Working hours: 37.5 hours per week (banking 30 minutes per week to be used towards the shut down between Christmas and the New Year)

We are seeking a Housing Options and Advice Manager to lead the delivery of our Housing Advice, Homelessness Prevention, Housing Allocations and Housing Needs services.

This role would suit an experienced manager in housing, homelessness, allocations or a related public service area, as well as a strong operational leader who is ready to step into a wider strategic management role. You will play a key role in shaping and delivering housing strategies that support residents, prevent homelessness and ensure compliance with statutory responsibilities.

You will lead a committed, high performing team, set clear service priorities and support staff to deliver high-quality outcomes for residents. You will drive service excellence, customer satisfaction and continuous improvement, while managing budgets, developing partnerships and ensuring housing services respond effectively to local need.

As a senior leader within Housing Services, you will provide clear and accurate advice to senior management, elected members and key stakeholders. You will help influence policy and service development, using your professional judgement and understanding of housing need to achieve positive outcomes for residents and communities.

Key responsibilities include:

Leading Housing Options, Homelessness, Allocations and Housing Advice services, with support to build on existing knowledge where candidates bring strong transferable management experience.
Developing and implementing housing policies, strategies and service improvements.
Ensuring compliance with housing legislation and statutory duties.
Managing service performance, budgets and resources, using data and feedback to improve outcomes and make best use of available capacity.
Building effective partnerships with housing providers and external stakeholders.
Leading and developing a motivated, customer-focused team, in line with the council’s Dynamic Working Policy.

This is an exciting opportunity for a housing professional with strong leadership skills, excellent subject knowledge, sound judgement and a passion for delivering excellent services that make a real difference to people’s lives, with the ability to lead services through challenge and change.

Interview process - presentation exercise

Please note, as part of the interview process, candidates will be required to deliver a 10-minute presentation on the topic provided. This will be followed by a series of questions from the interview panel.

PowerPoint presentations are not mandatory. Candidates may use the format that best helps them communicate their ideas clearly. They will be assessed on their understanding of the subject matter, strategic thinking, leadership approach, communication skills and ability to offer practical solutions.

For an informal discussion about this role, please contact Cara Stevens, Director Housing Operations (People), 01279 446490

Harlow Council is committed to equal opportunities and welcomes applications from all sections of the community. We offer flexibility with purpose through our Dynamic Working approach. While office-based work is the norm, most full-time employees attend the workplace at least four days per week (pro rata).

We also support a range of flexible arrangements to help balance work and personal life and provide health and wellbeing initiatives and an employee assistance programme.

As a Disability Confident Employer, we guarantee an interview to disabled candidates who meet the Essential Criteria on the Employee Profile.