Soft Services Manager

Mitie; Oxford; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 61,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Virtual GP

Salary Finance

Flexible lifestyle benefits

Extra holiday options

MiDeals discounts

Cycle-to-work

Job summary

Mitie is recruiting for a high-impact Head of Soft Services at Westgate Oxford. You will lead security and cleaning teams, shape strategy, and foster a culture of accountability and continuous improvement across a major retail destination.

Reporting to the Area Manager, you will drive performance through data-led decision making, workforce planning, and strong stakeholder engagement with clients, contractors and internal teams, while ensuring safe, compliant service delivery and value for money.

Qualifications

• Proven leadership experience in soft services.
• Experience leading security and cleaning teams.
• Strong people management and coaching skills.
• Commercial awareness with budget responsibility.
• Confident communicator with stakeholders.
• Data-driven mindset using performance metrics.

Responsibilities

• Provide visible, hands-on leadership to Security and Cleaning teams.
• Coach and develop direct reports with clear objectives.
• Drive workforce planning, recruitment and retention.
• Embed Mitie One Code and Elevate principles.
• Own soft services strategy and continuous improvement.
• Ensure compliant service delivery across all estate.
• Build relationships with clients and stakeholders.
• Oversee KPIs, SLAs and safety compliance.

Skills

Leadership

People management

Budget management

Stakeholder management

Data-driven

Organisational skills

Tools

Merlin

Workplace+

Client reporting tools

Job description

Location: Westgate OxfordContract: Full-time (40 hours, including weekends and flexibility as required)Salary: Up to £55,000

Reporting to: Area Manager

About the Role

This is a high-impact leadership role responsible for driving a high-performing, engaged and customer-focused Security and Cleaning function within a key retail destination. You will lead from the front, developing your teams, shaping strategy and embedding a culture of accountability, excellence and continuous improvement.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership & People Management

• Provide visible, hands-on leadership to Security and Cleaning teams, fostering a high-performance, values-led culture.
• Lead, coach and develop direct reports, setting clear objectives, conducting performance reviews and supporting career progression.
• Build a strong succession pipeline through coaching, mentoring and talent development.
• Ensure effective workforce planning, recruitment and retention aligned to business needs and diversity goals.
• Champion Mitie One Code and Elevate principles, embedding them into everyday behaviours.

Operational Leadership & Strategy

• Own and deliver best-in-class soft services through clear standards, governance and continuous improvement.
• Translate strategic objectives into operational delivery plans, aligning teams to wider business goals.
• Drive a proactive, data-led approach to performance using systems such as Merlin, Workplace+ and client reporting tools.
• Ensure consistent, compliant service delivery across all areas of the estate, both internal and external.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Build strong, credible relationships with clients, contractors and stakeholders across the estate.
• Act as a key representative for soft services, confidently leading audits, inspections and performance reviews.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams (QHSE, ESG, H&S, HR) to deliver aligned outcomes.

Performance & Compliance

• Take full ownership of KPIs, SLAs and service standards, holding teams accountable for delivery.
• Lead a culture of safety and compliance, ensuring adherence to all statutory, ISO and British Standards.
• Proactively manage risk, including H&S, fire safety and operational compliance.
• Manage operational budgets (service charge and non-recoverable), ensuring cost-effective delivery without compromising quality.
• Identify efficiencies and value-add opportunities to enhance service delivery and asset value.

Customer Experience & Innovation

• Champion a best-in-class guest experience through engaged, service-driven teams.
• Drive innovation in service delivery, sustainability and technology adoption.
• Continuously review and improve processes to enhance efficiency and experience.

What We're Looking For

• Proven leadership experience in soft services, with Security and Cleaning experience desirable.
• A strong people leader with a track record of building high-performing, engaged teams.
• Commercially astute with experience managing budgets and driving performance outcomes.
• Confident communicator with strong stakeholder management skills.
• Data-driven mindset with experience using operational systems and performance metrics.
• Strong organisational skills with the ability to prioritise and lead in a fast-paced environment.

Our market-leading offering provides you with benefits that suit your lifestyle.

We have a virtual GP on hand for you and members of your household. So you can get expert advice by video or phone without having to leave your home. We offer financial wellbeing assistance through our Salary Finance scheme. For example, you could access 50% of your earned pay before payday for a small fee. Salary Finance also offers competitive loans.

When you join us, we'll give you a link to our flexible lifestyle benefits platform, Choices. You might choose to purchase up to five extra days' holiday each year. You might buy critical illness insurance, seek dental treatment or buy technology products at an affordable cost. There are many choices!

We give you access to high street discounts from thousands of well-known retailers, gyms and more through our MiDeals platform. And we have a cycle-to-work scheme. Life cover of up to four times your salary is available. We also offer enhanced pension contributions, a save-as-you-earn scheme, and a Mitie Matching Share Plan (you could even be awarded free shares in Mitie).

We award our employees with Mitie Stars as recognition for their hard work. There are cash prizes up for grabs each month and at the end of the year there's a chance to scoop a top prize of £10,000!

Our success is a direct result of the experience and quality of our people. Progressing your career is therefore a top priority for us. We offer a diverse variety of training and development avenues via a wide selection of learning resources to suit you.

Since 1987, Mitie's 84,000 employees have been maintaining companies globally. We are the UK's leading facilities management and professional services company, and our clients range from household names in banking, critical government sites as well as hospitals and schools.

Together our diversity makes us stronger.