Head of Housing Engagement & Service Improvement

Job Description

Organisation: London Borough of Waltham Forest

Salary: PO10 £68,784 - £72,399

Contract Type: Full time/Permanent

Working hours per week: 36

Application Deadline: 30/04/2026

Proposed Interview Date(s): TBC

Reference: 2086

About Us:

Bursting with culture, energy, and opportunity, the London Borough of Waltham Forest is a fantastic and exciting place to work.

We are a highly ambitious borough. Driven by culture and the innate creativity of our residents, we have developed new and innovative ways to build our communities. Our Council is relentlessly resident-focused, insight-led, digitally driven and commercially minded; a Council focused on meeting the needs of our existing and future residents.

London Borough of Waltham Forest is one of the Mayor of London’s Good Work Standard employers. This accreditation is a proof of our commitment to creating a healthy, fair and inclusive workplace. This includes fair pay and conditions, workplace well-being, skills and progression and diversity and recruitment.

The Council’s preference is for online application. However, if you have a disability and are unable to complete an online application, please email recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk so we can arrange an alternative application method.

About the role:

The Head of Housing Engagement & Service Improvement plays a pivotal leadership role within Housing People Services. You will be responsible for driving a culture of transparency, accountability and continuous improvement across all housing functions. The post leads the Council’s approach to resident engagement, service improvement, and complaints resolution — ensuring services are responsive, resident‑centred, and aligned with statutory and regulatory expectations.

You will oversee Stage 1 and Stage 2 complaints handling, Councillor enquiries, FOIs and SARs, and act as the Council’s primary liaison with the Housing Ombudsman. You will also lead the development and delivery of our resident engagement and scrutiny programme, ensuring residents have meaningful influence in shaping services. Additionally, you will oversee the management of Priory Court Community Centre as a key engagement asset for the borough.

This is a senior leadership role that is central to delivering the Council’s Housing Strategy and maintaining high-quality, compliant and resident‑focused services.

>> Click here to download the Role Profile <<

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide strategic and operational leadership across Housing Engagement & Service Improvement, ensuring delivery of a high‑quality, resident‑centred service.
• Lead Stage 1 and Stage 2 complaint handling, ensuring responses are timely, high‑quality, fair and fully compliant with the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code.
• Manage relationships with the Housing Ombudsman, ensuring robust responses to enquiries, orders, investigations and determinations.
• Oversee Councillor enquiries, FOIs, SARs and all statutory responses linked to housing resident communications.
• Lead the design and delivery of a strong resident engagement framework, ensuring residents have meaningful opportunities to influence and scrutinise services.
• Oversee the resident-led scrutiny programme and ensure insight and learning is embedded across Housing Services.
• Lead service improvement activity across Housing, using resident feedback, performance data, sector good practice and regulatory expectations to drive measurable improvements.
• Ensure Priory Court Community Centre is managed effectively as a key community engagement asset, maximising participation, inclusivity and community benefit.
• Drive a culture of continuous learning, openness and accountability across Housing Services.
• Work collaboratively across Housing and wider Council services to ensure a coordinated and joined‑up approach to service delivery.

Skills, Experience and Qualifications:

• Significant senior management experience within housing, local government or another large public sector organisation, with a track record of leading complex services.
• Strong understanding of social housing regulation, resident engagement, complaints management and service improvement methodologies.
• Experience of leading complaint handling processes, including direct liaison with regulatory bodies such as the Housing Ombudsman.
• Demonstrable experience of developing and delivering resident engagement strategies and meaningful involvement opportunities.
• Proven ability to lead service improvement work, using data, resident insight and best practice to drive measurable change.
• Strong communication, influencing and negotiation skills, with the ability to engage confidently with residents, senior leaders, elected members and external partners.
• Experience of managing staff, budgets and resources effectively in a fast‑paced environment.
• Excellent analytical, report‑writing and decision‑making skills.
• Ability to work strategically and operationally, balancing long‑term planning with immediate service priorities. Degree‑level education or equivalent professional experience, with evidence of continued professional development.

Terms and conditions:

The below terms and conditions apply to this role:

• Satisfactory employment references and CIFAS identity checks;
• Satisfactory declaration of interest;
• As a public authority, we must ensure that members of staff in public-facing roles are able to speak fluent English. This means that they must have a command of spoken English, with confidence and accuracy, sufficient for the effective performance of their role. This requirement does not refer to any particular English language qualifications, regional or international accents, dialects, speech impediments or the tone of conversations. It does not require staff to speak only in English.

How to Apply:

Interested candidates are invited to submit their applications online by pressing the ‘Apply’ button below. This includes a supporting statement that outlines to us how your skills and experience make you a good candidate for this vacancy.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

Equal Opportunity Employer:

Waltham Forest is a diverse borough where diversity is valued and is integral to both, service delivery and employment of its staff. The Council is proud of its rich mix of communities and as the largest employer in the area, it works hard to respond to the changing needs of its population. We use our statutory duties on race, gender and disability equality and best practice in respect of age, faith and sexual orientation to ensure equality of opportunity in the workplace. The Council is committed to meeting its 4 equality objectives: - Promoting equality of opportunity - Opposing all forms of discrimination, intolerance and disadvantage - Ensuring our workforce reflects the diverse communities of Waltham Forest at all levels. - Providing fair, appropriate, accessible and excellent Services to all. Respecting Diversity is a core Council value.

To support the above and reduce the risk of bias in its recruitment activities, the council is operating an anonymous shortlisting process, which hides personal information that can identify individuals until their application has been considered for shortlisting. The council also operates a scheme whereby, for jobs graded up to and including scale SO2, internal candidates are considered first. This includes those candidates who self-identify as having a disability for the purposesof the Disability Confident scheme. For more information, please refer to our recruitment and selection policy.

We are keen to support employees to balance their working life with other commitments. Therefore, wherever possible, we will consider working arrangements that suit an individual's personal circumstances whilst still meeting the needs of the Council. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below or feel free to discuss this during your interview.

For more information on the benefits of working for the Council, please visit https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/jobs-and-training/find-jobs-and-other-opportunities/working-us.

Contact Information:

If you have any questions about this vacancy or the application process, please contact Shahid Mallam, Assistant Director Housing – People Services at Shahid.mallam@walthamforest.gov.uk

If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post, please contact our Recruitment Team via email at recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk.

Click here for further information on the Human Resources recruitment privacy notice.