Head Of Estates & Maintenance (BTR/SFH)

Residential Living Recruitment; Manchester; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Residential Living Recruitment is seeking a Head of Estates & Maintenance to lead a growing portfolio of Build to Rent and Single-Family Housing assets in Manchester. You will own the maintenance and estates function, shaping processes, systems, and supplier strategy to scale operations.

You will drive compliance, performance metrics, and continuous improvement across in-house and outsourced elements, building a high-performing team as the portfolio expands.

Qualifications

• Significant multi-site residential estates, facilities management or maintenance experience.
• Experience operating across a geographically diverse portfolio.
• Strong contractor, supplier and lifecycle management experience.
• Experience within Build to Rent, Single-Family Housing or another residential living environment is highly desirable.

Responsibilities

• Lead maintenance delivery across a growing residential portfolio, ensuring high standards of quality and resident communication.
• Take ownership of the estate and oversee new handovers and asset management.
• Ensure compliance with building regulations, safety requirements, and standards.
• Set objectives, KPIs and service standards for the maintenance function.
• Develop SOPs, escalation processes, and operational policies.

Skills

Multi-site leadership

FM/maintenance experience

Contractor lifecycle management

Build to Rent / residential ops

Job description

We're working with a rapidly growing residential platform focused on creating high-quality homes and communities across the UK.

As the business continues to grow, they are looking for an experienced Head of Estates & Maintenance to take ownership of the maintenance and estates function across a growing portfolio of Build to Rent and Single-Family Housing assets.

This is a genuine build and leadership role. You'll have the opportunity to shape how maintenance is delivered across the portfolio, putting the processes, systems, supply chain and operational standards in place to support the business as it scales.

You'll have significant ownership and autonomy, with the opportunity to influence how the function develops — including decisions around in-house, outsourced and hybrid maintenance models.

Location: Manchester
Sector: Build to Rent / Single-Family Housing

What You'll Be Responsible For

• Lead maintenance delivery across a growing residential portfolio, ensuring high standards of quality, response times and resident communication.
• Take ownership of the estate, developing a strong understanding of existing assets and being closely involved in all new handovers.
• Ensure the portfolio remains fully compliant with relevant building regulations, legislation and safety requirements.
• Establish clear performance objectives, KPIs and service standards across the maintenance function.
• Develop and implement SOPs, escalation processes, policies and operational standards.
• Own the development and structure of the CMMS and asset management platforms, ensuring accurate and up-to-date asset information.
• Drive efficiencies across reactive and planned maintenance, using data and continuous improvement principles to improve performance.
• Lead and develop the maintenance team as the function grows, building the capability required for future scale.
• Manage and hold contractors and suppliers accountable against agreed service levels, quality and compliance standards.
• Develop and manage the annual maintenance budget, working closely with Finance on expenditure and performance analysis.

What We're Looking For

We're looking for someone who combines strong technical knowledge with commercial awareness, leadership ability and a genuine understanding of residential operations.

You’ll ideally have:

• Significant multi-site residential estates, facilities management or maintenance experience.
• Experience operating across a geographically diverse portfolio.
• Strong contractor, supplier and lifecycle management experience.
• Experience within Build to Rent, Single-Family Housing or another residential living environment is highly desirable.
• Proven experience managing and delivering FM/maintenance budgets.
• A strong understanding of compliance, safety and technical standards within residential property.

Why This Role?

This is an exciting opportunity to join a business at an important stage of its growth and shape the future estates and maintenance function from the ground up.

You’ll have the opportunity to influence systems, processes, supply chain strategy, team structure and the long-term operating model across a growing UK residential portfolio.

If you’re an experienced estates, maintenance or FM professional looking for a role where you can genuinely make your mark, this could be an excellent next step.