Account Director
Location: The Crown Estate
OVERALL PURPOSE OF THE JOB:
- To provide senior leadership and full accountability for the delivery of hard services across The Crown Estate contract, ensuring contractual obligations, BGIS standards, statutory compliance, KPI/SLA performance and client expectations are consistently achieved.
- To lead the operational, commercial, technical, QHSE, people and customer performance of the contract across Regent Street, St James, The Quadrant and Residential portfolios.
- To ensure the availability, reliability and resilience of all critical engineering systems, reducing operational risk across a high-profile, complex estate.
To act as the senior BGIS lead for the client, maintaining strong relationships, clear governance, professional reporting and a proactive, data-led approach to service delivery, risk management and continuous improvement.
KEY TASKS / RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Lead the overall delivery of planned maintenance, statutory compliance, reactive maintenance, quoted works, projects, lifecycle works, technical assurance, QHSE and building performance across the contract.
- Ensure all agreed KPIs and SLAs are achieved or exceeded, including statutory PPM, non-statutory PPM, P1 response/completion, P2-P6 response/completion, remedial works, backlog control and quote performance.
- Maintain senior oversight of contract volumes, including work orders, quoted works, billing orders, engineering hours, AWS activity, FM ad-hoc requests and customer communications.
- Provide leadership across Regent Street, St James, The Quadrant and Residential teams, ensuring each region is appropriately resourced, governed and held to consistent service standards.
- Ensure all critical assets and systems are maintained to the highest standard, including chillers, cooling towers, HVAC, BMS, electrical infrastructure, life safety systems, water systems, plantrooms and high-risk assets.
- Maintain a clear technical risk register and escalation process for critical plant, lifecycle issues, chiller resilience, shutdowns, urgent technical quotes and operational risks.
- Lead financial and commercial performance, ensuring P&L requirements are achieved, debt is controlled, purchase orders are progressed, invoices are managed, billing is accurate and commercial risk is visible.
- Produce and present monthly operational, financial, technical and statistical reports, clearly identifying performance, risks, opportunities, trends, corrective actions and client support required.
- Attend and lead strategic contractual, operational and commercial meetings with the client, presenting performance and risk in a clear, professional and boardroom-ready format.
- Ensure Health, Safety, Quality and Environmental compliance is fully embedded, including RiskWise management, incident reporting, hazard reporting, audits, training compliance, RAMS, COSHH, F-Gas, waste management, emergency plans and subcontractor controls.
- Lead a proactive safety culture across the contract, ensuring all incidents, hazards, audit actions and compliance gaps are owned, investigated, closed and communicated effectively.
- Manage subcontractors and suppliers to ensure safe, compliant, value-for-money delivery, with regular performance reviews and clear ownership of specialist maintenance, technical support and quoted works.
- Lead and develop the management, supervisory and engineering structure, including Engineering Managers, Technical Supervisors, Lead Engineers, Technicians, HV/LV Authorised Persons and Confined Space Authorised Persons.
- Ensure recruitment, succession planning, appraisals, training plans, performance management, engagement and welfare are effectively managed across all contract teams.
- Ensure training and competency plans are delivered, including technical, compliance, leadership, customer experience and authorised person requirements.
- Lead the project and lifecycle pipeline, ensuring secured works, opportunities and risks are managed effectively, including Hypercare, LCR, fire alarm works, chiller/AHU/fuel projects and other client-approved works.
- Drive building performance improvement across the estate, including PBOS, BMS lockdown, BMS workshops, energy dashboards, HVO transition, adaptive thermal comfort, demand-led ventilation, NABERS, VSDs and smart pump innovation.
- Ensure energy and optimisation initiatives are evidence-led, measurable and reported clearly, including savings, comfort improvements, reduced reactive demand, system stability and progress against client sustainability targets.
- Promote a strong customer experience culture, ensuring positive feedback, lessons learned, client priorities and service improvements are captured and embedded.
Act as the senior escalation point for the client and BGIS team on a 24/7 basis, ensuring incidents, emergencies, shutdowns and critical failures are managed with clear communication and control.
ESSENTIAL SKILLS / QUALIFICATIONS:
- Strong experience leading a large, complex hard services contract within a commercial, residential, mixed-use, landlord or estate environment.
- Strong understanding of statutory compliance, PPM, reactive maintenance, HVAC, chillers, BMS, electrical infrastructure, water systems, life safety systems and critical plant.
- Strong commercial and financial management capability, including P&L ownership, purchase orders, billing, debt, forecasting, quoted works and project pipeline control.
- Proven ability to lead large multi-disciplinary teams across multiple locations.
- Strong customer focus with experience managing senior client relationships and complex stakeholder environments.
- Strong knowledge of QHSE processes, safe systems of work, compliance documentation, subcontractor governance and incident escalation.
- Ability to analyse performance data, identify trends and convert findings into clear action plans.
- Ability to produce and present high-quality operational, financial, technical and performance reports.
Ability to work under pressure, make sound decisions and lead incident response in a clear, controlled and professional manner.
Person Specification
Education:
HNC / HND / BTEC / Degree level education in Mechanical, Electrical, Building Services or Facilities Management or a related discipline is preferred. Strong written English, verbal communication and mathematical skills are required.
Experience: Essential
Leading planned preventative maintenance regimes.
Leading statutory and non-statutory compliance.
Managing reactive maintenance against contractual SLAs.
Contract management within a hard services or technical FM environment.
Leadership of large engineering and management teams.
Financial and commercial management of a sizeable contract.
Management of subcontractors and specialist suppliers.
Knowledge of BMS, HVAC, chillers, cooling towers and critical plant.
Experience managing technical risk, lifecycle requirements and critical asset resilience.
Experience presenting performance reports to senior client and internal stakeholders.
Experience leading QHSE compliance, audits, incident reporting and hazard management.
Aptitudes:
Strong leader and manager.
Commercially aware and financially disciplined.
High level of customer service.
Confident senior stakeholder manager.
Self-motivated, reliable and dedicated.
Able to manage competing priorities across multiple regions.
Able to challenge performance constructively and fairly.
Able to lead teams through pressure, change and operational challenge.
Character:
Committed to excellent customer service.
Professional, credible and calm under pressure.
Accountable for performance, safety, people and commercial outcomes.
Visible, supportive and approachable leader.
Resilient, solutions-focused and committed to continuous improvement.
Circumstances:
Must be flexible and able to work late or attend site at short notice in the event of emergencies, incidents, shutdowns, critical failures or client escalation. Must be available as a senior escalation point for the client and BGIS operational teams.
This is not necessarily an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, skills, efforts, requirements or working conditions associated with the job. While this is intended to be an accurate reflection of the current job, management reserves the right to revise the job or to require that other or different tasks be performed as assigned.
