Managing Director – Estates
Grounds Maintenance | Arboriculture | Winter Services
£100,000 – £150,000 + Bonus + Benefits
South East based, national remit
Reporting to the CEO
“Estates” in this context means the external environment: grounds maintenance, arboriculture and winter services. Crews, plant, fleet, depots and service delivery at scale.
If your background is in building surveying, hard FM, M&E, technical services or property asset management, this is unlikely to be the right fit.
If you’ve built, grown and led a commercial grounds maintenance, arboriculture or winter services business, keep reading.
The Business
Our client is a private equity-backed national provider of external property services, operating across thousands of sites throughout the UK.
The group has a clear and funded growth strategy, with plans to double in size through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions.
The Estates Division is the largest part of the business, bringing together grounds maintenance, arboriculture and winter services under one leadership structure. It is an established, profitable operation with directly employed teams and now requires a Managing Director to lead it through its next phase of growth.
The Role
Reporting directly to the CEO and sitting on the Group Senior Leadership Team, you will have full responsibility for the division’s strategy, operations, people and financial performance.
This is a growth-focused role, not a caretaking position.
You will:
- Own and grow the divisional P&L, driving both revenue and EBITDA performance
- Develop the operating model and leadership structure required to support a business twice its current size
- Win new business in competitive markets while strengthening existing client relationships
- Drive productivity across a geographically dispersed, highly seasonal operation
- Lead and support acquisitions, including target identification, due diligence and integration
- Champion the use of technology, operational data and innovation to improve service delivery
About You
You are currently running, or have previously run, a commercial contracting business within grounds maintenance, landscaping, arboriculture, forestry, vegetation management or winter services.
You will bring:
- Full P&L responsibility for a business or division, ideally within the £10m-£40m turnover range
- A proven track record of delivering significant revenue and margin growth
- Experience managing self-delivery operations with directly employed teams, plant, vehicles and depots
- National or multi-regional operational leadership experience
- Strong commercial credibility with major clients, frameworks and tender opportunities
- Experience working within a private equity-backed environment
- Acquisition, integration or business transformation experience
- A genuine interest in technology, route optimisation, telematics, asset management systems and operational data
Sector knowledge is important. Equally important is the ability to build and scale businesses.
We’re looking for both.
This Probably Isn’t For You If…
- Your background is primarily within building surveying, property management or traditional estates management
- You have developed your career within hard FM, M&E, building fabric or technical services
- You have managed grounds or arboriculture services client-side, in-house or within local government rather than commercial service delivery
- Your growth experience has predominantly come from renewals or captive customer bases rather than competitive market wins
- You’re looking for a steady-state divisional management role rather than a growth and transformation challenge
The Opportunity
This is an autonomous Managing Director role within a well-capitalised business with a clear growth trajectory and future exit horizon.
You’ll join a supportive executive team and inherit a strong market position, while being given the freedom and backing to build something significantly larger.
A highly competitive salary, bonus and benefits package is available, structured around the success and growth of the division.
Interested?
Apply now, or contact Peter Forshaw at Maxwell Stephens for a confidential discussion.
Maxwell Stephens is the UK’s leading specialist recruitment consultancy for facilities management, property and business support services.
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