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School Estates and Facilities Recruitment in London

EduExec Recruitment is a specialist agency that recruits Site Managers, Facilities Managers, Estates Managers and Directors of Estates for schools, academies, multi-academy trusts and independent schools across London and the Home Counties. Every search is run personally by Luke Johnson, who has over 12 years' experience in education recruitment.

The estates profession has probably changed more than any other support function in education over the last decade. What was once a maintenance discipline is increasingly a strategic leadership role covering compliance, capital investment, sustainability, procurement and organisational risk. Running a school site is also a safeguarding role as much as a technical one, with children on site every day.

The roles I recruit

  • Site Managers and Site Supervisors
  • Facilities Managers
  • Estates Managers
  • Trust-wide Heads and Directors of Estates
  • Capital projects leads

How the role has changed

Five years ago, many school estates teams focused mainly on maintenance and compliance. Today they are also dealing with:

  • Capital funding. Trusts are expected to make increasingly evidence-based decisions about capital spending, condition need and priorities.
  • Condition data. Organisations are becoming much more data-driven about building condition, lifecycle planning and asset management.
  • Building risk. RAAC changed the conversation. Boards became far more aware of structural condition and the resilience of their estate.
  • Sustainability and energy. Rising energy costs, decarbonisation, solar installations and efficiency projects have moved sustainability from a facilities issue to a board-level discussion.
  • Contractor costs. Perhaps the biggest practical challenge. Skills shortages, inflation and contractor availability mean estates leaders need stronger procurement, commercial and contract management skills than ever.

Today's estates director is as likely to be discussing capital strategy, carbon reduction, risk registers and five-year investment plans with trustees as talking about roofs, boilers and maintenance backlogs.

Where strong candidates come from

Education remains an important source of talent, but many of the strongest estates appointments now come from outside the sector:

  • Commercial facilities management. Often strong on compliance and managing contractors.
  • Construction and project delivery. Excellent for trusts undertaking major refurbishment or expansion.
  • Property and estate management. Particularly valuable for large campuses and multi-site trusts.
  • Technical trades. Experienced electricians, building services engineers and maintenance managers often grow into outstanding estates leaders.
  • Public sector estates. Universities, NHS trusts and local authorities provide particularly relevant experience.

The best candidates understand both buildings and people. They can discuss boilers, roofs and compliance one minute, then present a capital strategy to trustees the next.

Getting the brief right

The mistakes I see most often are:

  • Changing the title but not the expectations. Recruiting a caretaker and calling the role Estates Manager.
  • Focusing purely on maintenance experience. Modern estates leadership is as much about risk, compliance, procurement, capital planning and contractor management.
  • Underestimating commercial skills. Someone who has managed millions of pounds of contracts can often add more value than someone who has only carried out maintenance.
  • Insisting on education experience above everything else. Some trusts miss exceptional candidates from healthcare, universities, commercial property and facilities management.
  • Ignoring succession. Many trusts still have their estates knowledge sitting with one long-serving person. When they leave, crucial building information leaves with them.

The trusts attracting the strongest estates people recognise how far the role has moved. The ones that struggle are often still recruiting for yesterday's caretaker while expecting tomorrow's estates director.

The questions I ask candidates

My first question is: if I gave you responsibility for our estate tomorrow, what would you want to know in your first month? The strongest candidates go straight to compliance registers, statutory inspections, condition information, maintenance backlogs, capital plans, health and safety risks, contractor performance and energy use. In other words, they assess risk before they make decisions.

A second question I like is: tell me about a time you prevented a problem rather than fixed one. Great estates leaders are rarely judged by dramatic interventions. They're judged by the crises that never happened.

How it works

The process is the same for every role: a proper briefing conversation, direct approach to candidates alongside a targeted advert, a screening interview with every candidate before you see them, a short and honest shortlist, and support through to start date. Fees are a percentage of the first year's salary, agreed before the search begins.

Frequently asked questions

What do school estates roles pay?

Site Managers and Site Supervisors typically earn £30,000 to £45,000, and this is often the hardest of these roles to recruit at the moment. Facilities Managers typically earn £40,000 to £60,000, Estates Managers £50,000 to £80,000, and trust-wide Heads or Directors of Estates £75,000 to £120,000 or more. Many trusts are competing with facilities management, construction and property employers who can pay considerably more.

What's the difference between a Site Manager and an Estates Manager?

A Site Manager is usually hands-on, running one site day to day: maintenance, security, contractors and site operations. An Estates Manager takes a more strategic view of maintenance programmes, condition, capital projects and estate planning, often across several sites or a large campus.

How do estates and operations roles differ?

There is overlap, particularly around compliance and contractors, but estates roles focus on buildings, condition and capital investment, while operations roles usually cover a wider range of support services. See my school operations recruitment page for more.

Talk to me about your vacancy

If you're recruiting an estates or facilities role, I'd be very happy to talk it through, formally or informally. Call me on 07359 924773 or email luke.johnson@eduexec-recruitment.com.