Head of Estates and Technical Services

Head of Estates & Technical ServicesLocation: East Kent (Thanet, Canterbury, Folkestone, Dover)Salary: c£67,000Full-time | Permanent | Multi–site Leadership RoleAbout the OrganisationThis role supports a large healthcare environment delivering essential services across multiple acute and community hospital sites. The Estates and Technical Services function underpins the safe delivery of patient care for thousands of patients each day.The Estates team provides a full suite of Hard FM and technical services, including maintenance, compliance, lifecycle planning, engineering operations, project delivery, and the management of critical healthcare infrastructure. The environment is complex, regulated, and requires exceptional technical leadership, assurance, and service performance.The OpportunityWe are seeking an experienced Head of Estates & Technical Services with strong healthcare estates expertise to lead operations across several key hospital sites in Kent.The role is responsible for the safe, compliant, and efficient operation of all estate assets, engineering systems, and essential patient-critical infrastructure. The successful candidate must demonstrate a deep understanding of Health Technical Memoranda (HTMs), Health Building Notes (HBNs), NHS statutory guidance, and the operational realities of working within a live healthcare environment.This role leads a multidisciplinary team of more than 30 estate managers, technical specialists, engineers, and support staff, ensuring the highest levels of performance, clinical support, and customer service.The post holder is required to participate in the on-call rota and may be called to site outside normal working hours to support clinical continuity and emergency planning.Key ResponsibilitiesEstates & Technical Leadership• Lead and manage the Estates and Technical Services teams across a multi-site healthcare estate. • Ensure all activities comply with HTMs, HBNs, statutory regulations, NHS guidance and local governance requirements. • Provide expert leadership in engineering systems including electrical, mechanical, HVAC, medical gases, water systems, boilers, and emergency power. • Act as Technical Authority and senior escalation point for clinical and operational teams.Compliance & Assurance• Maintain full statutory, mandatory, and technical compliance across all sites, delivering assurance to Directors and Board-level stakeholders. • Oversee the production, monitoring, and close-out of compliance documentation, test regimes, risk assessments, AP/CP duties, and safety certificates. • Ensure rigorous compliance in high-risk areas such as asbestos, legionella, water safety, COSHH and fire safety.Maintenance, Projects & Lifecycle Management• Direct all PPM, reactive maintenance, remedial works, lifecycle planning, and backlog risk management. • Oversee project delivery, minor works, and infrastructure upgrades ensuring adherence to healthcare guidance, HTMs, HBNs, and clinical requirements. • Ensure effective use of CAFM and BMS systems to manage and monitor all performance.Financial, Contract & Performance Management• Manage significant operational budgets, monitor expenditure, and ensure value-for-money across all services. • Oversee procurement, contract tendering, supplier management and performance monitoring. • Drive KPI, SLA, and audit performance to deliver continuous improvement and high-quality services.Leadership, Stakeholder Engagement & Culture• Build strong working relationships with clinical staff, senior managers, contractors, and external regulators. • Lead a culture focused on patient safety, excellent customer service, and engineering professionalism. • Mentor and develop the estates workforce, ensuring competency, resilience, and succession planning.Emergency Response & On-Call Duties• Participate in the out-of-hours Estates on-call rota. • Provide leadership during incidents affecting clinical services, supporting emergency planning and business continuity.About You – Essential Requirements• Significant experience in healthcare estates management, ideally within an NHS or acute clinical environment. • Strong applied understanding of HTMs, HBNs, and healthcare-specific legislation, including the operation of complex technical infrastructure. • Degree in engineering, building services, estates management, or a related discipline (or equivalent experience). • Membership of a recognised professional body: IHEEM, CIBSE, IWFM or equivalent. • Authorised Person (AP) status in at least one key discipline: electrical, medical gases, water systems, ventilation, boilers, or HV/LV systems. • Demonstrable experience managing multi-site technical services, engineering teams, budgets, contractors, and major works. • High competence with CAFM, BMS, compliance systems, reporting tools, and engineering workflows. • Excellent leadership, communication, problem-solving, and stakeholder-engagement skills. • Full UK driving licence.Desirable Attributes• Strong mechanical and electrical aptitude with experience in complex plant and clinical engineering environments. • Experience working with a range of stakeholders in high-pressure, multi-disciplinary settings. • A proactive, solutions-focused approach with the ability to balance technical, operational, and clinical priorities.Benefits• Salary: c£67,000 • Generous annual leave (with buy/sell scheme) • Pension scheme participation • Onsite childcare (site dependent) • Access to staff communication & wellbeing platforms • Discounted onsite catering • Eligibility for public-sector and Blue Light discount schemes