Head of Repairs & Maintenance (DLO)
Hampshire
📅 6-Month Contract
💰 £500-£550 per day (Inside IR35)
🏢 Hybrid Working
Panoramic Associates is supporting a leading local authority with the appointment of a strategic and operationally focused Head of Repairs & Maintenance to join their Senior Leadership Team within Housing Services.
The successful candidate will play a critical role in driving service transformation, improving operational performance, and ensuring residents have access to safe, sustainable, and high-quality homes. Working collaboratively with senior leaders, elected members, and operational teams, you will help define priorities, budgets, and service strategies while embedding a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and customer-focused delivery.
Leading the Repairs & Maintenance function, you will oversee responsive repairs, voids, planned investment works, compliance, and the operational delivery of a Direct Labour Organisation (DLO). You will ensure services are effectively commissioned, planned, resourced, and delivered in line with agreed quality standards, timescales, and budgets.
Key responsibilities include:
- Providing strategic leadership across repairs, maintenance, compliance, investment, and void services
- Leading operational delivery through a high-performing DLO and contractor network
- Driving productivity, performance, quality assurance, and value for money across all housing works functions
- Ensuring compliance with the Building Safety Act 2022 and wider regulatory obligations
- Embedding a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous service improvement
- Using operational, cost, and productivity data to inform commissioning and service delivery decisions
- Supporting the organisation in reducing silo working and improving cross-functional collaboration
- Leading workforce planning, logistics, resourcing, and operational performance management
- Working closely with senior stakeholders, customers, and elected members to shape service priorities and outcomes
- Ensuring compliance with the Regulator of Social Housing standards and Decent Homes requirements
The successful candidate will demonstrate:
- Significant experience leading a large-scale housing repairs, maintenance, or asset management function within local government or social housing
- Strong operational leadership experience across DLO or contractor-led service delivery models
- Excellent understanding of productivity, logistics, workforce planning, and service performance management
- Strong working knowledge of the Building Safety Act 2022 and social housing regulatory frameworks
- Experience driving cultural change, service transformation, and continuous improvement initiatives
- CIH Level 5 qualification (or equivalent demonstrable experience and knowledge)
- Excellent stakeholder management and leadership capability across complex operational environments
This is a high-profile leadership opportunity for an experienced housing operations professional to shape the future of housing delivery, compliance, repairs, and investment services across a large and diverse social housing portfolio. For more information or to discuss the role confidentially, please get in touch.
Next Steps
If the role sounds of interest, I’d be happy to share more details or arrange a quick call. Just reply with your CV or let me know a good time to speak.
Even if this role isn’t quite the right fit, I’d still love to hear from you. We have other exciting interim and permanent opportunities in the pipeline, and Panoramic Associates also runs a referral scheme so if you know someone suitable, feel free to share!
