Background
Knight Frank is one of the world's leading independent property consultancies, providing agency and professional services across the residential, commercial and rural property sectors. Established in 1896, the firm operates from more than 600 offices worldwide and employs over 20,000 professionals.
As part of the continued growth of its commercial property management division, Knight Frank required an Assistant Property Manager to support the management of a substantial commercial property portfolio from its London headquarters at 55 Baker Street. Maxwell Stephens was engaged to find the right person.
The Challenge
Knight Frank wanted an ambitious and capable property professional who could support the day-to-day management of a diverse portfolio while building a long-term career in property management. The successful candidate would help maintain high service standards for landlords and tenants and support the wider property management team. Key responsibilities included:
- Supporting the management of commercial property portfolios
- Coordinating pre-tenancy and tenancy administration
- Assisting with property inspections and reporting
- Managing maintenance requests and contractor coordination
- Liaising with landlords, tenants and service providers
- Supporting rent collection and service charge administration
- Handling routine and reactive property management issues
- Maintaining accurate property records and management systems
- Assisting with dilapidations and lease-related matters
- Delivering a high standard of customer service across all stakeholder groups
The difficulty at assistant level is rarely the technical content of the job. It is finding someone with the right balance of administrative experience, communication skills, commercial awareness and genuine enthusiasm for property management. Candidates who are strong administrators do not always want the client contact, and candidates who enjoy the client contact are not always disciplined about the records and service charge administration behind it. Knight Frank needed both.
Our Approach
Understanding the requirement
We worked closely with Knight Frank to understand both the technical requirements of the role and the personal attributes needed to thrive in a collaborative, high-performing team. The ideal candidate needed to demonstrate:
- Strong administrative capability
- Clear, confident communication
- High levels of organisation and attention to detail
- A proactive and solutions-focused mindset
- A genuine interest in property management
- The ability to build relationships with tenants, landlords and contractors
- A desire to develop a long-term career within the sector
Targeted search
Using our specialist network and property management recruitment expertise, we ran a focused search for candidates with strong administrative backgrounds and a clear interest in the property industry. We prioritised people who showed strong customer service skills, commercial awareness, effective problem-solving, experience of managing multiple priorities, and a professional, client-focused approach.
Candidate assessment
Candidates were assessed against both the technical and behavioural requirements of the role, with particular emphasis on communication skills, attention to detail, stakeholder management capability and long-term career motivation. For a role intended to grow with the person in it, motivation is not a soft consideration: it is the best indicator of whether the appointment will still be working well beyond the first year.
The Outcome
We placed a highly capable Assistant Property Manager who quickly integrated into Knight Frank's commercial property management team. The successful candidate brought strong organisational skills, clear communication and a proactive approach to supporting both clients and colleagues. The results include:
- Effective property management support. The appointed Assistant Property Manager provided reliable support across the commercial portfolio, helping to maintain high standards of service delivery and operational efficiency.
- Better tenant and landlord communication. Strong stakeholder management ensured prompt responses to enquiries and effective communication between tenants, landlords and contractors.
- Efficient maintenance coordination. The candidate coordinated maintenance activities and contractor appointments, helping to resolve issues quickly and minimise disruption.
- Accurate property administration. Diligent record keeping and system management made operational processes more streamlined and efficient.
- Professional development. The successful candidate showed a genuine commitment to developing their property management career and quickly became a valued member of the team.
Taken together, the appointment strengthened Knight Frank's commercial property management function: improved administration, better tenant and landlord service levels, efficient maintenance and contractor coordination, greater operational consistency, strong stakeholder communication, and long-term succession and talent development within the team.
Why This Placement Worked
Assistant-level property roles are where the next generation of property managers comes from, and they are often recruited too quickly to reflect that. This search treated the appointment as a career hire rather than an administrative one, assessed for motivation as carefully as for skills, and found someone the team could develop.
Maxwell Stephens identifies emerging property management talent and matches ambitious professionals with leading organisations in the real estate sector. If you are recruiting an assistant property manager or a similar early-career role, get in touch with our team.