About the role:

Gentoo’s core purpose is to provide safe and decent homes for customers of today and tomorrow, and this role will play a pivotal part in ensuring our core purpose is delivered well. There’s never been a better time to join Gentoo as we begin to bring together the Property directorate into one team delivering investment and maintenance to our 28,500 homes serving 60,000 customers, predominantly in Sunderland.

We are delighted to have recently been awarded a C1 grading from the regulator of social housing for consumer standards, being the first North East landlord and the largest provider in the country to currently be awarded this grading. This follows Gentoo retaining a G1 rating for governance.

We are currently recruiting for a strategic and future-focused Director of Asset and Sustainability, who will be a budget holder of circa £50m and will be responsible for circa 70 asset colleagues. They will be a key member of the Gentoo Senior Leadership and Property Leadership team, with responsibility for the delivery of the Group's Property Strategy within Asset and Sustainability and ensuring the Group provides safe and decent homes for our customers of today and tomorrow. They will play a key role in the overall success of the Property directorate and are accountable for the Groups Asset Management directorate including Strategic Asset Management, Planned Investment, Commercial, Asset Sustainability and Facilities Management.

The role of Director of Asset and Sustainability reports to the Executive Director of Property and will join a team with a track record in delivery with over 99% of our homes having a physical stock condition survey with Gentoo having good quality, validated data on the condition of our homes. They will lead a directorate that has made significant improvements in homes achieving EPC C which currently exceeds 75% and will lead a team that has delivered over £200m of planned investment to customer’s homes over the past 5 years. This includes the regeneration of the Pennywell estate, which included 1100 homes being improved through our whole-house approach. You will need to have the ability to think big, and the energy to deliver big projects that will have a lasting impact on the city of Sunderland.

At Gentoo, we believe in the power of collaboration and flexibility, so you can expect to be based in our head office in Sunderland and spend time elsewhere. The use of our office spaces is driven in part by your role and the activities you need to do. This may vary from time to time, so you will need to work in a flexible way to unlock your best work.

A full UK Driving License and DBS check is essential to this role.

A full recruitment pack is available to view at www.gentoogroup.com/careers

Key dates:
Closing date: Tuesday 24 September (midnight)
Interview dates: Informal conversation with the Executive Director of Property (via Microsoft Teams) Monday 30 September
Final interview: (in person) Monday 7 October – Emperor House, Sunderland

What we are looking for:

A recognised property-related qualification or relevant experience in a similar role
Significant experience in Health and Safety, CDM, Building Safety, Fire Safety and Property Compliance
Significant knowledge of the social housing sector, property-related challenges and social housing regulation.
Extensive relevant experience in a senior property role, with responsibility for a complex property portfolio, colleagues and managing significant budgets. With a deep understanding of all property compliance-related matters and regulatory requirements as a landlord
The ability to review complex data and make this relatable to nontechnical colleagues.
A strong track record in developing high-performing teams, with a collaborative style which inspires others to deliver a great service.
Open and inclusive to customer and colleague feedback on how to improve services to customers.
Demonstrable experience in ensuring properties are achieving their full potential as income-producing assets
A customer-focused and commercial mindset ensuring Gentoo delivers great services to customers and spends our money wisely.
Experienced In leading significant planned investment and regeneration projects with key suppliers, setting and achieving KPIs and managing resources effectively.
Experienced in large budgets, operates commercially, and committed to ensuring value for money.

We would also love you to have the following, but these are not essential:
Experienced leader with a Commercial management background
An understanding of other property-related functions including property services
Professional qualification in a property/building-related specialism MCIOB, MCABE MRICS, MICE etc.
A recognised Health and Safety qualification.
Experience in successfully delivering a similar role within another organisation.

If you would like to have a confidential conversation about this vacancy, please contact Marc Edwards, Executive Director of Property at: Marc.Edwards@gentoogroup.com

To apply, please submit an up-to-date copy of your CV, along with a Supporting Statement (maximum of four pages) which summarises your most relevant professional skills, experience and your suitability to the role. These will need to be uploaded as one document.

Applications should be submitted via gentoogroup.com/careers and must be received by Tuesday 24 September (midnight).

Closing date:

24-Sep-2024

We're a housing association that provides more than 60,000 people in Sunderland with a place they can call home. We're a values-driven organisation, with a clear vision, a social purpose and a commitment to investing in people, place and property. We believe everyone has the right to live in a good quality home they can afford and invest millions of pounds every year in keeping our existing homes safe, secure, and compliant.

We're also playing our part in addressing the UK housing crisis locally, by building hundreds of new, modern and contemporary homes for rent in Sunderland - homes that meet the needs of local people. Not only do we provide vital housing - we support our tenants, residents and communities by investing in services that help people live their best possible life.

This includes helping people to work, victims of domestic abuse and anti-social behaviour, young people to live independently, as well as a wellbeing service that supports our elderly tenants and residents.