Recruitment in Facilities Management for Business Growth Fund (BGF)

Background

Business Growth Fund (BGF) is one of the UK's most active growth capital investors, providing long-term funding and strategic support to ambitious businesses across a wide range of sectors. Since its launch, BGF has invested billions of pounds into growing companies, helping entrepreneurs scale their businesses while creating jobs and driving economic growth.

As BGF continued to expand, it recognised that a high-performing workplace function was essential to supporting its people, protecting its operations and giving employees a good working environment. To strengthen its Facilities Management capability, BGF appointed Maxwell Stephens to recruit several key positions across its Workplace and Facilities team.

Over the course of the partnership, we delivered appointments for a Facilities Director, a Facilities Manager and a Front of House Supervisor, each playing an important role in supporting BGF's corporate workplace strategy.

The Challenge

BGF needed professionals who could combine technical competence with strong interpersonal skills and a close cultural fit. Each appointment called for a different blend of leadership, operational expertise and customer focus, but every candidate needed to thrive in a collaborative, fast-paced investment environment where service standards and professionalism were paramount.

Facilities Director

The Facilities Director appointment required an experienced strategic leader capable of developing and delivering a workplace and facilities strategy aligned to BGF's wider business objectives. Responsibilities included:

• Developing long-term workplace strategy.
• Leading Facilities and Workplace teams.
• Managing supplier relationships and outsourced contracts.
• Budget ownership and financial management.
• Health & Safety and statutory compliance.
• Workplace transformation projects.
• Business continuity planning.
• Supporting future business growth through effective workplace planning.

Facilities Manager

The Facilities Manager role focused on the operational delivery of facilities services across the organisation. The successful candidate needed to demonstrate expertise in:

• Day-to-day facilities operations.
• Contractor and supplier management.
• Planned and reactive maintenance.
• Health & Safety compliance.
• Budget management.
• Workplace improvements.
• Front-of-house support.
• Delivering a consistently good employee experience.

Front of House Supervisor

As the first point of contact for employees and visitors, the Front of House Supervisor played a central role in shaping the workplace experience. BGF required an individual with:

• Strong customer service skills.
• Strong organisational ability.
• Leadership of reception and front-of-house operations.
• Clear, confident communication.
• A proactive and solutions-focused approach.
• The professionalism to represent the organisation at all times.

Our Approach

Every appointment was approached as a bespoke executive search rather than a conventional recruitment exercise. We invested significant time with BGF's leadership team to understand not only the technical requirements of each position, but also the organisation's culture, values and long-term ambitions.

Using our specialist Facilities Management network, candidate database and targeted headhunting, we identified professionals who combined the right experience with the personal qualities required to succeed within BGF's collaborative environment. Each candidate went through a structured assessment focusing on:

• Technical competence.
• Leadership capability.
• Commercial awareness.
• Customer service mindset.
• Cultural alignment.
• Long-term career motivation.

Rather than presenting high volumes of CVs, we delivered short, carefully selected shortlists comprising only candidates capable of adding genuine value to the organisation.

The Outcome

Maxwell Stephens appointed professionals across all three positions: a Facilities Director, a Facilities Manager and a Front of House Supervisor. Each brought a combination of technical expertise, commercial awareness and cultural fit, enabling them to make an immediate contribution to BGF's workplace operations.

The appointments strengthened leadership across the Facilities function, improved operational resilience and raised the overall workplace experience for employees and visitors alike. They also reinforced BGF's ability to support its continued growth through a professional, well-managed and future-focused workplace environment, and led to a continued partnership built on trust and delivery.

Client Testimonial

Having been on both sides of the recruitment process with Maxwell Stephens in the last few years, I have been totally impressed with Peter and the team. Peter fully took on the brief to find a an FM that not only had the skill set to deliver a high standard of service , but also have a candidate that’s fits in to our culture.  The focus in culture fit was the most difficult to identify, its not a qualification, its a quality that comes for life experiences, culture and most importantly attitude. To ask a recruiter to source someone better than me, was not too difficult! All managers should have the attitude to hirer or train staff to be better than themselves, this identifies personal weaknesses, drives quality and productivity. Maxwell Stephens supported BGF to source an FM that more than fitted the brief.

Candidate Testimonial

I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the entire Maxwell team for helping me secure this amazing role at BGF. A special thanks to William for handling my case initially, and to Amelia for guiding me throughout the entire recruitment process. Your support has provided me with an incredible opportunity. I have now settled in very well and couldn't be more pleased. I wish you all the greatest success in the future.

Why This Placement Worked

Cultural fit is the hardest thing to recruit for because, as the client observed, it is not a qualification. It only becomes visible when a consultant has spent enough time with the organisation to know what it looks like, and then assesses for it deliberately rather than hoping the shortlist happens to contain it. Across three very different roles, that was the constant.

This partnership shows how Maxwell Stephens recruits not simply for technical capability but for long-term organisational success, placing workplace leaders who combine operational competence with the qualities that help a business thrive. If you are building or strengthening a workplace and facilities team, get in touch with our team to discuss your brief.