Senior Surveyor

Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust (JRHT); Buffalo (NY); Hybrid; USD 55,000 - 74,000; Full time

Job summary

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation is seeking a Senior Surveyor to provide technical leadership across our Property Services team, ensuring homes are safe, well maintained and compliant with statutory requirements.

You will lead on identifying and resolving complex property issues, including damp and mould, disrepair, and housing hazards, with emphasis on high-risk scenarios involving vulnerable residents. Travel to JRHT sites will be required; on-site presence is essential.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in building surveying or housing maintenance.
• Experience diagnosing complex building defects (damp, mould, disrepair).
• Knowledge of HHSRS and housing health and safety hazards.
• Experience supervising surveyors or technical staff and managing contractors.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership across Property Services to ensure safe, compliant homes.
• Lead on diagnosing and resolving complex property defects and hazards.
• Supervise surveyors and manage contractors with quality and compliance oversight.
• Prepare detailed technical reports and legally sensitive documentation.

Skills

Building surveying

Leadership

Contract management

Regulatory knowledge

Education

MRICS / MCABE / MCIOB membership

Job description

Location: York / Hybrid – New Earswick (with travel to JRHT sites as required)

Salary: £48,212 per annum

Expires: 25/09/2026 23:59

Permanent, Full Time (35 hours per week)

• Please note that we do not currently offer any Tier 2 sponsorship*

About The Role

Here at The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, we’re seeking a Senior Surveyor to provide technical leadership across our Property Services team, ensuring our homes are safe, well maintained and compliant with statutory and organisational requirements.

You’ll lead on the identification, diagnosis and resolution of complex property condition issues, with a particular focus on damp and mould, disrepair, housing hazards and statutory compliance, including the requirements of Awaab’s Law. You’ll ensure high-risk cases, particularly those involving vulnerable residents, are identified, prioritised and resolved promptly and effectively.

Providing professional oversight and technical direction to the surveying function, you’ll ensure decisions are evidence-based, consistent and robust enough to withstand legal, regulatory and external scrutiny. You’ll also provide technical expertise in relation to complaints, litigation and regulatory enquiries, while supporting quality assurance and continuous service improvement.

This is an influential role where your technical expertise, professional judgement and commitment to resident safety will directly contribute to improving the quality of our homes and the experience of our residents.

About You

We’d like you to have significant experience in building surveying or housing maintenance, ideally within a social housing, local authority or regulated housing environment. You will have strong experience diagnosing and managing complex building defects, including damp and mould, disrepair and structural issues, with a strong knowledge of building pathology, defect diagnosis and appropriate remedial solutions. You’ll also have a good understanding of HHSRS and housing health and safety hazards.

The role requires experience supervising or leading surveyors or technical staff, as well as managing contractors and monitoring technical performance, compliance and quality. You’ll be experienced in producing detailed technical reports, specifications and legally sensitive documentation, and will have the analytical and problem-solving skills needed to make clear, robust and defensible technical judgements. Excellent written and verbal communication skills are essential, with the ability to present complex technical issues clearly to a range of audiences. You’ll also be able to manage competing priorities effectively in high-risk and time-sensitive environments.

Professional membership of MRICS, MCABE, MCIOB or an equivalent professional body would be advantageous. Experience of managing Awaab’s Law-related casework or working within similar statutory housing hazard frameworks would be beneficial, as would experience providing expert witness-style evidence in legal or Ombudsman cases.

Our core priority

JRHT strives to be a housing association that is sustainable and engaging, providing high quality and continuously improving services and decent affordable homes in well managed communities prioritising those in greatest need.

Closing date for applications is 25th September 2026

Interviews will take place on w/c 5th October 2026

Please note that we will be shortlisting and interviewing on an on-going basis and reserve the right to bring the closing date forward should enough quality applications be received.

Additional Information

We are a values driven organisation and our values drive our behaviours. We’re at our best when we’re continually building on trust, showing we care and making a difference – and we hope others will do the same. We are committed to creating an inclusive and welcoming workplace, where all colleagues can be themselves.

Due to the duties of this role, there is a requirement to be on site for at least three days a week and travel between sites is a requirement of the role.

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

At JRHT we believe in giving everyone an equal chance to succeed. Applications are welcome from all regardless of age, disability, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, religion or belief, race, sex, sexual orientation, trans status or social economic background. We positively encourage applications from people with experience of living in poverty.

As part of our commitment to equity and specifically anti-racism, we operate an anonymised recruitment process so that bias is eliminated from the shortlisting process.

We are a Disability Confident Employer. This means that we are committed to the recruitment, progression and retention of disabled individuals. We offer interviews to disabled candidates who meet the minimum criteria for the job. If you have a disability, please tell us if you would like to be considered for an interview under the Disability Confident Scheme.