Job Description

A senior post in Ipswich Borough Council; in one of its largest front line services.

The Maintenance and Contracts service spends circa. £30 million annually repairing, maintaining and improving a retained housing stock of circa 7500 properties and 15 sheltered schemes to our local “Ipswich Standard”. The Council takes a holistic approach to stock management and has one seamless service that is now responsible for everything in connection with the asset management of that stock; from initial design to completing works on site on a right first-time basis using our own directly employed trade teams.

The Principal Manager will be one of four senior management posts within the Maintenance & Contracts (Housing) service dedicated to continuous improvement, efficient services and improving housing standards for our customers.

A change culture is embedded in everything the Council does and you will contribute to managing a service area with 135 employees and employing 350 on a daily basis if you include our suppliers employees leading from the front, successfully delivering key work contracts and services within time, cost and quality parameters. You will be individually responsible for significant budgets to the value of several million.

Housing is a flagship service of Ipswich Borough Council and it is a service that is vital for our tenants and very much in the public eye – as you would expect with such a range of work. Our employees and appointed contractors do everything from day-to-day repairs, refurbishing properties whilst void, disabled adaptations, regeneration, planned and capital improvement schemes as well as providing a Community Caretaking Service. As you would expect we have a large vehicle fleet and work from a significant depot facility that includes our own stores and waste recycling facility.

As such, it is a great opportunity to make your mark at Ipswich and develop your career at the Council. Innovation and aspiration are encouraged. The varied workload will enable you to refine your existing skills as well as develop new ones.

You will be joining at a time when the Regulator for Social Housing is introducing new consumer standards for tenants and you will be able to contribute to shaping our new approach.

Specifically, we are seeking an individual with business experience at a senior level and specific technical knowledge in some of the areas listed:

• Asset management of large housing stocks, Surveying, building safety and compliance, delivery of capital improvement works (decent homes) and repairs & maintenance.

About You

The successful candidate will have:

• Significant experience in a comparable environment.
• A degree qualification and/or membership of a relevant professional organisation.
• Experience of managing high numbers of staff and budgets.
• Experience of business planning, change management and continuous improvement in an operational or front-line environment.
• Experience and/or qualifications in Health & Safety.

As well as a good salary, we offer a career average pension scheme, generous holiday and sick pay entitlements, subsidised parking, public transport discounts, free swimming, cycle purchase scheme, plenty of personal and professional development opportunities, flexible working, hybrid working opportunities, Employee Assistance Programme and the opportunity to work with great colleagues.

For more information about this role please contact Kevin Oxborrow on 01473 432414 or kevin.oxborrow@ipswich.gov.uk

Please download the Job Description and Person Specification to find out more about this role: Job Description and Person Specification

The selection process will be an interview via Teams.  Interview date to be confirmed.

Early applications are encouraged as we reserve the right to interview candidates who meet the essential criteria prior to the closing date and / or to close the opportunity to applicants once we receive sufficient applications.

Closing date: 31^st August 2023