Soft Services Facilities Manager

Job description

We are looking for an experienced Soft Services Facilities Manager to join the National Records of Scotland (NRS) Estates team, working to establish improvements in service delivery to a wide-ranging estate. 

The Estates team manages 4 buildings in Edinburgh, three of which are iconic, Category A listed buildings and sit in the heart of Edinburgh’s World Heritage site. You will be working with both internal staff and our external Soft FM service provider to manage all aspects of the maintenance and management of our buildings and facilities.

The Soft Services Facilities Manager will work with both internal staff and external Facilities Management service provider and contractors, to manage all aspects of the soft services provision within our buildings and facilities. You will work with senior managers within the Estates team to oversee operational delivery in line with current contracts and compliance with statutory requirements. Work with business areas to ensure estates services are continually aligned to the agreed service levels and meet business needs reflecting current and emerging best practice.

Responsibilities

• Line management and day to day responsibility for the deployment of the Estates Support Services team in the delivery of a professional facilities and support service across the estate to meet business requirements.
• Contract management of the Soft Services FM contract, ensuring compliance with statutory requirements and agreed service levels, support negotiations and management of escalation issues. Ensuring all issues are escalated or reported to relevant managers.
• Review and manage Key Performance Indicator’s with the incumbent Soft FM provider and monitor the performance of the service delivered by both in house estate teams and external contractors.
• Identify, manage and plan accommodation changes, space planning consultations and developing efficiencies of workplaces across the estate.
• Provide oversight of services, ensuring the best quality of service and excellent customer communications to all levels of the organisation, this will include providing a visible presence on site. Manage the relationship with tenants and 3rd party building users to ensure day to day operational requirements are met.
• Ensure best practice and compliance with Health & Safety standards and Access policy, procedures and guidelines.
• Manage and monitor financial and forecast expenditure within the allocated budgets, ensuring services delivered provide value for money at all times.
• Work with senior managers to ensure alignment of service and co-ordination of support for planned work and projects. Work with teams to improve standards and develop a culture of continuous improvement. Take responsibility for your own continual professional development and those of your teams.

QualificationsInstitute of Workplace Facilities Management (IWFM) Level 3 Facilities Manager or equivalent or willing to work towards a qualification. Success profileSuccess profiles are specific to each job and they include the mix of skills, experience and behaviours candidates will be assessed on. Experience

1. Experience in leading on the delivery of soft services on a varied estate with an ability to meet multi and competing user requirements whilst delivering continuous improvement and best practice with tangible impact.
2. Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with an ability to work with clients and stakeholders to deliver varied requirements from varied business areas and effectively communicate facilities compliance requirements.
3. Excellent ICT skills, including the use of MS applications and bespoke/proprietary systems/software, and the ability to organise, maintain, use and ensure integrity of data and information..

Behaviours:

• Seeing the big picture - Level 3 
• Communicating and influencing - Level 3
• Leadership – Level 3
• Managing a quality service – Level 3

You can find out more about Success Profiles here: Behaviour levels - Success profiles: candidate guide - gov.scot

 How to apply

Apply online, providing a CV and Supporting Statement (of no more than 1000 words) which provides evidence of how you meet the skills, experience and behaviours listed in the Success Profile above.

If invited for further assessment, this will consist of an interview and presentation.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools can be used to support your application, but all statements and examples 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, and presented as your own) applications will be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action.  

Please see our candidate guidance for more information on acceptable and unacceptable uses of AI in recruitment.

Assessments are scheduled for w/c 24th November 2025, however this may be subject to change.

This role is open to internal candidates and Common citizenship organisations only.

About us

National Records of Scotland (NRS) is Scotland’s record keeper. Our purpose is to collect, preserve and produce information about Scotland's people and history and make it available to inform current and future generations. We offer rewarding careers and employ people across Scotland in a wide range of professions and roles.

NRS is a Non-Ministerial Department of the Scottish Government & and our staff are part UK Civil Service, working for Ministers and senior stakeholders to deliver vital public services which improve the lives of the people of Scotland.

We offer a supportive and inclusive working environment along with a wide range of employee benefits. Find out more about what we offer.

As part of the UK Civil Service, we uphold the Civil Service Nationality Rules.

Working pattern

Our standard hours are 35 hours per week, we offer a range of flexible and hybrid working options depending on the needs of the role. If you have specific questions about the role you are applying for, please contact us.

Equality statementWe are committed to equality and inclusion and we aim to recruit a diverse workforce that reflects the population of our nation.  Find out more about our commitment to diversity and how we offer and support recruitment adjustments for anyone who needs them. Further informationFind out more about our organisation, what we offer staff members and how to apply on our Careers Website. Read our Candidate Guide for further information on our recruitment and application processes.

For further information about the role, please contact Gerry Gallagher at gerry.gallagher@nrscotland.gov.uk