Contracts Manager - Housing Services - Local Authority
Job description
Original text imported from Reed
Contracts Manager – Housing Services
- Location: Oldham / Hybrid working
- Pay: Either up to £500 per day via Umbrella for 5 days or 4 days at up to £625 per day via umbrella
- Job Type: Full-time, 37 hours per week or 4 days considered too
Join our client in Oldham as a Contracts Manager, where you will lead the delivery of key housing services, ensuring our housing stock is safe, compliant, and delivers high-quality services for residents. This role is crucial in managing a varied portfolio of contracts, including high-value long-term housing agreements.
Day-to-day of the role:
- Manage high-value housing contracts, including long-term PFI agreements.
- Monitor contract performance, budgets, and service delivery to ensure compliance with housing, building safety, and legal requirements.
- Lead procurement of contractors, consultants, and partner organisations.
- Oversee major housing projects and capital programmes like the Warm Homes programme, improving energy efficiency and tackling fuel poverty across the borough.
- Manage financial planning, budgets, and reporting.
- Collaborate with partners such as NHS, Registered Providers, and contractors to deliver integrated services.
- Prepare reports and present to senior leaders, boards, and elected members.
- Manage risk, governance, and performance across housing services.
- Support and develop a small team of housing professionals.
Required Skills & Qualifications:
- Proven experience managing high-value contracts in housing or a similar sector.
- Strong leadership skills with experience managing and motivating teams.
- Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
- Experience working with multiple partners and senior stakeholders.
- Strong project and programme management skills.
- Knowledge of housing legislation and compliance requirements.
- Experience managing budgets and delivering value for money.
Desirable:
- Degree or professional qualification in Housing, Construction, Management.
- Project management qualification (e.g., PRINCE2).
- Experience with PFI contracts or housing programmes.
Benefits:
- Opportunity to manage high-profile housing programmes.
- Work at the heart of improving housing and communities in a collaborative, partnership-led environment.
- Strong organisational values focused on fairness, openness, and accountability.
- Car allowance for necessary travel.
Additional Information:
- Occasional evening and weekend meetings may be required.
- Travel across sites required.
Our Clients Values:
They are committed to fairness and equality, openness and transparency, accountability and responsibility, working together, and respect for our communities.
To apply for the Contracts Manager position in Housing Services, please submit your CV and cover letter detailing your relevant experience and why you are interested in this position.
Key skills
AI-extracted from the job advert
Application advice
5 AI-generated recommendations to maximise your chances.
⭐ Lead your CV personal statement with explicit mention of high-value contract management and housing compliance, as the advert lists these as primary day-to-day responsibilities.
📊 Quantify your contract management experience: e.g. 'Managed a portfolio of 6 housing contracts totalling £12M, achieving 97% compliance against KPIs over 3 years'.
🏗️ Highlight any PFI contract experience prominently — the advert specifically calls this out as desirable and it is rare expertise that will differentiate your application.
🎯 Reference the Warm Homes or energy efficiency programmes if you have relevant capital programme experience, as the advert names this programme explicitly as a key responsibility.
🤝 Demonstrate multi-partner collaboration with named organisations (NHS, Registered Providers, local authority boards) to mirror the advert's emphasis on partnership-led delivery.
Suggested CV bullets
3 bullets our AI drafted for this specific advert, mirroring its ATS keywords.
Add these 3 bullets under your most recent experience:
- •Managed a portfolio of 8 housing contracts valued at £18M, including 2 long-term PFI agreements, maintaining 96% KPI compliance across a 3-year contract period.
- •Led procurement of 5 specialist contractors and 3 consultancy firms under PCR 2015 rules, delivering a £4.2M capital refurbishment programme 6 weeks ahead of schedule.
- •Prepared and presented quarterly performance and risk reports to a 12-member housing board and elected members, reducing governance escalations by 40% through proactive issue resolution.
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Letter preview — tailored to Reed
Dear Hiring Manager,
Oldham's focus on managing high-value PFI housing contracts and delivering the Warm Homes capital programme is precisely the challenge I have been building my career towards — which is why the Contracts Manager – Housing Services role stood out immediately. My experience spans high-value contract management, housing legislation compliance, and multi-partner procurement, aligning directly with the core responsibilities outlined in your advert.
My background in local authority housing services has seen me oversee a portfolio of long-term contracts worth over £15M, coordinating with Registered Providers, NHS partners, and specialist contractors to maintain compliance with building safety and housing legislation. I have led procurement exercises, managed capital programme budgets, and presented performance reports to senior boards and elected members, consistently delivering value for money against agreed KPIs.
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Interview questions
10 questions generated from this advert.
Technical
- ›How have you managed a high-value PFI contract from mobilisation through to performance monitoring?
- ›What processes do you use to ensure compliance with housing legislation and building safety requirements across a contract portfolio?
- ›Describe your approach to procurement of contractors and consultants under public sector procurement rules.
- ›How do you structure financial reporting and budget management for a capital housing programme?
- ›What project management methodology do you apply to oversee major housing programmes, and how do you adapt it for local authority governance?
Behavioural
- ›Tell me about a time you managed a complex, high-value contract that encountered significant performance issues — what did you do?
- ›Describe a situation where you had to present difficult findings to elected members or a senior board. How did you prepare and what was the outcome?
- ›Give an example of leading a small team through a period of organisational change within a housing or public sector environment.
- ›Tell me about a time you had to balance competing priorities across multiple contracts and partners simultaneously.
- ›Describe a situation where you identified and mitigated a significant governance or compliance risk in a housing services context.
STAR answer examples
Model answers using the Situation-Task-Action-Result framework. Adapt to your own experience.
Tell me about a time you managed a complex, high-value contract that encountered significant performance issues — what did you do?
Give an example of leading a small team through a period of organisational change within a housing or public sector environment.