Somerset Council
Head of Service - ALMO Client (Housing)
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Closing date: 10 August 2026
Salary: £80,669 per annum
Role summary
You will be acting as the Council’s Senior Housing Client Lead, providing strategic leadership and oversight of the Council’s relationship with its Arm’s Length Management Organisation.
The ALMO is Homes In Somerset, who will manage all council housing stock owned by Somerset Council. This is circa 10,000 homes, with a contract budget of £20+ and a Capital Programme budget in excess of £150m.
We are looking for an experienced housing professional with expertise in commissioning, procurement and contract management. You will be ensuring regulatory compliance, strong governance and alignment with council priorities, corporate strategies and tenant expectations.
Through this work, you will be ensuring the effective delivery of high-quality housing services on behalf of Somerset Council. You will be establishing and operating an intelligent client function, managing and assuring a multi-million-pound contractual relationship, all while ensuring value for money and establishing effective risk management.
What you’ll do - key responsibilities
- Provide strategic leadership and oversight of the Council-ALMO relationship across all core housing functions.
- Act as the Council’s senior advocate for tenants, ensuring tenant voices are meaningfully engaged and represented.
- Lead and maintain the Council’s intelligent client function, setting clear expectations, providing robust challenge, and holding the ALMO to account for service quality.
- Lead the negotiation and periodic review of the ALMO management fee, ensuring affordability and value for money.
- Establish, maintain and assure comprehensive performance management, KPI, quality assurance and reporting frameworks.
- Lead and oversee service transformation and continuous improvement programmes within the ALMO relationship.
- Ensure full regulatory and statutory compliance across ALMO-managed services.
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What we’re looking for – knowledge, experience & skills
- Minimum 5 years’ experience within a senior housing role.
- Experience of transformation activity with an ALMO, and commercial negotiations in high contract arrangements.
- Experience of performance management, quality assurance and data analysis.
- Expertise in commissioning, procurement and contract management.
- Solid understanding of housing policy, consumer standards, tenancy management and building safety.
- Knowledge and experience of appropriate housing measures, processes and controls.
- Degree level education in a relevant subject area, and project management skills or qualification.
- Strong leadership, strategic thinking, stakeholder engagement, and partnership-building capabilities.
- Excellent communication (written, oral and presentation) to diverse audiences including tenants, executives and council members.
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Additional Information
This is a full-time position working 37 hours per week.
Primarily office based within the Somerset accommodation estate, with occasional site visits, estate walk arounds and tenant engagement sessions.
33 days of annual leave (additional to bank holidays)
Regretfully, we are unable to offer sponsorship for this role. We are only able to proceed with candidates who already have the right to work in the UK without the need for visa sponsorship
For an informal chat about the role, you can contact Chris Hall, Executive Director – Community, Place and Economy, via email at chris.hall@somerset.gov.uk.
A full job description can be found here: Head of Service - ALMO Client - Job Description - RP318
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