Job title: Senior Technical Officer
Salary: PO2 £38,626 - £41,511
Hours:37
Contract: Permanent
Location: Tribeca House 2nd floor Roundhay Road Leeds LS7 1QB
Leeds City Council is one of the largest employers in the region with over 14,000 employees. We seek to recruit and develop talented individuals who embody our council values and ambitions.
About you
As a Senior Technical Officer you will bring to the role:
- Considerable experience of leading a team.
- Ability to manage priorities whilst delivering on a range of projects and adapting to changing circumstances and priorities.
- To support on driving a culture through the team that is focussed both on customers and quality,
- Managing construction contracts
- Ability to analyse and interpret information, identify common trends and learning outcomes and report to a wide range of audiences.
About the role
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a forward- thinking, motivated, and hardworking individual to join the property management team.
The post holder will have the opportunity to develop and use a broad skills set and will increase their experience in leadership and line management, contract management and managing repairs programmes.
The post holder will hold the position of Senior Technical Officer (STO) within the Property Management division. The position is an operational management position and will be responsible for leading and managing a team to ensure the effective delivery of the service.
As part of the role you will provide advice and guidance on disrepair/ repair related matters, ensuring the service provides excellence. A strong leader with a ‘can do’ attitude in-line with the Councils manager habits, excellent communication skills and strong customer focus is required. An ability to prioritise, meet deadlines and have a clear focus on staff engagement is essential, as the post holder will be need to support and manage a high performing team.
You will have operational lead and accountability for the management of the service and the contractors. We are looking for someone who will ensure that high levels of efficiency, cost effectiveness and quality is achieved within an agreed budget, whilst ensuring maximum performance in accordance with the targets, standards and policies of the Council The role will require you to work closely with legal services and other internal teams to ensure that all disrepair and repair cases are managed effectively and therefore mitigating any risk to the Council.
The post-holder will lead on disrepair prevention actions and the delivery of cross service disrepair reduction initiatives. You will support the delivery of service plans and ensure the continuous and on-going innovation and improvement of the service. The role requires a customer focused post holder as the position will involve a high degree of customer interaction and face to face contact with tenants, elected members, contractors and colleagues across the Council. The role will typically be office based but may involve site visits. It should be noted that the demands of a customer facing property management service are high and therefore the role requires a high degree of flexibility to meet the ever changing priorities of the service.
The team are currently based at Tribeca House on Roundhay Road, however these arrangements may change in the future and candidates should be aware that they will be contracted to work in any location within the Leeds City Council geographical area. This is a challenging but rewarding role and an exciting opportunity for someone that is looking to develop their career.
What we offer you
We take pride in offering the best employee experience, with benefits including:
- a competitive salary and annual leave entitlement plus statutory holidays
- membership of the West Yorkshire Pension Fund with generous employer contributions
- flexible and hybrid working arrangements subject to service requirements
- a clear career pathway and continuing professional development opportunities
- a range of staff benefits to help you boost your wellbeing and make your money go further
How to apply
Apply for this job online. Please complete the online application form
Read our guidance for further advice. Please check your information carefully and ensure you complete all sections before submitting your application.
If you have any queries or would like an informal chat about the role please contact Alison Cleeve, Disrepair Prevention Team Leader on 0113 3788396 or email alison.cleeve@leeds.gov.uk
A Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check against the Children’s or Adults’ barred list as applicable will be carried out on preferred candidates. Read our recruitment of ex-offenders policy.
We welcome applications from everyone and actively seek a diverse range of applicants from all backgrounds and cultures. We particularly encourage applications from, but not limited to, women, carers, veterans as well as LGBT+, ethnically diverse, disabled and care experienced people.
This role is based in the UK. Home Office guidance states that candidates must evidence their right to work in the UK prior to commencing employment, either as a UK or Irish citizen, under the EU Settlement scheme or having secured any other relevant work visa.
If you do not have the right to work in the UK, you must consider your own eligibility for sponsorship for a particular role through the Skilled Worker visa route before applying. To be eligible for sponsorship you'll usually need to be paid the standard salary rate of at least £38,700 per year or meet one of the other eligibility criteria. Ensure you are eligible before applying.
Job Description
Job purpose
The role will involve the provision of building surveying services to Housing Leeds. Including, but not limited to undertaking surveys, producing designs and specifications of works, dilapidations reports, ordering, supervising and inspecting the works and providing detailed reports.
The role will encompass acting as an expert witness involved with Disrepair Claim actions brought against Leeds City Council.
To ensure the effective day to day management of contractors and Internal Service Providers to ensure that any works are delivered in a timely and costly manner.
The responsibility for delivering a proactive cross service approach to preventing housing disrepair and for the timely resolution of disrepair claims against the Council.
To implement and manage programmes of work in-line with available resources and to agreed timescales, and to ensure that overall value for money is achieved through the effective monitoring of quality standards.
The post-holder will be required to work flexibly and could be deployed in a number of areas within Property and Contracts, including:
- Major Projects
- Responsive and Planned
- Voids
- CPM To provide direct line management/supervision to the technical officers.
