Creating outstanding student and client experiences. Shaping the future of our business. Delivering commercial success with real social impact.

We're on an ambitious journey to transform how student accommodation and campus facilities are run across the UK. With a growing portfolio of university and investor partners, we're building a service that combines operational excellence, deep client partnership, and a genuine focus on student experience.

As part of the UK's leading social enterprise, every pound we generate goes directly back into supporting communities across the country. This means your work has double impact: commercial growth and social good.

To help us take the next step in our journey, we're hiring an Account Director - a key strategic role sitting between our sites, our clients, and our central teams. You'll shape how we deliver for clients today and how we grow tomorrow.

If you're energised by the pace of working in a growing business, understand FM and the challenges the Higher Education sector faces, and want to help build something with purpose - we'd love to speak with you.

Why this role matters

You'll be the relationship lead for a portfolio of university and investor clients, responsible for ensuring we deliver brilliantly every day and continuously improve.

This role is central to our growth platform: aligning our site operations, strengthening client partnerships, and driving both commercial performance and social impact.

You'll be a visible leader across sites – supporting our General Managers, influencing senior stakeholders, and acting as the connective tissue between operational delivery and strategic ambition.

What you'll be doing

Client leadership & partnership

Own the day-to-day and long-term relationships with university, investor, and landlord clients.
Understand client goals and pressures - and translate these into operational plans that deliver measurable value.
Lead client reviews, reporting, governance, and annual planning.
Strengthen client trust, retention, and long-term partnership.

Operational excellence & performance

Support and challenge General Managers to deliver high standards in student experience, facilities management, compliance, and people leadership.
Ensure sites are prepared for peak seasons, audits, and mobilisation/demobilisation activity.
Use data to identify trends, risks, and opportunities for improvement.

Commercial mindset with purpose

Spot opportunities to grow accounts through enhanced services, efficiencies, or new value propositions.
Support tendering, rebids, and business development with insight grounded in real operational experience.
Help shape pricing and service models - balancing commercial performance with social mission.

Cross-organisational leadership

Work closely with central functions (H&S, compliance, people, IT finance, mobilisation, improvement) to ensure joined-up delivery across your portfolio.
Feed insight into our operating model, digital roadmap, and service standards.
Champion consistency, capability uplift, and strong adoption of core systems.

About you

You'll thrive here if you are:

Experienced in FM, PBSA, education estates, or multi-site operations.
A relationship builder who can operate confidently with clients, senior stakeholders, and frontline teams.
Commercially sharp but motivated by a wider purpose.
Operationally credible, able to guide, challenge, and support site leaders.
Data-driven, always looking for trends, issues, or opportunities for improvement.
Calm and organised, especially during peak periods like arrivals and departures.
Energised by growth, not just maintenance.

What we offer

A chance to help shape a business in growth mode - with influence over services, standards, and client experience.
The opportunity to lead client relationships across major UK universities and investors.
A leadership community committed to collaboration, continuous improvement, and raising standards.
The stability of a large UK Group combined with the purpose of a social enterprise, where your work directly benefits communities.

A role with commercial drive and genuine purpose.

If you're ready to help us build a service that students value, clients trust, and communities benefit from - we'd love to hear from you.

What's next?

If you meet the criteria and are ready to make the next step in your career then click apply. You will be redirected to our careers site where you can discover more about the role, read a full job description and apply directly to us.

As part of our commitment to diversity and inclusion, we offer a guaranteed interview to candidates who are disabled, neurodiverse, or have served in the Armed Forces, provided they meet the essential criteria for the role. If you would like to be considered under this scheme, please indicate this in your application. We are dedicated to creating a supportive and accessible recruitment process for all.

We are committed to creating an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. If you require any reasonable adjustments to support your application or interview experience, please let us know. We're happy to work with you to ensure you have the opportunity to perform at your best.

If you are a Places for People customer and you're looking for support with your application, please contact our skills and employment team on skillsemployment@placesforpeople.co.uk.

If you are a recruitment agency please note we operate a PSL and do not take cold calls

Safeguarding

At Places for People, safeguarding is everyone's responsibility. We are committed to creating safe communities for our customers and colleagues by protecting children, young people, and adults at risk from harm, abuse, and neglect.

We follow robust safeguarding policies and procedures, ensuring all employees, volunteers, and contractors uphold the highest standards of safeguarding and accountability. Our recruitment process includes pre-employment checks, including Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks where applicable, to promote a safe and secure working environment.

By joining Places for People, you are expected to contribute to our safeguarding culture, following our policies and reporting concerns to protect those in our communities

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