Senior Facilities Manager Recruitment for Toyota GB

Background

Toyota GB appointed Maxwell Stephens to recruit a Senior Facilities Manager following the retirement announcement of the existing postholder.

This was a succession appointment, calling for an experienced facilities management leader able to maintain operational continuity while bringing fresh ideas and strategic direction to Toyota GB's estate.

The role carried responsibility for two locations: Toyota GB's head office in Burgh Heath, Surrey, and its Academy facility at Burnaston, Derbyshire.

With a remit spanning multi-site facilities management, outsourced service providers, major budgets, health and safety, projects and sustainability, Toyota GB needed a senior professional who could combine operational leadership with long-term strategic thinking.

The Challenge

Replacing an established Senior Facilities Manager on retirement asks for a carefully managed process. The outgoing postholder usually carries a great deal of undocumented knowledge about the estate, and the incoming one has to absorb it while the day job continues. Toyota GB needed someone who could take ownership of a complex multi-site operation, hold existing standards and still find opportunities to improve the performance of the facilities function.

Key requirements included:

• Multi-site facilities leadership. Extensive experience of managing facilities operations across multiple commercial locations, with consistent standards at both Burgh Heath and Burnaston.
• Team leadership and motivation. The ability to motivate teams, create accountability and maintain a strong facilities culture.
• Outsourced contractor management. Extensive experience of managing external FM providers and contractors, covering service quality, commercial value and accountability.
• Budget and commercial management. Responsibility for significant facilities budgets, requiring financial awareness, effective cost control and confident commercial decision-making.
• Project management and innovation. The capability to deliver facilities projects while continuing to find more effective ways to manage the estate.
• Health and safety management. A sound understanding of workplace health and safety, with the ability to maintain appropriate systems, standards and governance.
• Sustainability. A genuine commitment to sustainability and an understanding of how facilities management contributes to Toyota GB's wider environmental objectives.
• ISO standards. Knowledge of the relevant BS ISO management standards, supporting structured, compliant and continuously improving facilities operations.
• Stakeholder management. Clear communication, influencing and negotiation skills for work with colleagues, senior management, contractors and service partners.

Taken individually, none of those requirements is unusual. Taken together they describe a narrow group: facilities leaders who have run an outsourced model across sites, carry the budget, and are comfortable being held to formal management standards as well as to service levels.

Our Approach

Given the seniority and importance of the appointment, Maxwell Stephens ran a full search for facilities management leaders with a strong background in complex, multi-site corporate estates.

Our assessment focused on candidates who could provide continuity following the retirement of the existing Senior Facilities Manager while also bringing new thinking to the role. Candidates were evaluated on their experience in:

• senior multi-site facilities management
• outsourced FM contract management
• substantial budget responsibility
• health and safety leadership
• project and change management
• sustainability initiatives
• ISO management standards
• stakeholder engagement and negotiation
• team leadership and development
• continuous improvement and innovation

Cultural alignment mattered just as much. Toyota GB wanted a candidate whose leadership style and professional values sat comfortably with the organisation's wider standards and strategic objectives, which in a succession appointment is what determines whether an incoming manager is given the benefit of the doubt in the first months.

The Outcome

Following a detailed search and selection process, Maxwell Stephens placed an experienced Senior Facilities Manager who combined facilities management expertise, leadership capability and strategic thinking. The appointment gave Toyota GB:

• A managed succession. An experienced facilities leader able to take responsibility after the retirement of the previous Senior Facilities Manager and maintain continuity across the estate.
• Multi-site oversight. Proven experience of managing complex facilities operations across locations, supporting consistent standards at both the Burgh Heath headquarters and Burnaston Academy.
• Contractor management. Extensive outsourced-services experience, and with it commercial and operational oversight of external facilities providers.
• Health and safety continuity. Health and safety expertise applied to a structured approach to compliance, risk management and workplace standards.
• Project and improvement focus. Project-management capability and an improvement-focused mindset, supporting Toyota GB's objective of continuing to modernise its facilities operations.
• Sustainability. A commitment to sustainability that keeps environmental considerations inside facilities decision-making rather than alongside it.
• Strategic alignment. Technical competence, leadership and commercial awareness matched to Toyota GB's wider values and operational objectives.

Ongoing Partnership

The appointment also extended the relationship. Toyota GB was sufficiently satisfied with Maxwell Stephens' recruitment support that it recommended us to its facilities management service provider, Dalkia.

That recommendation led to Maxwell Stephens supporting Dalkia with another key appointment.

Why This Placement Worked

The placement gave Toyota GB a Senior Facilities Manager able to combine multi-site operational leadership, contractor management, health and safety, sustainability, innovation and financial control.

Succession appointments are a particular kind of brief. Continuity and change are both part of the specification, and a search run only for a safe pair of hands, or only for a moderniser, satisfies half of it. Assessing against both, and against cultural fit, is what made this appointment hold.

If you are recruiting a senior facilities professional to lead a complex estate, or planning a succession before a retirement takes effect, Maxwell Stephens can help you scope the brief and reach the right people. Get in touch with our team.