Facilities & Housing Appointments for the University of Cambridge

About the University of Cambridge

Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is one of the world's oldest universities and consistently ranks among the leading higher education institutions globally. Its estate is unusually varied, and the appointments on this page sit in four quite different parts of it:

• The Shared Facilities Hub, created under the West Cambridge Masterplan as the social, operational and collaborative centre of the expanding West Cambridge campus.
• The Cavendish Laboratory, home of the Department of Physics, a highly complex research environment whose legacy includes 32 Nobel Prize winners.
• The Department of Physics, which was preparing to relocate to the Ray Dolby Centre, a research facility designed for the next generation of scientific work.
• The University's residential estate, one of the largest in the UK, with more than 1,000 residential properties, over 700 keyworker homes and the Eddington development, which includes a district heating network.

Our work with the University of Cambridge

Maxwell Stephens has recruited for the University across these four areas:

• Operations Manager, Shared Facilities Hub, West Cambridge
• Technical and Facilities Management services leader, Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics
• Soft Facilities Manager, Department of Physics
• Interim Housing Operations Manager, residential estate

Operations Manager, Shared Facilities Hub

Following a competitive tender, Maxwell Stephens was appointed exclusive recruitment partner to find the Operations Manager who would launch and run the Shared Facilities Hub. The Hub was a new concept for the University: not another academic building but a shared space bringing departments, researchers, students and visitors together. The role covered day-to-day operation, customer experience, soft and hard FM services, relationships with numerous departments, contractors and service partners, budgets and service performance, and the University's long-term vision for West Cambridge.

Opening roles are a distinct discipline. There is no service history to inherit and no settled relationship with the departments using the building, so the postholder sets the operating model and service culture while running the building, in full view of the people who funded it. The University also needed someone confident enough to be the public face of the development.

The campaign drew a high volume of applications. Alongside market mapping, targeted advertising and direct search of passive candidates, we held initial screening interviews with more than 130 applicants, then used dual-consultant, competency-based interviews to keep assessment consistent and reduce unconscious bias. The appointed Operations Manager brought extensive facilities and operational leadership experience, strong stakeholder skills and commercial awareness, and has helped establish the Hub as a welcoming, efficiently managed environment.

Technical and FM Services Leader, Cavendish Laboratory

The University appointed Maxwell Stephens to recruit a leader to oversee the management and delivery of Technical and Facilities Management services within the Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics. In a research building, plant, environmental conditions and building services are not a backdrop to the work: an interruption can affect experiments, teaching and the people who rely on them. The brief called for strategic facilities leadership aligned to the University's academic and research objectives, oversight of Technical and FM service delivery, leadership of a diverse team, a workplace that supports academics, researchers and students, collaborative stakeholder working and continuous improvement.

Conventional facilities management experience was not enough. We searched for senior Facilities and Technical Services professionals from complex research or specialist environments and assessed for multidisciplinary team management, strategic planning, building-services management and senior stakeholder engagement, looking for someone with operational credibility who could keep sight of the Department's wider purpose. After an exhaustive search and assessment, one candidate stood out. The appointee brought the leadership, operational expertise and strategic perspective to take responsibility for Technical and FM service delivery, with a clear view that facilities management in the Cavendish Laboratory exists to enable learning, research and innovation.

Soft Facilities Manager, Department of Physics

As the Department of Physics prepared to move to the Ray Dolby Centre, it needed a Soft Facilities Manager to support day-to-day operations through a major period of transition. The estate covered offices, laboratories, workshops, teaching spaces and event facilities. The role managed reception, concierge and front-of-house; cleaning, catering and security contracts; support for laboratories and workshops; sustainability; health, safety and fire safety compliance; business continuity; budgets and service level agreements; advice on new developments and refurbishments; and the move itself.

Research estates add difficulty for soft services: teams work around laboratories with their own access and safety rules, and a service failure can interrupt experiments. We searched across higher education, research and laboratory facilities, science and technology estates and corporate and public-sector operations, and assessed candidates on soft services, contractor performance, budgets, compliance, stakeholder engagement and change management.

The Soft Facilities Manager we placed brought extensive soft FM and contract management experience and has taken responsibility for critical soft services while supporting preparations for the move to the Ray Dolby Centre.

Candidate Feedback

“Hi Peter, words cannot express my utmost gratitude for helping me land this role. I could not be happier!”

Interim Housing Operations Manager, Residential Estate

The University engaged Maxwell Stephens to find an Interim Housing Operations Manager to provide immediate leadership and operational continuity across its residential estate. The brief covered more than 1,000 residential properties, planned and reactive maintenance, external contractors, statutory compliance and health & safety, service charge and operational budgets, the Eddington district heating network, the housing operations team, and service standards for residents and key workers. Interim roles carry an extra test: there is no settling-in period, so the candidate has to be credible with the team, contractors and residents from the outset.

We ran a targeted search of interim professionals from facilities management, housing and estates, prioritising large residential portfolio experience, compliance, budget and service charge management and leadership in multi-stakeholder environments, and assessed every shortlisted candidate with the rigour of a permanent appointment.

The appointee integrated quickly and took on day-to-day management of the estate: overseeing maintenance, contractor performance and resident services, managing statutory and health & safety obligations, running an operational budget of approximately £5 million, supporting the Eddington district heating network and wider sustainability work, and working closely with the University's Property Group.

Why it worked

Each of these briefs looked like a standard facilities role on paper and was not. The Shared Facilities Hub needed someone to build an operation from nothing in public view; the Cavendish Laboratory and the Department of Physics needed leaders who understood that facilities in a research setting exist to serve the science; the residential estate needed an interim who could provide stability from day one. In every case we defined the technical, compliance, financial and people requirements up front and assessed candidates against the culture and purpose of the department, not just the job description.

If you are recruiting a facilities, technical services, housing or operations lead for a university, research institution or new campus development, Maxwell Stephens can help you define the brief and reach the right candidates. Get in touch with our team.