Residence Manager

Downing; Greater London; On-site; GBP 35,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player in luxury student accommodation is seeking a dynamic Residence Manager. This role is pivotal in delivering exceptional customer experiences and managing operational activities for a thriving student accommodation scheme. You will lead a dedicated team, ensuring facilities and maintenance services meet high standards while fostering relationships with external partners. If you are customer-focused, well-organized, and thrive under pressure, this is your chance to contribute to a significant expansion phase and make a real impact in student living environments.

Benefits

25 Days Holiday

Life Assurance

Mental Health Support

Company Pension Contribution

Qualifications

• Proven commercial experience in residential housing or hotel sector.
• Experience managing partnerships with external institutes.

Responsibilities

• Manage residence team to provide high-quality service.
• Ensure compliance with Health & Safety legislation.

Skills

Customer Service

Leadership Management

Facilities Management

Health & Safety Compliance

Relationship Building

Education

Experience in Residential Housing or Hotel Sector

Experience in Student Accommodation Sector

Job description

Downing is an award-winning leading developer, owner and operator of bespoke, luxury student accommodation, residential and commercial property across the UK. We have been operating for over 35 years and currently have 14 operational student accommodation schemes in 10 major cities, with additional impressive projects currently under construction.

We have an exciting opportunity available for an experienced residential building manager to join our team responsible for the operational activities within our 578 bed Student Accommodation Scheme in Vauxhall, London.

As Residence Manager, you will be responsible for delivering the best possible experience for our customers and ensuring the delivery of cost-effective facilities and maintenance services.

This appointment requires a hands-on approach to work alongside and manage a small in-house team together with sub-contractors to maintain the smooth running of this impressive student accommodation development.

Hours of work for the roles are 40 hours per week Monday to Friday, 8am – 5pm or 9am – 6pm with 1 in 5 Saturdays worked on a rota basis with a day in lieu the following week. There will also be a requirement to work overtime on weekends during the busy student turnaround period and check in weekends.

Role outline:

• To manage and motivate the residence team to operate student accommodation providing a high-quality service for customers
• To instruct the site team regarding Health & Safety, data protection & current legislation
• The role will involve managing partnership agreements with large external institutes and meeting all the relevant KPI’s
• To support hospitality & customer service functions to include presentation of communal areas, handling of complaints and pastoral issues
• To manage the student cycle to ensure optimum occupancy and customer satisfaction. This will include marketing activities, scheduling for availability, viewings, check in and out, inspections, tenancy management, student welfare & head office documentation
• Assist in planning the availability and viewing of all rooms to be let
• Contribute to achieving all targets
• To prepare reports relating to targeted KPi’s
• Always interact with students professionally, showing empathy towards any issues raised
• Report any welfare issues to your line manger immediately
• To provide customer focused Facilities and Maintenance services to include management of utilities, waste, security & cleaning contracts and full budgets
• To be responsible for the delivery of the scheme’s statutory inspection and testing programme and all associated paperwork. To prepare reports relating to Health & Safety/site issues
• To provide site/building management to ensure best practice at all times, scheduling and management of trades, support services plus supporting the Relationship building with local Police, Fire, Ambulance and supporting partners e.g. University
• To organise, tender and manage own quota of minor works, planned and preventative maintenance programs
• Contribute to ensuring compliance with Health & Safety legislation, and that all risk assessments are correctly carried out
• Manage defects and resolve complex or outstanding defects
• Contribute to the on-site procurement programme for maintenance, servicing and facilities contracts and to minor contractors throughout the contract term

To be considered for the role you will need:

• A proven commercial experience of working with the residential housing or hotel sector
• Experience of working at a similar level within the student accommodation sector would be an advantage
• Experience of handling partnership agreements with large external institutes – nominations experience and lease agreements with universities
• Previous Facilities Management experience would be an advantage
• To manage staff with expertise outside of your current skill set
• To be dynamic and 100% customer service & service delivery focused
• Strong leadership management skills
• To be self-motivated, well organised and excel under pressure
• Experience in building relationships and meeting KPI’s

Downing employees get to work within fantastic environments, with passionate team members and will be fully supported by a senior management team who have extensive experience within the field of student accommodation.

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The benefits

25 days holiday

+ bank holidays

Life assurance

cover

Mental health

support

Company pension

contribution

Work for us

Our people are our success and there has never been a more exciting time to join Downing as it enters the most significant expansion for three decades.

Our team is united in a mutual respect and a desire to move the business forward. Here you’ll find all our latest job vacancies. If you’re excited by opportunity and want to be valued for your contribution, take a look at what we currently have available.