Head Housekeeper
Location: Hesdin Estate
Reports to: Estate Manager / Housekeeping Manager
Works closely with: Housekeeping Team, Assistant Housekeeping Manager, Maintenance Team
Role Overview
We are recruiting an experienced Head Housekeeper to join our growing team at Hesdin Estate. You will work closely with the Estate Manager, bringing forward ideas, helping fine-tune our changeover days, and being proactive in making every guest stay exceptional.
We want our guests to have amazing experiences. We focus on creating beautifully designed spaces where people can celebrate together and make memories that last a lifetime. Our guests expect the best: a spotless house, slick organisation, immaculate presentation and finishing touches that feel akin to a 5★ experience.
It is a demanding role, but a rewarding one. Our houses are a wonderful space to spend time in, and once everything is complete, you can take a stroll to visit our alpacas. We are looking for someone who takes pride in their work, has a keen eye for detail, and is prepared to go the extra mile for our guests.
This is a hands-on, standards-focused leadership role. Your primary responsibility is to lead your house's housekeeping team day to day, ensuring every property consistently meets The Hesdin Way — while managing workload, people, stock and communication so that changeovers run smoothly and guests arrive to a flawless home.
Key Responsibilities
Team Leadership & Daily Coordination
- Be punctual and reliable, during the hours agreed on your rota with your manager, being punctual and ready to lead each changeover.
- Coordinate the daily operation of your house — managing the housekeeping workload and allocating tasks to your team.
- Act as the first point of contact for your team, handling queries, issues and holiday requests promptly.
- Be hands-on and lead by example, working alongside your Housekeepers, carrying out the same tasks and ensuring all items on the cleaner checklist are completed to a consistently high standard.
- Assist with staff training, flagging where it is needed, and encouraging your team to deliver a high standard of housekeeping every changeover.
- Be flexible in where you are asked to work on site, moving between properties should one require more assistance.
Standards, Presentation & Quality Control
- Follow SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) provided, and deliver them to your team to ensure the best standard of work.
- Video and sign off final property checks for cleanliness, presentation and guest requests, in line with The Hesdin Way.
- Be forward thinking and always be prepared for each changeover in advance.
- Be proactive in coming forward with input for our future properties, sharing ideas and recommendations with management.
Changeover Day Operations
- Ensure laundry requirements, both in-house and via our laundry supplier, are met for every changeover.
- Assist with fulfilling ad hoc clean requests, arranging your team to complete these when required.
- Assist with fulfilling mid-stay linen change requirements, arranging your team to complete these as needed.
- Be available out of hours on changeover days should there be an issue with a house's presentation or bed configuration.
Maintenance, Stock & Administration
- Liaise with maintenance by flagging repairs and following up to ensure completion.
- Complete essential administrative tasks, such as stock inventories, missing or damaged items, and in-house checklists.
- Monitor cleaning supplies and reporting your stock as required.
Communication & Guest Relations
- Report house completion and any issues promptly through our work communications system.
- Maintain the highest standards, in both a professional speaking manner and an "above and beyond" approach to requests, whenever in contact with guests.
- Maintain a professional manner when speaking with members of management, the site team and colleagues.
- Report and communicate via the dedicated WhatsApp groups, Asana, emails, calls or direct contact with colleagues and managers.
What We Are Looking For
We are looking for someone who is attentive, organised, hands-on and standards-driven — someone who takes genuine pride in their work and naturally notices the small details that make a house feel guest-ready.
- Attentive and detail oriented — our guests pay attention to even the smallest details.
- Strong time management — we only have limited time to clean and prepare for the next guests.
- Flexible and adaptable — you'll walk into the unknown at every changeover and need to think and act quickly under time pressure.
- A strong team player — lead by example and work alongside your housekeepers, carrying out the same tasks as they do.
- Always looking for improvements in ways to continually improve our housekeeping department and our guests' experience.
- Strong planning and organisation skills to ensure completion of all tasks, every time.
- Forward thinking — always prepared for the next changeover.
- Excellent communication skills to deliver information clearly and manage your team effectively.
- Pleasant and professional in your manner when dealing with colleagues, management and guests.
- Enjoy training and assisting others to develop.
- Previous experience in a supervisory role, ideally within housekeeping or hospitality. (Desirable)
- Strong knowledge of cleaning products and household appliances. (Desirable)
- Knowledge of Hesdin Estate, our properties and the local area. (Desirable)
Key Measures of Success (KPIs)
Success in this role will be tracked against the following measures:
- Guest-readiness & inspections — 100% of properties pass final pre-arrival inspection and sign-off before guest arrival, with zero avoidable presentation issues reported by guests.
- Changeover timeliness — All scheduled changeovers completed within the allocated turnaround window, with no late handovers not flagged in advance.
- Guest satisfaction — Maintain a 90%+ positive rating for cleanliness/presentation across guest reviews and feedback; reduce housekeeping-related complaints quarter on quarter.
- SOP & checklist compliance — 100% of changeovers completed with fully signed-off cleaner checklists and photo/video evidence submitted through the work communications system.
- Laundry management — Zero missed or delayed laundry turnarounds (in-house and via supplier) against changeover deadlines.
- Maintenance follow-through — All flagged repairs logged the same day of identification and tracked through to confirmed completion.
- Stock & inventory accuracy — Monthly stock inventories completed on time with less than 5% discrepancy; missing/damaged items reported the same day.
- Team leadership & training — All new team members inducted and signed off against SOPs within their first two changeovers; ongoing coaching documented.
- Availability & responsiveness — Full availability and prompt response (within agreed timeframe) to any out-of-hours issue on changeover days.
- Continuous improvement — At least one actionable improvement idea or recommendation submitted to management each quarter.
Reporting Structure
Reports to: Housekeeping Manager / Assistant Housekeeping Manager
Works closely with: Assistant Housekeeping Manager, Housekeeping Team, Maintenance Team
The Head Housekeeper leads the day-to-day housekeeping operation of their house, taking direct responsibility for team coordination, standards, changeover delivery, and reporting into estate management.
Benefits:
- Company pension
- Employee discount
- Free parking
- On-site parking
- Referral programme
Work Location: In person
