Director of Housing

“This is our Salford.

Salford is a city that leads with purpose, where pride runs deep and people always come first

Salford is a city with a strong sense of identity and a proven track record of delivery. Our City Mayor champions housing as a key priority alongside other vital issues, driving a mission to transform housing for our communities. We are reshaping services to focus on prevention, tackling homelessness, and creating the conditions for truly affordable, sustainable, and high-quality homes.

This is a pivotal time for Salford. We are bringing together a single, unified housing function that will be fit for the future. Now we need a strategic leader to drive it forward. You will be joining a system already in motion, but still finding its shape. That brings complexity but also huge opportunity. If you can navigate complexity with clarity, think creatively in the face of challenge, and lead services that continuously evolve to meet changing needs, this is your opportunity to shape the future of housing in Salford.

About the Role

This is a high-profile and wide-reaching leadership role. You will be responsible for the strategic and operational delivery of housing across the city. That means leading housing strategy, homelessness, with a real focus on prevention, housing-related transformation, and ensuring delivery of the City Mayor’s priorities. It also means guiding our work with Derive, our wholly-owned company, helping us reduce temporary accommodation, ensuring regulatory readiness, and supporting the delivery of new affordable homes.

You will shape and lead a new single housing function that brings together teams and services that have previously been split across different directorates. You will work closely with the executive leadership team, while influencing across the wider council and partner system and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority region.

The transformation is significant, and change is already underway. You will help embed our new target operating model and ensure our housing services are responsive, cost effective and resident focused. From improving governance around PFI delivery to shaping our work with registered providers and championing housing need across Greater Manchester, you will represent Salford’s voice.

You will be trusted to ensure every decision is grounded in what matters most: improving housing outcomes for the people of Salford.

About You

You will be a strategic and credible leader with a deep understanding of housing and the wider social and regulatory context. You will need to understand how to lead a broad portfolio and work across organisational boundaries. You will bring experience of transformation and delivery and be comfortable working in a system that is still evolving.

You will understand what good looks like when it comes to housing strategy, regulation and delivery. But more than that, you will know how to bring people with you through change. You will be a natural collaborator and a confident decision maker who is not afraid of complexity or pace. You will be politically astute and bring the professional curiosity and resilience needed to lead in a high-profile environment.

We are proud of the loyalty and commitment that exists across our workforce. We want someone who shares our belief in public service, who is passionate about improving outcomes for residents and who can work with us to create something lasting and meaningful for our city.

You will be a strategic leader who understands the full picture of housing from the social and regulatory challenges to the real-life impact on communities. This role is more than managing a broad portfolio it is about stepping into a system that is still taking shape and bringing vision and steady leadership to drive meaningful change. You will know what great housing strategy and delivery looks like but just as importantly you will have the ability to bring people along with you. Change comes with challenges and needs a leader who brings curiosity, resilience and courage to confront tough issues while never losing sight of the people of Salford. This is a rare chance to be at the heart of a transformation that will shape the city’s future, and we need someone ready to step up and make it happen.

For a confidential conversation about this role with our retained advisors at Tile Hill, please contact: Chantelle Wooldridge (07557 018320, chantelle.wooldridge@tile-hill.co.uk), or Clare Connor 0161 408 0703 (clare.connor@tile-hill.co.uk)

Closing date: Midnight on Friday 18th July”