Head of Soft Services

The opportunity

We are looking for an experienced and inspiring Head of Soft Services to lead the strategic direction and day-to-day performance of our soft services operation. This is a senior leadership role with accountability for consistently high standards, strong customer relationships, safe and compliant delivery, financial performance, and the continued development of our people.

You will set the service vision, create a clear operating rhythm and ensure cleaning, catering, waste management and other agreed soft services work together as one effective operation. You will also lead improvement, innovation and best practice, working with specialist centres of excellence, colleagues, customers and supply-chain partners.

What you will be responsible for

• Set and deliver the soft services strategy, operating plan and service improvement roadmap, aligned to the customer's property priorities and contract commitments.

• Own service performance across all agreed soft services, ensuring contractual requirements, service-level agreements, key performance indicators and quality standards are consistently achieved.

• Provide visible leadership to managers and service delivery teams, creating clear accountability, a high-performance culture and a strong focus on customer experience.

• Lead financial planning and control for the function, including budgeting, forecasting, cost management, productivity and the delivery of sustainable efficiencies.

• Build trusted senior relationships with the customer and act as the escalation point for significant service, performance or operational issues.

• Identify and implement innovation, best practice and practical improvements that enhance quality, value, sustainability and the end-user experience.

• Ensure the effective governance of audits, inspections, quality controls, corrective actions, risk management and management information.

• Oversee projects and mobilisation or change activity within the soft services portfolio, ensuring delivery to the agreed scope, quality, timescale and budget.

Leadership and people

• Lead, coach and develop soft services managers and wider teams, ensuring colleagues understand their objectives, standards and contribution to contract success.

• Ensure the operation has the right structure, capability and resources, using workforce planning and business forecasting to meet changing demand.

• Set meaningful objectives, review performance and address underperformance fairly and promptly.

• Build succession and talent plans, create development opportunities and strengthen colleague engagement and retention.

• Ensure effective controls for payroll, attendance, absence and workforce deployment, minimising disruption to service delivery.

Customer, stakeholder and supplier relationships

• Develop collaborative, open and transparent relationships with senior customer stakeholders, operational teams and internal partners.

• Translate customer priorities into practical service plans, using performance data, feedback and operational insight to shape decisions.

• Create a seamless way of working across the contract or region, ensuring local teams and central support functions communicate and collaborate effectively.

• Hold suppliers and delivery partners to account for performance, compliance, value and continuous improvement.

• Represent soft services in governance meetings, performance reviews and strategic planning discussions.

Quality, safety and compliance

• Ensure services comply with all applicable legislation, company and customer policies, industry standards and contractual requirements, including health and safety and COSHH obligations.

• Maintain robust quality assurance, audit and inspection arrangements, with clear ownership and timely closure of corrective actions.

• Provide senior guidance on cleaning practices, hygiene standards and infection-control measures, drawing on specialist expertise where required.

• Promote a proactive safety culture in which risks, incidents, equipment concerns and training needs are identified, reported and addressed.

• Ensure compliance with company and customer information-security procedures, including prompt reporting of suspected or actual security incidents.

What we are looking for

• Significant senior leadership experience in complex, multi-site soft services, with strong expertise in cleaning operations and experience across other soft service lines.

• A strong record of leading managers and large operational teams to improve service quality, colleague engagement and customer satisfaction.

• Commercial and financial acumen, with experience of managing budgets, forecasts, productivity, cost control and service efficiencies.

• Strong knowledge of relevant legislation, compliance requirements and industry good practice, including health and safety, COSHH and recognised cleaning standards.

• The ability to turn strategy into clear operational plans and use data, insight and customer feedback to drive measurable improvement.

• Confident communication and influencing skills, with the credibility to build effective relationships at senior customer and internal leadership level.

• A practical, calm and solutions-focused approach to complex issues, competing priorities and service escalations.

• Strong digital, reporting and analytical skills, with confidence using management systems and performance information.

• A valid UK driving licence and the ability to travel regularly across the contract or region.

Success in the role

Success will be reflected in safe, compliant and consistently high-quality services; strong customer confidence; engaged and capable teams; reliable achievement of performance and financial commitments; and a visible pipeline of innovation and continuous improvement.

Key working relationships

• Customer leadership and operational representatives

• Account and operations leadership

• Soft services managers and service delivery teams

• Specialist centres of excellence and central support functions

• Suppliers, subcontractors, auditors and other delivery partners