General Manager Projects Division

The Opportunity

HT Services is an established privately owned Australian premium commercial cleaning business operating nationally and managing a range of diverse contracts including schools, office spaces, shopping centres and airports predominantly in WA with smaller satellite operations established in NSW.

On the back of a sustained 14+ year growth period we now need the services of an experienced manager to lead and expand our specialist commercial cleaning projects Business operations. 

Reporting to the CEO, the General Manager Projects will be responsible for building and managing a thriving high performing specialist cleaning team, ensuring the performance of all project and periodical cleaning, currently 100+ sites nationally meet HT Services and client quality standards. Projects and periodical cleaning are made up of a variety of cleaning functions including ad hoc cleaning, builders cleans, high pressure cleaning, tile and grout cleaning, window cleaning and carpet cleaning. 

The person must be a proven service delivery team manager capable of assessing current business unit capability and then moving quickly to address deficiencies and as needed hire and train new project services staff as well as improving service delivery methodologies and efficiencies to further improve business unit profitability. Experience in engaging and managing external subcontractors for specialist services works is also highly desirable. 

As a guide, during the first 12 months the General Manager Projects is expected to allocate most of their time to build, train and manage operational capability and on ground performance, establishing a highly motivated and competent projects team. This includes attending sites daily to inspect work quality and ensuring the Projects Team is efficiently servicing and responding to our Area Manager site requirements. 

Beyond 12 months we expect the role to shift towards expanding the business with approximately 60% operational focus and 40% expanding our business through a variety of ambitious national business development initiatives. During this expansion phase, the General Manager Projects will focus both on existing and prospective clients generating solid relationships to win new business.

The Person:

The successful candidate will possess excellent general management, team leadership and superior people skills that transfer into exceptional relationship management. They will be completely comfortable to select, onboard and develop project team members and provide them with the skills and equipment to complete the various periodical project services. Importantly, the candidate will be able to demonstrate extensive project cleaning and related equipment knowledge and ideally a successful history with client relationship management and business development skills.

You may have come from a tradesman’s background or field operation background but have moved into managerial roles as a consequence of your superior people management and relationship building skills.

A thriving, profitable and skilled project services business unit, satisfied internal and external clients, and the ability to consult with clients to add extra value to a contract, will be key measures of success in this pivotal management role.

Periodical cleaning work cycles are demanding, and the team can at times be left short-handed requiring the General Manager Projects and their works supervisors to have strong working knowledge and capability and to go ‘hands on’ in the event that they are required to respond to an occasional (by exception) urgent pressure point in project execution. Having said that, the goal must be for the General Manager to stay ‘hands off’ by ensuring the team is well resourced with back up options including subcontractor deployment. 

Your Skills and Experience:

• An experienced manager or occupying a similar role in another company
• Previous experience in directly running service delivery teams across multi-site operations essential ideally with at least 10+ personnel with multiple direct reports
• A proven people manager, able to source, train operational staff in all aspects of their role
• The ability to motivate and communicate effectively to the team and solve any problems which may arise
• A great relationship builder able to converse professionally with existing and new clients to grow revenue
• Ability to be a role model of the company’s cultural and behavioural standards to all Area Managers and cleaning staff
• Not afraid to get hands dirty and get stuck into manual tasks to help the team if required
• Advanced communication skills both with clients and other relevant stakeholders
• Mechanically minded, understanding how to organise and manage the required plant and equipment to ensure it is properly serviced and maintained
• Confident in scoping project works, costing and pricing new project service requests
• Desirable but not essential qualifications include:
• Formal Management and/or Supervisory qualifications 
• OHS/First Aid Management Certifications

If you are a proven operator fitting this profile and enjoy the flexibility that comes with managing varied and at times demanding schedules across multi-site operations, then this is a fantastic opportunity for you to be a part of our dynamic senior operational management team and we encourage you to register interest by submitting your CV and a short covering letter.