Responsibilities
- Act as an expert witness for LCC in the defence of Disrepair Claims; undertake surveys to compile evidence and produce pt35 CPR compliant reports. Draw up schedules of work and issue to contractors to remedy alleged disrepair issues.
- Liaise with Legal Service partners at all stages of the Claim and ensure any Legal agreements and Court issued directions are complied with.
- Technical lead for the frontline delivery of the service in-line with council and departmental performance standards, values, policies and priorities. Ensure all activities undertaken are done so in compliance with legal, regulatory, contractual and internal requirements.
- Support the delivery of service plans and operational projects in collaboration with stakeholders to ensure the continuous and on-going innovation and improvement of the service in-line with council objectives in-order to achieve excellence.
- Continually drive a value for money, customer focussed service.
- Take ownership for and manage relationships with all stakeholders to ensure effective and efficient service delivery.
- Manage activities within individual delegated budgets and the management of spend in-line with agreed budget profiles, including the prioritisation and planning of work.
- Take accountability for the outputs of all duties ensuring adequate and robust audit and risk management procedures are in place.
The duties outlined are not meant as an exhaustive list and will also comprise any other duties within the spirit of the post commensurate with the job evaluation outcome for this post.
Leadership Responsibilities:
- To lead, manage, motivate and develop team members in accordance with council policies and employment laws, and ensure that relevant procedures are understood and followed.
- To ensure that the team works professionally, competently, and in a forward thinking and customer focused way whilst embracing collaborative partnership working in order to achieve excellence.
- To demonstrate and embed the council Values and Manager Habits to lead, support and drive cultural change.
- To ensure you and the team work professionally, competently, and demonstrate a ‘can do’ approach to their thinking and problem solving.
- To work collaboratively and in partnership with partners and stakeholders.
- To support the achievement of Equality and Diversity in both employment and service delivery including the promotion of equality of opportunity.
- To deputise for the Disrepair Prevention Manager and undertake any other reasonable duties as required.
Please note this is not an exhaustive list of responsibilities.
Qualifications
Essential requirements It is essential that the candidate should be able to demonstrate the following criteria for the post. Candidates will only be shortlisted for interview if they can demonstrate that they meet all the essential requirements.
Qualifications and Knowledge
- Minimum building/construction related qualification to HNC / HNDlevel or equivalent experience
- Degree level qualification in Building Surveying / Construction related or equivalent experience
- Knowledge of building defects / construction techniques
- Landlord’s responsibilities in relation to repairs & maintenance
- Construction Health & Safety
- A knowledge of law and practise relating to housing disrepair legal cases
Specific Skills and Competencies
- Ability to manage priorities whilst delivering on a range of projects and adapting to changing circumstances and priorities.
- Ability to diagnose and develop solutions to repair problems.
- Ability to develop and maintain strong and effective working relationships with stakeholders
- Ability to analyse and interpret information and report to a wide range of audiences
- Chairing meetings effectively
- To support on driving a culture through the team that is focussed both on customers and quality
- Appropriate delegation of workload
- Support on engagement with managers and contractors in order to effectively progress change
- Able to flexibly manage resources in-order to meet service priorities.
- Strong resilience and a ‘can do’ attitude to overcoming barriers in-order to reach targets and objectives
- Able to understand financial monitoring procedures interpret financial information and develop plans to ensure that services are delivered within defined budgets.
Experience
- Supporting on partnership and multi-agency working
- Managing programmes of work within defined budgets
- Considerable experience of problem solving involving complex issues
- Experience of managing and leading a team
- Experience of working within a complex political environment.
- Considerable experience of using Microsoft packages and IT systems
- Experience of project management
Essential Behavioural & other Characteristics
- Understand and embrace Leeds City Council Values and Behaviours and codes of conduct.
- Committed to continuous improvement in all areas and work towards delivering the Best City Ambition of Health & Wellbeing, Inclusive Growth and Zero Carbon
- Able to understand and observe Leeds City Council equality and diversity policies.
- Carry out all duties having regard to an employee’s responsibility under Health and Safety Policies.
- Willingness to actively participate in training and development activities.
- Flexible and adaptable to change to assist other services as required commensurate to grade.
- Participate in appraisal, training, and development activities.
- Be aware of and comply with Leeds City Council policies and procedures.
- Be aware of and support difference and ensure equality for all working in an anti-discriminatory manner, upholding, equality & diversity policies of Leeds City Council.
- Recognise and appropriately challenge any incidents of racism, bullying, harassment, victimisation, and any form of abuse, reporting any concerns to the appropriate person.
- The Council has adopted a flexibility protocol and the role will be expected to work within these parameters.
Desirable requirements It is desirable that the candidate should be able to demonstrate the following criteria for the post. Candidates are not required to meet all the desirable requirements however these may be used to distinguish between candidates.
- Membership of a professional body i.e. RICS building surveying
- Up to date knowledge of social housing and issues affecting the sector
- Involvement in the procurement of works/services
- Working with and negotiating with trade unions
- Working with an Internal Service Provider.
- Undertaking service reviews.
