Head of Workplace and Business Services

Job summary

This is a senior leadership role with significant levels of responsibility. As head of the property profession within HMLR you will be the most senior authoritative figure on related matters and will represent the business with internal and external stakeholders at the highest level. You will have authority to drive workplace strategy and deliver great places for people to work in. You will have the opportunity to manage a property portfolio regionally located in England and Wales which currently houses circa 7000 people and oversee delivery and development of business critical service contracts.

Job description

Reporting to the Deputy Director for Finance, Corporate Systems, Commercial, Workplace & Business Services, you will provide visible, empowering and inclusive leadership to the Workplace & Business Services Group. You will set strategic direction, drive delivery, and foster strong relationships across government, commercial partners and the senior leadership community.What You'll Be doing:

• Provide leadership and direction to the Workplace and Business Services Group, building a positive team culture where people feel supported, engaged and empowered to deliver; and be an active member of Finance and Business Services senior leadership team.
• Ensure HMLR’s workplace strategy aligns with current/future business strategies, including workforce planning, to enable modernisation and optimisation of the portfolio.
• Overseeing a diverse regional property portfolio of 14 core offices, ensuring safe, efficient and sustainable environments.
• Leading the development, delivery and review of high‑value, business‑critical contracts, including total facilities management, scanning services and c20 business support contracts.
• As Senior Responsible Owner for workplace and contract‑related projects, ensuring outcomes and benefits are realised.
• Delivering professional property services such as landlord and tenant activity, property relocations, refurbishments and workplace design.
• Working in partnership with the Government Property Agency to understand opportunities, risks and impacts for HMLR‑occupied sites.
• Ensuring contracts and services meet business needs while balancing quality, sustainability and value for money.
• Ensure that HMLR is compliant and adopts best practice in contract management, property management and management of the built environment.
• Accountable for the Workplace and Business Services budget (c£30m) ensuring benefit-led investment decisions are made and budget management is in line with Managing Public Money principles.
• Leading environmental sustainability across the built environment.
• As Head of Property Profession in HMLR advising senior stakeholders and influencing wider government strategy development.

Resource Management:

• Leadership of 2–3 senior managers within Workplace & Business Services.
• Overall responsibility for a professional team of around 30 colleagues located across multiple HMLR sites.
• Accountability for a c£30 million annual budget, ensuring robust financial planning and value‑led investment decisions.

Additional Requirements:

• Attendance at meetings and conferences across the HMLR estate and other wider locations, including overnight stays.
• Flexibility in working hours to meet business needs.
• As a member of HMLR’s Crisis Management Team, You will need to be available to support business continuity and recovery during critical events.

Person specification

To be successful in this role, you will need to demonstrate the following throughout the recruitment process.

Essential Technical Skills & Qualifications:

• Certified to the Institute of Workplace & Facilities Management (CIWFM - Level 6) and/or full Membership of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (MRICS) [or equivalent recognised body] or can demonstrate currently actively working towards.
• Contract Management accreditation at Practitioner level through the Government Commercial Function [or equivalent recognised body] or can demonstrate currently actively working towards.

Desirable Technical Skills & Qualifications:

• Association for Project Management [or equivalent recognised body] qualification.
• Leadership qualification

Essential Experience:

• Proven track record in procuring and managing complex workplace and business critical services contracts.
• Ability to present well-reasoned and evidence-based recommendations, evaluating options, impacts, risks and solutions to inform strategic decision-making.
• Experience in developing and delivering facilities management and business critical services across multiple locations.
• Leadership of multi-disciplinary teams across geographically dispersed locations with the ability to build capability and drive high performance.
• Broad knowledge of the scope and scale of property management and the professional disciplines required throughout.
• Experience in exercising sound judgement in providing strategic advice relating to complex investment decisions, balancing the need to challenge and support senior stakeholders appropriately.
• Experience of leading senior supplier relationships with strong influencing, consultation and negotiation skills.
• Use of excellent personal authority and communicating skills to build and effectively utilise a network of strategic leaders.
• Strong financial acumen, with proven ability to forecast, prepare and manage large budgets.
• Experience of delivering significant organisational change projects.
• Able to take a strategic view of the professional/technical work and translate this to deliver organisational priorities.
• Ability to communicate complex data to senior audiences verbally and in writing.
• Experience of identifying, managing and making recommendations to mitigate risks.

