Senior Asset Manager

at  Unite Students

WHAT YOU`LL GET IN RETURN

• A discretionary annual bonus so you can share in the company`s success
• 25 days` paid holiday and an annual holiday buying scheme, with 5 additional days awarded for long service
• A generous pension scheme - employer contributions between 5% and 11% depending on how much you save
• Various benefits to support your health and wellbeing including a Healthcare Cash Plan, an Employee Assistance Programme, a Wellbeing platform and a Gym benefit that you can share with your family and friends
• Enhanced Family Leave including 18 weeks full pay for birthing parents and 4 weeks for non-birthing parents
• Lots of other great benefits including an annual ShareSave scheme, Employee Life Assurance, a discounts portal and more!

Unite Students` vision is to be the leading living platform for young people in the UK.
Our strategic goal is to double in size by 2030 by accelerating our core growth, while building for the future. This will be achieved by delivering operational excellence, investing in our properties and growing our portfolio in the strongest markets.
To achieve these objectives, and help accelerate our core growth, we are investing more than £50m/year into our £9bn PBSA portfolio to enhance customer satisfaction and drive financial performance.
The Asset Management team plays a critical and leading role in determining where and how we invest this capital to maximise value creation, prioritise defensive capex and improve the customer experience.
To continue to drive portfolio performance, aligned to the Group Strategy, we are recruiting a Senior Asset Manager to join an established team of three asset managers each responsible for a region of the portfolio.
Reporting into Head of Asset & Fund Management, this exciting role will act as the asset owner for their region, developing and delivering key investment strategies.

What You`ll Be Doing

• Develop, implement and regularly review city strategies within your region, which deliver the Group and Funds 5 year Strategy, working with internal stakeholders and using data from the Groups Portfolio Performance Model and market insight
• Develop, maintain and communicate clear and measurable asset plans to drive rental growth, manage sustainability risk and prioritise lifecycle capex to create the best customer experience
• Identify and maintain a pipeline of opportunities to reposition assets through refurbishments, reconfigurations, or extensions, that meet the required investment criteria. Work closely with the Commercial and Brand teams to understand segmentation opportunities to reposition buildings for targeted customer groups, for example post-graduates.
• Work closely with the Commercial team to understand the potential for rental growth and associated investment requirements to achieve this growth, and seek to adapt refurbishment specifications accordingly
• Identify assets which may underperform over a given time horizon and work closely with the Commercial and Investment teams to generate a plan to either recover, hold or sell.
• With the University Partnership team, review nominations agreements ahead of expiries to identify opportunities to unlock value with further investment through refurbishments and / or amenity improvements. Support discussions with the universities.
• Work with the Commercial Property Manager to ensure income is maximised from the commercial portfolio and adds to the student experience. Determine potential opportunities for conversion and alternative use
• Post completion of asset management initiatives, work closely with the Operational and Brand teams to understand what elements of the refurbishment students place real value on; where improvements can be made; the operational benefits and challenges.
• Work cross functionally with the Development, Project Delivery, Operations, Commercial and University Partnership teams to generate investment plans and approvals. Responsible for the creation of IC papers and to secure approvals for all major investment decisions
• Attend Investment Committee in support of investment proposals, working with the Finance and Insight teams to ensure robust and consistent analysis across different forms of investment activity
• Accountable for the delivery of all IC approved projects in line with plan
• Support the Investment and Treasury teams in disposals, acquisitions and refinancing activity.

What We`re Looking for in You

• Educated to degree level, or equivalent
• Ideally RICS qualified
• Demonstrable property experience, preferably in operational asset management, with a clear understanding of the drivers of value in real estate
• Strong commercial acumen, awareness, and high analytical and numeracy skills, evidenced in previous business roles
• Experience of leading cross-functional teams; able to work intuitively and collaboratively with various stakeholders across a multi-faceted business with multiple demands, to deliver asset plans
• Excellent communicator with strong interpersonal skills with experience in presenting ideas and project requirements clearly and eloquently
• A willingness to work flexibly, including regular UK travel
• Proven ability to influence at Board level and engage practically at all levels.