Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
Estates Director
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Job Summary
The Estates Director will lead the transformation and stewardship of an estate unique to the United Kingdom. The FCDO’s £2.5bn global property estate spans 180 countries and comprises approximately 6,800 assets, including embassies, ambassadorial residences and staff accommodation.
This is a pivotal leadership role at a time of significant organisational change. You will set the strategic direction for the FCDO estate and oversee the accelerated delivery of a major global transformation programme, ensuring the estate is secure, resilient, sustainable, and aligned with the UK’s diplomatic, development and security objectives.
Job Description
The role will focus on reshaping the estate to reflect the FCDO’s global priorities and footprint in today’s challenging international context. A central element of the role will be refreshing the global estates strategy alongside the leadership of a significant, multi-year capital investment and refurbishment programme across the global estate, encompassing new builds, major renewals and complex heritage assets. You will lead a team overseeing health and safety performance and reducing carbon emissions whilst strengthening governance, assurance and delivery capability across a highly complex international portfolio.
This is a strategic leadership role, with you setting direction and enabling delivery through strong teams, clear governance and effective partners. While accountability for performance sits with the Estates Director, success will be measured by the establishment of a resilient operating model and sustained improvement in delivery and value for money over time.
You will be a core member of the Chief Operating Officer’s Senior Leadership Team, working closely with the Chief People Officer, Director of Technology, Commercial Director and Finance Director.
A fundamental priority for the role is ensuring that the global estate provides a safe, secure and legally compliant environment for staff, visitors and partners, particularly in high-risk locations, and that health and safety considerations are embedded into all investment and operational decisions.
Delivery across the global estate is achieved through a combination of in-house capability and a wide range of commercial partners operating in diverse international contexts. The Estates Director will lead a senior leadership team and work through others to ensure consistent standards, strong assurance and effective performance management across this model.
You Will Be Responsible For:
- Developing and delivering the FCDO Estates Strategy to 2030 and beyond, maximising value from the global estate by optimising utilisation, prioritising investment and project delivery across purchase, lease, new build and refurbishment, and identifying surplus or under-performing assets for disposal or alternative use.
- Providing clear and inclusive leadership to a diverse and geographically dispersed estates function, ensuring the organisation has the capability and capacity required to deliver on its priorities, and leading and developing the senior management team through clear delegation, accountability and performance expectations.
- Designing and embedding a world-class estates operating model that reduces risk, improves efficiency and strengthens governance and assurance across a complex, internationally delivered portfolio. This will include:
- Strategic management of portfolio-level risk, including security, resilience and business continuity in high-risk locations.
- Establishing a best-in-class health and safety capability across the estate.
- Delivering greening commitments and net zero pathways.
- Ensuring full compliance with relevant legislative, regulatory and assurance requirements.
- Providing executive leadership for estates programmes and operations, including major capital projects, facilities management and life-support contracts. This will include:
- Ensuring programmes and projects are delivered to agreed time, cost and quality expectations.
- Working in close partnership with geographic directors and overseas missions.
- Leading effective collaboration with internal stakeholders and external partners.
- Setting and enforcing robust programme, project and contract management standards.
- Overseeing development of business cases through appropriate HMG governance and assurance processes.
- Leading the financial and commercial stewardship of the global estate, managing substantial capital and revenue budgets across a portfolio of approximately 6,800 assets, including embassies, ambassadorial residences and staff accommodation, and balancing maintenance requirements alongside a range of investment priorities. Championing the use of asset, performance and cost data to support prioritisation, assurance and long-term investment decisions across the portfolio.
- Managing strategic relationships with OneHMG partners and other government departments across the overseas platform to ensure effective co-ordination, value for money and alignment of estates delivery.
- Providing authoritative advice and leadership on all estates and property matters, offering timely, well-judged input to senior leaders on risk, investment, estates development, delivery and assurance. Collaborating with fellow property and project leaders across HMG to drive functional improvement, innovation and thought leadership.
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Person Specification
We are committed to ensuring the FCDO remains a world-leading institution, offering roles that attract and retain exceptional talent from across the UK and internationally. We aim to recruit and retain the best people; those who are delivery focused and have a strong track record in high impact outcomes. This role is suited to a senior estates or infrastructure leader with experience of leading large-scale, complex estates transformation, either within government or in highly regulated or international environments.
The Civil Service Is Open To Talented People From Any Career Background; We Will Always Seek To Identify Transferable Skills From The Individual’s Experience. The Essential Criteria To Succeed In This Role And Be Selected Are:
- Estates leadership and strategic capability – Demonstrable credibility as a senior enterprise leader responsible for large-scale geographically dispersed estates functions, with experience setting strategy, transforming operating models, and leading end-to-end delivery across complex portfolios, balancing operational performance with long-term organisational outcomes. Managing global maintenance of properties and governing Health and Safety, for secure and legally compliant environments for staff, visitors and partners, and embedding health and safety considerations into all strategic investment and operational decisions.
- Programme and project leadership at scale – Proven experience leading major, multi-year estates, infrastructure or property transformation programmes, including complex capital projects, significant planned and reactive maintenance requirements, portfolio prioritisation, risk management, and benefits realisation, across multiple sites and jurisdictions.
- Financial Acumen – Demonstrable commercial leadership capability, including responsibility for substantial capital and operational budgets, contractual negotiations, proactive management of third-party supplier relationships, development and approval of major business cases, prioritisation of investment and assurance of value for money across large and complex estates and infrastructure programmes.
- Delivery in complex and international environments – Experience delivering estates outcomes in complex contexts, with a demonstrable understanding of security, resilience, safety, and assurance requirements, and the ability to adapt delivery models accordingly.
- Influence, Partnership and Stakeholder Leadership – A track record of operating at senior levels across industry and/or government, influencing Ministers or boards and executive teams, and building effective partnerships to deliver shared outcomes across organisational boundaries.
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It is important that your application provides evidence and examples that meet these criteria. A deep technical knowledge of foreign policy and wider Government priorities is not critical; however, an interest and an aptitude for learning and an alignment with the desired outcomes of His Majesty's Government will be expected.
Alongside your salary of £105,000, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office contributes £30,418 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).
- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
Selection process details
You must be a British Citizen at the point of application.
The recruitment process is being undertaken by Government Recruitment Service on behalf of the FCDO.
To apply for this position, please follow the instructions for vacancy reference 478606 on the Civil Service Jobs website by 23:55 on Monday 2nd November 2026.
All applications will be acknowledged and considered by the selection panel.
Your Submission Should Include:
- Your CV setting out your educational and professional qualifications and full employment history, including an explanation of any gaps in your employment history.
- A Statement of Suitability of no more than 1,250 words explaining your personal skills, qualities, abilities and experience relevant to the requirements of the job in support of your application with particular reference to the Essential Criteria in the Person Specification. It should also describe your vision for the job and how you would propose to approach this if appointed.
- As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete a Diversity questionnaire. The FCDO is committed to equal opportunities. Our officers are recruited on merit, through fair and open competition. We seek our strength through diversity and appoint suitably qualified individuals regardless of ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, social backgrounds, age or disability. To help us ensure that our recruitment activity reflects the diversity of British society, we would be grateful if you could complete the diversity monitoring form. As part of the application process, you will be asked a number of diversity-related questions. If you do not wish to provide a declaration on any of the particular characteristics, you will have the option to select 'prefer not to say'. All monitoring data will be treated in the strictest confidence and will not be provided to the selection panel. The information you provide when submitting your application will help us monitor our progress towards the Civil Service becoming the most inclusive employer. All data is reported in an anonymous and aggregate format and will not be seen by anyone assessing your application.
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