Regional Workplace Services Manager - Central

The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association; Royal Leamington Spa; Hybrid; GBP 55,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

26 days annual leave

Real Living Wage Employer

Flex pot for flexible benefits

Buy/sell annual leave

Discounts and cash-back

Job summary

The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association is seeking a Regional Workplace Services Manager to lead safe, compliant and cost-effective facilities management across the Central region, including Leamington. You will travel across the region to engage sites, stakeholders and contractors, ensuring accessible, high-quality workplaces that enable our teams to deliver life-changing services.

You will manage a regional team, coordinate budgets and contracts, and drive sustainability and inclusion across

Qualifications

• Experience leading regional facilities/ workplace teams across multiple locations.
• Knowledge of health and safety legislation, building compliance and audits.
• Budgeting and reforecasting for regional property portfolios.
• Experience managing outsourced and in-house service providers.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop a high-performing Workplace Services team.
• Deliver compliant and cost-effective facilities management across regional properties.
• Build strong relationships with internal stakeholders, suppliers and contractors.
• Manage regional budgets, contracts and service providers.
• Ensure health and safety compliance, inspections and risk assessments.
• Drive sustainability and inclusion in workspace utilisation.
• Lead business continuity planning and small capital projects.

Skills

Facilities management

Team leadership

Contract management

Budget management

H&S compliance

Tender documentation

Multi-site management

Budget forecasting

Contractor management

Accessibility & inclusion

Education

A level or equivalent (QCF/SQCF)

IWFM member

IOSH Managing Safely or NEBOSH cert

Job description

Guide Dogs - Where Every Role Makes a Difference

Come and join us as a proactive and purpose‑led Regional Workplace Services Manager and be part of something life‑changing - helping people with sight loss live the life they choose.

As a Regional Workplace Services Manager at Guide Dogs, you'll lead the delivery of safe, compliant, accessible, and cost-effective workplace and facilities management services across the Central region which includes Nottingham, Shrewsbury, Cardiff, Leamington, National Breeding Centre (Leamington). You'll play a key role in ensuring our workplaces support colleagues, volunteers, and service delivery, while driving operational excellence, sustainability, and health and safety standards. The Regional Workplace Services Manager will be an expert in facilities management, workplace compliance, contractor management, property operations, and health and safety legislation. Our Regional Workplace Services Managers play a huge part in ensuring everything we do enables us to deliver on our purpose and exceed expectations.

This role requires regular travel across the region to engage with colleagues, stakeholders, contractors, and sites to ensure excellent workplace service delivery.

Key Responsibilities

• Leading and developing a high-performing Workplace Services team, providing clear direction, coaching, and development opportunities.
• Delivering safe, compliant, and cost-effective facilities management services across a diverse regional property portfolio.
• Building strong relationships with internal stakeholders, suppliers, and contractors to ensure excellent service delivery and customer experience.
• Managing regional budgets, contracts, and service providers to achieve value for money while maintaining high service standards.
• Ensuring compliance with all relevant health and safety, building, security, and environmental legislation, including managing workplace risks and audits.
• Driving sustainability initiatives, supporting carbon reduction goals, and promoting efficient use of workspace in line with accessibility and inclusion principles.
• Leading the response to workplace issues, business continuity planning, and small-scale property projects to ensure our locations remain safe, secure, and operational.

You

You’ll bring a practical, customer-focused approach to facilities management and enjoy working across a diverse property portfolio. Focused on operational excellence, compliance, and continuous improvement, you’ll help create safe, accessible, and efficient workplaces where people can thrive. You’ll act with integrity and honesty in everything you do.

Skills and Competencies

• Educated to a minimum of A level standard or equivalent (QCF level 3 / SQCF Levels 6-7).
• Member status of a professional Facilities Management body e.g. Institute of Workplace Facilities Management (IWFM).
• Achieved or working towards IOSH Managing Safely or NEBOSH General Certificate in Occupational Health & Safety.
• Management of a regional facilities/workplace team across a variety of locations.
• Facilities management delivery through a mix of in-house and outsourced service provision, within circa ten properties across a large region.
• Management of entire buildings as well as spaces within multi‑tenanted buildings.
• Development and ongoing management of budgets including accurate reforecasting.
• Management of on‑site health and safety compliance including the completion of inspections and risk assessments.
• Development of tender documentation associated with outsourced facilities management services.
• Management of hard and soft service contracts in‑line with performance standards and SLAs.

We wouldn’t be able to change the lives of people with sight loss without our people. That’s why it’s important for us to provide a variety of benefits that reward our colleagues in a way that suits them and recognises the hard work and contribution that they make.

• 26 days annual leave. After three years of continuous employment, this increases to 28 days plus bank holidays.
• Real Living Wage Employer
• Flex pot - equal to a proportion of your annual salary to use on our wide variety of flexible benefits
• The option to buy and sell annual leave
• Discounts and cash‑back scheme
• Excellent pension scheme (We will match your pension contributions plus 2% up to a maximum of 9% employer contribution)
• And lots more!

For high volumes of applications, we reserve the right to close adverts earlier than advertised.

Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

Behind Every Guide Dog Is Someone Like You - We’re passionate about creating an inclusive workplace that celebrates and values diversity. Bring your whole self to work regardless of age, disability, gender identity or reassignment, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, race, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. We don’t want you to ‘fit’ our culture, we want you to enrich it.

Please note - If you are successful you will need to provide evidence of your right to work in the UK via our digital ID checking supplier. We cannot offer visa sponsorship at this time.

Safer recruitment

Guide Dogs follow Safer Recruitment practices to ensure we are safeguarding the vulnerable people we work with. As part of this, we require a full work history with any gaps accounted for & a minimum of 2 professional referee details fully covering the past 5 years. If you are applying for a disclosure role, please note that you will be required to undergo an enhanced DBS check and sign up to the DBS update service.

At Guide Dogs, we believe in fair and equitable hiring practices. A criminal record will not automatically disqualify an applicant from consideration for a position. Each case will be evaluated individually. We encourage all candidates to disclose relevant information, and we assure you that it will be handled confidentially and fairly.