Facilities Supervisor Recruitment for CBS Outdoor

Background

CBS Outdoor, a leading organisation specialising in outdoor advertising, appointed Maxwell Stephens to recruit an experienced Facilities Supervisor for its Camden office.

Reporting to the Head of Facilities, the role extended well beyond a single location. The successful candidate would help oversee the maintenance and day-to-day operation of a portfolio of offices and warehouses across the UK and Ireland, which made multi-site facilities management experience essential.

CBS Outdoor wanted someone who could combine sound operational capability with leadership, supplier management and strategic thinking, and who would keep facilities standards consistent across a geographically dispersed estate.

The Challenge

The Facilities Supervisor would need to manage the daily demands of multiple properties while contributing to the wider development of CBS Outdoor's facilities function. That meant hands-on operational expertise on one side, and the ability to build working relationships with internal departments and external service providers on the other.

Key requirements included:

• Multi-site facilities management. Supporting the management of offices and warehouse facilities across the UK and Ireland, and keeping operational standards consistent from one location to the next.
• Maintenance management. Coordinating planned and reactive maintenance so that properties remained safe, functional and properly maintained.
• Operational leadership. Providing day-to-day supervision and supporting the Head of Facilities in keeping facilities services reliable and efficient.
• Supplier and contractor management. Building productive relationships with external suppliers and contractors while monitoring service quality and responsiveness.
• Internal stakeholder engagement. Working with departments across the business to understand their requirements, resolve facilities issues and maintain a responsive service.
• Strategic thinking. Contributing to facilities initiatives that supported CBS Outdoor's wider operational and commercial objectives.
• Cost and efficiency focus. Identifying opportunities to improve service delivery and operational efficiency without letting standards drop.
• Continuous improvement. Taking a proactive approach to facilities management and finding practical ways to strengthen processes, maintenance programmes and service performance.

Estates that mix offices with warehouses are harder to supervise than the job title suggests. The two building types have different maintenance profiles, different compliance priorities and different occupants, and a supervisor who has only ever run a single corporate office tends to underestimate the warehouse side. Multi-site experience was therefore a genuine requirement rather than a preference.

Our Approach

Maxwell Stephens ran a targeted search for facilities professionals with proven experience across multi-site environments. The breadth of CBS Outdoor's portfolio meant the successful candidate had to be comfortable coordinating requirements across several locations rather than concentrating on a single building.

Our assessment concentrated on candidates with experience in:

• Multi-site facilities management.
• Planned and reactive maintenance.
• Office and warehouse environments.
• Supplier and contractor management.
• Internal stakeholder engagement.
• Operational supervision.
• Process improvement.
• Customer-focused service delivery.
• Working across geographically dispersed estates.

Through our specialist facilities management network and a detailed selection process, we identified a candidate with more than three years' experience as a multi-site Assistant Facilities Manager. Their combination of practical FM experience, leadership potential and understanding of multi-location operations closely matched the Facilities Supervisor brief, and Maxwell Stephens placed them with CBS Outdoor.

The Outcome

The successful candidate quickly became a valuable addition to CBS Outdoor's facilities function, bringing a proactive and structured approach to the management of its UK and Ireland estate. In the role they have:

• Strengthened multi-site coordination, helping maintain greater consistency across offices and warehouses so that facilities requirements are managed effectively in every location.
• Improved maintenance management, with more structured maintenance programmes supporting the reliable operation of properties and faster resolution of facilities issues.
• Improved operational efficiency through careful planning and coordination, supporting smoother day-to-day business operations.
• Built stronger supplier relationships, improving communication, accountability and service delivery from external providers.
• Raised the standard of stakeholder service, keeping a clear focus on responsiveness and communication with internal teams.
• Aligned facilities activity with business priorities, so that the function supports CBS Outdoor's wider operational objectives rather than operating solely as a reactive service.
• Kept improving, identifying opportunities to refine processes and strengthen the overall effectiveness of the function.

Their previous experience as a multi-site Assistant Facilities Manager gave them a strong foundation for the step up into the role and allowed them to contribute from the outset.

Why This Placement Worked

The appointment gave CBS Outdoor a Facilities Supervisor able to combine multi-site operational management, maintenance, supplier coordination, stakeholder engagement and continuous improvement across its UK and Ireland portfolio.

It also illustrates a point we make often: the best supervisor-level hire is frequently the candidate one step below who has already been doing the work across multiple sites. An Assistant Facilities Manager with multi-site experience brings the operational habits the role needs, together with the potential to grow into broader operational leadership responsibilities.

If you are looking for a Facilities Supervisor or another multi-site facilities professional to strengthen your property operations, Maxwell Stephens can help. Get in touch with our team to discuss your requirements.