Desirable Experience:

• Conversant with Managing Public Money
• Understanding of government property and workplace strategy including the Government Hubs Programme.
• Broad knowledge and understanding of the implications of having Government Property Agency as a landlord and how this impacts development of workplace strategy and services.
• Project management knowledge and experience.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing
• Changing and Improving
• Managing a Quality Service

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• The two Essential Technical Skills & Qualifications provided in the person specification on the advert and candidate pack.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £75,731, HM Land Registry contributes £21,939 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

#WeAreHMLR

At HM Land Registry our vision is a world leading property market as part of a thriving economy and a sustainable future. We are unique in terms of the economic and social impacts of our work, our ability to make a positive difference to the lives of our customers, our sense of mission, and our great people. They are the foundation of all we have achieved and all we aspire to in the future. We want our people to feel proud to work for HM Land Registry and able to fulfil their full potential.

We have a strong and positive culture, a commitment to inclusivity, an emphasis on continuous learning and development, and flexible ways of working. We offer competitive pay and annual leave, attractive pension options and a wide range of other benefits.

• We have integrity– we value honesty, trust and doing the right thing in the right way.
• We drive innovation– we are forward-thinking, embrace change and are continually improving our processes.
• We are professional– we value and grow our knowledge and professional expertise.
• We give assurance– we guarantee our services and provide confidence to the property market.

You can find more information on our rewards package on our website.

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/land-registry/about/recruitment#what-hm-land-registry-can-offer-you

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

Provide a detailed statement (up to a maximum of 250 words) of how you meet the two Essential Criteria listed below during your application:

• Certified to the Institute of Workplace & Facilities Management (CIWFM - Level 6) and/or full Membership of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (MRICS) [or equivalent recognised body] or can demonstrate currently actively working towards.
• Contract Management accreditation at Practitioner level through the Government Commercial Function [or equivalent recognised body] or can demonstrate currently actively working towards.

Please note - if the above criteria is not met then we will be unable to assess your CV and personal statement.

Please attach an anonymised CV when prompted and complete the personal statement section (up to a maximum of 750 words), outlining how you meet the following four Essential Criteria.

• Proven track record in procuring and managing complex workplace and business critical services contracts.
• Ability to present well-reasoned and evidence-based recommendations, evaluating options, impacts, risks and solutions to inform strategic decision-making.
• Experience in developing and delivering facilities management and business critical services across multiple locations.
• Leadership of multi-disciplinary teams across geographically dispersed locations with the ability to build capability and drive high performance.

In the event of high application numbers, we will sift against the below Lead Criteria:

• Proven track record in procuring and managing complex workplace and business critical services contracts.

Please review your application form before clicking ‘submit’ – once you have submitted, you will not be able to amend your application. Ensure your application form is received by the closing date for receipt of applications – this is 11:55pm on the advertised date.

The sift will take place shortly after the closing date. If successful at the shortlisting stage, you will be invited to attend a blended interview, which we anticipate will either be held on week commencing 23 February 2026 or week commencing 2 March 2026. You will be asked to deliver a short presentation as part of the interview. Full details will be provided to those successful at sift to support your preparation.

The interview will assess the experience and behaviours listed in the attached Candidate Pack.

Candidates may refer to notes within their interview, but they should be used as a prompt only.

HMLR is accredited to the Disability Confidence Scheme, which denotes organisations which have a positive attitude towards disabled people. Disabled applicants who meet the minimum essential criteria at the shortlisting stage are guaranteed an invitation to interview.

If any candidate requires the panel to consider a reasonable adjustment or there is anything else they would like the panel to take into consideration they are asked to notify us of this at application stage where possible or during the process as soon as it becomes a requirement.

The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to share these values. Please ensure all examples provided throughout the recruitment process are representative of your own experience. Any instances of plagiarism or other forms of cheating (including the improper use of artificial intelligence) will be investigated and, if proven, the application will be withdrawn.

Please note that we will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa where a role is in a certain business critical category. This role does not meet that category, and we will not sponsor a skilled worker visa. You must ensure you have the appropriate right to work in the UK before applying.

HMLR expect everyone to spend at least 60% of their working time in the office.

You can find more information on how we use your personal data on our website

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Natalie Starkings
• Email : hrresourcingteam2@landregistry.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : hrresourcingteam2@landregistry.gov.uk

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance to the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, please email hrresourcingteam2@landregistry.gov.uk in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from HM Land Registry then you may take your complaint to the Civil Service Commission: http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/making-complaint/

Attachments

Candidate Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 2901kB)