Job Description

About the role:

We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced Facilities Manager to join our Operations team as an FM Operations Manager in Birmingham.

You will lead the delivery of Facilities and Workplace Services across our UK offices, ensuring colleagues and clients benefit from a safe, efficient and high-quality working environment. Working with in-house teams and outsourced FM partners, you will drive consistent service delivery, strong supplier performance and operational excellence across the firm's estate.

Reporting into the Interim Head of Operations, and supporting the future Head of Property & Workplace, you will play a key role in managing workplace operations, property matters, workplace projects, landlord relationships and estate-related risks, while helping to shape and enhance the firm's workplace experience.

Key responsibilities include:

• Leading Facilities and Workplace Services across the UK estate.
• Managing outsourced FM providers, ensuring high service standards, compliance and contractual performance.
• Supporting workplace projects, operational property matters and landlord/managing agent relationships.
• Driving continuous improvement, innovation and value across workplace and FM services.
• Identifying cost-saving opportunities through effective supplier and contract management.
• Ensuring compliance with Health & Safety, environmental and statutory requirements.
• Providing operational assurance through effective governance, risk management and reporting

This is an excellent opportunity for a proactive facilities professional to make a real impact on the workplace experience while driving service excellence across a diverse UK portfolio.

The role will be predominantly office-based and primarily based at 2 Snow Hill, Birmingham, with travel to other UK offices.

About you:

We're looking for a confident and experienced Facilities Management professional with a strong operational background and a passion for creating safe, compliant and high-performing workplaces. You will demonstrate a strong Facilities Management experience within a fast-paced, client-focused environment, supported by a recognised FM qualification and a NEBOSH, IOSH or equivalent Health & Safety qualification.

You will have a strong working knowledge of UK health, safety and fire legislation, with proven experience carrying out risk assessments, leading incident investigations and supporting or acting as part of an organisation's Competent Person arrangements. Comfortable providing assurance to senior stakeholders, you'll be able to identify, manage and escalate risks where controls are not sufficiently robust or deliverable.

We're looking for someone with demonstrable experience managing outsourced Facilities Management contracts, ideally within a Total Facilities Management (TFM) model. You'll be confident overseeing contractor performance and compliance, including permits to work, RAMS, PEEPs and on-site safety requirements, while driving accountability, service excellence and continuous improvement.

You'll also have experience managing facilities budgets, service contracts and landlord relationships, together with excellent communication and stakeholder management skills. A collaborative, team-oriented approach is essential, as you'll work closely with colleagues across the business and be willing to travel between our UK offices to support a genuine "one team" culture.

Most importantly, you'll be passionate about maintaining the highest standards of health, safety and compliance, while ensuring our workplaces remain safe, efficient and welcoming environments for colleagues and clients alike.

What We Can Offer You:

The opportunity to work for a firm which has been recognised as one of the best places to work in the UK and has been ranked by Great Place to Work® for 26 consecutive years.

Excellent benefits, including:

• 25 days annual leave, with the option to buy up to a week's extra annual leave
• Free private medical insurance, and the option to add family members
• A generous pension allowance
• Life assurance covering four times your annual salary
• The chance of a three-month sabbatical every five years
• Maternity, paternity and adoption leave schemes
• A range of health and wellbeing programmes
• State of the art offices in Birmingham, with an onsite restaurant
• Opportunities to flourish in your role through training and personal development

Equal Opportunities:

Gowling WLG is committed both to promoting equality and diversity in the firm and to Equal Opportunities in employment. The firm believes in equality of opportunity regardless of race or racial group (including colour, nationality, ethnicity, national origins), religion or belief, age, disability, sexual orientation, sex, gender re-assignment and gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy, maternity and paternity. This also includes any incidents of perceptive or associative discrimination and harassment.

At Gowling WLG we seek to attract and retain talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds and cultures, to create an exciting and rewarding place to work. Our aim is to fulfil everyone's potential and together to achieve personal and business goals.

If you have any queries in relation to this position or would like to see a full job description please contact Meg Astley at meg.astley@gowlingwlg.com

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