Head of Housing Management (Internal Applicants only)
Do you have what it takes to lead and transform how we deliver homelessness services and housing solutions at North Northamptonshire Council and be our new Head of Housing Management?
This is an excellent opportunity to be part of a new chapter for Housing Services at North Northamptonshire Council and help continue to shape the future of the council. A council with a passion for driving positive change and delivering excellence; a community with a rich heritage, a diverse population, and a distinct identity.
We are looking for an exceptional candidate to be part of our exciting leadership team, to lead the housing management, leasehold management, income management, sheltered services and housing support services. Ensuring the housing services teams identify, prioritise and assist residents to sustain their tenancies.
Working in one of Northamptonshire’s most vibrant unitary authorities, this new Head of Service role is the strategic and operational lead officer reporting directly to the Assistant Director for Strategic Housing, Development and Property Services.
Working with the Assistant Director of Strategic Housing, Development and Property Services, to drive and deliver a proactive, dynamic, agile, customer-first, high-performance, value for money, seamless, proactive and inclusive housing service.
That has high levels of customer satisfaction and engagement, ensuring a caring service culture that supports the needs of service users, tenants and leaseholders. Ensuring we comply and meet the standards of the Regulator for Social Housing, and keep our residents safe, engaged and involved and able to influence services and decisions that affect them.
You will be responsible for leading the housing services and lead on delivering our Housing, Tenancy and Tenant Engagement Strategies, supported by a dedicated and passionate team.
You’ll be managing a team of approximately 90 staff, driving solutions to improve housing services and tenancy sustainment, all against a backdrop of rising demand, regulation, governance and budget constraints.
Your role will encompass:
• Overseeing key services such as housing management, tenancy engagement, leasehold management, income management, sheltered services and housing support services.
• Managing significant budgets and programmes, and having responsibility for bids and grant funding, ensuring financial efficiency while driving cultural and operational change.
• At the heart of ensuring all our service users receive a proactive, tailored and excellent service that complies with the councils strategic and operational objectives and statutory responsibilities.
You will find this job exciting, challenging and rewarding, and that is why you need to bring a comprehensive understanding of how the service will reflect local and national agendas relating to the delivery of safe, effective, and sustainable housing services.
If you are looking to further your career in a large complex organisation that can provide you with a range of career experience and help shape the housing services within North Northamptonshire, then we would love to welcome you to our friendly team.
As the Head of Service for Housing Management, you will be accountable for the successful delivery of all day-to-day functions provided by the service.
What will you be doing?
You will be responsible for ensuring:
• Full responsibility and oversight for the strategic and operational management of the council’s housing management, leasehold management, income management, sheltered services and housing support services.
• The housing teams identify, prioritise and assist vulnerable groups and those requiring additional tenancy support.
• Proactively and sensitively deal with breaches of tenancy.
• Strategic oversight and accountability for the operational, customer experience and financial performance of all North Northamptonshire Council’s Housing service functions.
• Clear oversight, governance and management of the Housing Revenue Account, maximising income and any additional income generation opportunities.
• Supporting any cross-service capital projects to improve or develop housing and leasehold services for the council.
• That the council achieves against its statutory duties in relation to housing, and complies with the requirements of the Regulator for Social Housing.
• The formulating of the Council’s Housing, Tenancy and Resident Engagement Strategies to ensure exemplar housing services.
• The development and implementation of relevant plans and strategies to transform the Council’s housing service.
• That there is effective partnership working across the Council and with external stakeholders to deliver best in sector services.
• Correct monitoring and management of budgets, performance and risks related to the service, including accurate estimating, forecasting and out-turns against agreed budgets.
• The effective management and implementation of the housing services business continuity plans and emergency response to support the delivery of uninterrupted services and the Council’s role within the Local Resilience Forum.
• Through the work of the team, provide a high standard of customer service and community liaison to the Council’s elected Members, MPs Parish and Town Councils and residents in accordance with corporate requirements.
• Lead the team in adopting a proactive and constructive approach to engaging positively with local Members, communities, and residents to address their concerns and issues.
About you
What will you bring to the role:
Passion, Resilience, Innovation, Drive and Energy – with a commitment to Working Together to Achieve Success.
You will have a successful background of achievement and relevant experience at a senior management level in an appropriate, related work area, reflecting a corporate and strategic approach in a diverse service environment.
You will have previous experience of developing services at a strategic level and in turning concepts into operational plans with a comprehensive understanding of how the service will reflect local and national agendas relating to the delivery of safe, effective, and sustainable housing services.
You will be an excellent communicator, with interpersonal skills for both conceptual and factual matters to a wide audience, with the ability to listen to the views of others and use effective influencing/negotiation techniques to achieve a positive outcome.
If you are looking to further your career in a large complex organisation that can provide you with a range of career experience, then we would love to welcome you to our friendly team.
We currently work in a hybrid way, so there are opportunities to balance great face-to-face service, with the flexibility to work remotely.
For an informal discussion about the role or to find out more information, please contact Evonne Coleman-Thomas, Assistant Director for Strategic Housing, Development and Property Services at evonne.coleman-thomas@northnorthants.gov.uk
Here at North Northamptonshire Council, we’re transforming for the better, using all our creativity and imagination to create the best life for our local people.
Why choose us?
We offer a vibrant working environment with:
* a pension scheme, where we pay a significant contribution on top of your contribution. It provides life cover and ill-health protection.
* lots of opportunities to develop your skills, knowledge and potential in a large unitary council
* generous leave entitlement (28 days, rising to 33 days) and bank holidays, plus the option to buy up to an extra 10 days
* hybrid and flexible working arrangements, where practicable for service needs to help you with a healthy work-life balance.
We provide a range of great benefits such as an Employee Assistance Programme, an Employee Benefits Scheme, wellbeing support, travel rates at HMRC rates, as well as supporting a range of active Employee Network Groups.
About us
Our Values and Behaviours
Our values define who we are and how we operate, by forming the foundation for how we interact with our customers, colleagues and provide our services. They are also at the forefront of our decision making and delivery and are:
Customer-focused
Respectful
Efficient
Supportive
Trustworthy
Our Key Commitments
Our key commitments help ensure that the priorities we make, now and in the future, maintain the necessary breadth of focus in those areas that we believe matter most.
We are proud to be a recognised Disability Confident Employer and is committed to providing an inclusive recruitment process and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role.
North Northamptonshire Council re-signed the Armed Forces Covenant in June 2024 which highlights the Council’s pledge to support the Armed Forces community. The council obtained the silver status award for the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) and we are now currently working towards achieving Gold status.
We aim to be a carbon neutral Council by 2030.
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