
• Liaising with contractors and support teams ensuring a #NoCompromise approach is adopted
• Owning the site balanced scorecard, tracking KPIs, monitoring satisfaction scores and driving improvements

What makes a great iQer

First and foremost, we're looking for an enthusiastic leader who thrives in a get-stuff-done kind of environment. You won't mind rolling your sleeves up, leading a team and be a great communicator.

You'll have some team / building management experience, but that could be in a hotel, gym or restaurant for example, however, we're much more interested in your people skills, personality and drive to succeed.

Working hours

Our residents come first, so rotas are designed around their needs.
You'll work opposite shifts to the Assistant Manager. You're responsible for building the rota for the full team and publishing it at least six weeks in advance.
Shifts may vary across a six‑week pattern, and you'll work within our site hours of 8am-8pm, Monday to Friday, with occasional weekend work agreed in advance for busy periods or open days.

What you'll get

In exchange, you'll receive great benefits, and the opportunity to work as part of a supportive team in a business that's definitely going places.

Working at iQ is so much more than a job, it's the chance to carve out your future and build a career in a truly diverse environment.

Want to know what it's really like to work at iQ? Check us out on Glassdoor and hear directly from our people.