Head of Facilities for Global, the Media and Entertainment Group

About Global

Global is the media and entertainment group behind some of the UK's best-known radio brands, including Heart, Capital, Classic FM, LBC, Radio X, Smooth and Capital XTRA. Alongside radio it runs digital, podcast, outdoor advertising and live events businesses, and reaches more than 50 million people every week.

As the organisation continued to grow, Global's Director of Technology and Operations engaged Maxwell Stephens, on an exclusive basis, to recruit a Head of Facilities for its London headquarters. It was a senior appointment: the person in post would shape the workplace for a fast-moving media business as well as keep it running.

Our work with Global

• Head of Facilities, London headquarters (exclusive search)

The Challenge

A Head of Facilities in a broadcast and media business has to keep a demanding, always-on workplace running while managing space, budgets and service partners with real commercial discipline. Global also wanted the workplace to reflect its culture, balancing operational standards with employee experience, technology and continuous improvement.

Key responsibilities included:

• Developing and delivering the facilities management strategy.
• Leading all workplace operations across the London headquarters.
• Managing hard and soft facilities management services.
• Driving innovation and workplace technology improvements.
• Leading and developing the facilities team.
• Managing supplier relationships and outsourced contracts.
• Overseeing health & safety compliance and statutory obligations.
• Managing operational and capital budgets.
• Supporting workplace projects, refurbishments and future planning.
• Acting as the senior point of contact for all workplace and facilities matters.

The role needed someone who could operate strategically while staying close to day-to-day operations. That combination is rarer than it sounds: head-of-function candidates in facilities often come either from an operational background with limited exposure to strategy and budgets, or from a corporate real estate background with limited feel for the building itself. The strongest of them are usually in post and not looking, so an advertised campaign alone would not reach them.

The Market for This Role

Our 2026 salary benchmarks put Head of Facilities roles at around £70,000 to £110,000 or more, rising to £90,000 to £130,000 or more in London, depending on sector and scope.

At this level the candidate pool is small and mostly employed. That is why the search paired a direct approach to people in post with an advertised campaign.

Our Approach

The search began with a full briefing with Global's leadership to agree the role, the job and person specification, the target organisations, and what Global wanted its workplace to say about the business. We then ran two campaigns side by side:

• A direct search for candidates who were not actively on the market, across large end-user organisations with diverse and complex estates, corporate real estate businesses and FM service providers.
• An advertised search to reach active candidates who might be between roles or otherwise out of reach of the headhunt, with Maxwell Stephens handling all responses.

We looked for experience in corporate workplace and facilities management, multi-site operational leadership, supplier and contract management, health & safety governance, workplace technology, strategic planning and budget management, team leadership, and stakeholder management at executive level. Every relevant candidate was screened and interviewed, and the shortlist was assessed using our weighted selection matrix, built around five key criteria agreed with Global. That gave Global an auditable way to compare candidates against the brief and against each other.

The Outcome

Within one week, Maxwell Stephens presented a shortlist of five candidates. Three progressed to interview, and one was appointed.

The successful candidate brought extensive experience leading workplace operations in high-profile corporate environments, with a modern, people-focused approach to facilities management. The role covers workplace operations across the London headquarters, the facilities strategy, supplier performance and contract governance, workplace technology, and leadership of the facilities team.

For the second time now Maxwell Stephens have secured me an truly unbelievable and unique role. Their understanding of my desires when seeking a new role as a client has now been demonstrated twice: they knew what I was looking for and didn't present anything back until it was the right match. The process was easy, straight-forward, stress free, no fuss and honest, no question too big or too small and the guidance and insight provided were spot on throughout the interview process. Without doubt, I would recommend working with Maxwell Stephens and will undoubtedly do so again. Thanks Peter and the Maxwell Stephens team.

Graeme Elliott
Head of Workspace, Global

Why This Placement Worked

For an organisation like Global, the workplace is part of how the business presents itself to its own people. The consultation at the start mattered: understanding what Global wanted from its workplace made it possible to assess candidates against that ambition, not just against a list of services to manage. Running a headhunt and an advertised campaign together meant the shortlist covered both the passive and the active market, and the weighted matrix kept the final decision tied to the agreed criteria.

If you are recruiting a senior facilities or workplace leader for a headquarters where the environment matters to the brand, Maxwell Stephens can help you define the brief and reach the right candidates. Get in touch with our team.