Service Manager – Temporary Accommodation

• Salary: £41,771 - £46,142 per annum (Grade 9)
• Annual leave: 30 days’ annual leave, plus bank holidays
• Hours: Permanent, Full-time (37 hours) role
• Location: Based at one of our offices in Bridgwater, Shepton Mallet, Taunton or Yeovil
• Hybrid working: Flexible working arrangements to support work-life balance

Regretfully, we are unable to offer sponsorship for this role. We are only able to proceed with candidates who already have the right to work in the UK without the need for visa sponsorship.

As a Service Manager for Temporary Accommodation, you’ll lead our dedicated teams to ensure the smooth and efficient management of temporary accommodation across Somerset. This pivotal role provides strong operational leadership, ensuring resources are used effectively, statutory responsibilities are met, and accommodation pathways run efficiently.

We’re working to improve the lives of people in Somerset - and you’ll be a key part of that. Your day-to-day work will involve:

• Leading the Temporary Accommodation service, ensuring efficient use of resources and smooth day‑to‑day delivery.
• Ensuring statutory requirements and timescales are met, supporting safe and suitable placements.
• Building and maintaining strong working relationships with providers and partner agencies to improve accommodation options.
• Using data and insight to support service planning and continuous improvement.
• Overseeing commissioned accommodation arrangements with commissioning teams.

We offer ongoing support, training and guidance to help you be the best you can be, but it will really help if you have:

• Comprehensive understanding of housing legislation and regulations, including issues relating to temporary accommodation and homelessness.
• Demonstrable experience of leading and developing staff, with the ability to supervise, support and deploy teams effectively in a fast‑paced environment.
• Strong partnership‑working skills, with experience influencing and collaborating with multi‑agency partners to deliver services and resolve complex issues.
• Sound decision‑making and problem‑solving abilities, particularly when managing challenging situations or vulnerable customers.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build relationships, manage conflict and represent the service professionally.

We’re proud to be here for the people of Somerset, and that means everyone in Somerset. An important part of this is ensuring that we are as diverse and inclusive as the people and communities we serve.

We welcome applications from a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences to enrich our team. You can always contact the hiring manager for a chat if there’s anything you want to talk about before you apply.

We are proud to offer an environment that is supportive and rewarding, working as part of a team who are passionate about the work they do to improve the lives of people in Somerset.

We offer great training and development opportunities, with supportive management. As well as this, we have some fantastic employee benefits available:

• We promote a healthy work-life balance and offer flexible working arrangements wherever possible, including working from home.
• Generous annual leave allowance, with the opportunity to purchase additional leave
• Staff discounts in gyms.
• Employee Assistance for the times you may need some support and a variety of employee wellbeing services.
• Auto enrolment onto our generous Pension Scheme and optional pension enhancement through our Additional Voluntary Contribution scheme.
• A Flexible Benefits Scheme via salary sacrifice to obtain a cycle for work and health screenings.
• My Staff Shop offering discounts in shops, online shopping, restaurants, cinema tickets, insurance benefits and more

For more information about the role, you can contact Sam Wenden-de-Lira (Head of Service) on sam.wenden@somerset.gov.uk

Interviews are expected to take place w/c 4th May 2026

When completing your application/CV please provide your full employment history and ensure that any gaps in employment are explained. Please start with your current or most recent employment.

If you have all the information you need, just hit the apply button - we can’t wait to hear from you.

This post requires a criminal background check via the Disclosure procedure.