FM · contracts · property operations

Facilities manager recruitment UK — FM and contract managers who can run the building, not only the helpdesk.

FM recruitment UK through Viktorija Sherriff’s network: facilities managers and contract managers who have held a live asset. She was head of recruitment for a national facilities business and hired the full FM stack. £450 to start. Network only. No job-board scrape.

Start a search Built sector

The hiring pain is real, and it is not a sourcing problem.

Facilities manager recruitment in the UK is noisy because the title covers too much. A single-building supervisor, a helpdesk lead, and a contract manager running a hard-services account are not neighbouring rungs on one ladder. Volume agencies flatten that. They send you people who have supervised tickets and people who have held a P&L as if those were the same hire. The people who can run the building — or the contract — are usually already doing it for someone else. They move when a brief is real, and when the approach is discreet. They do not apply to a vague “FM manager” advert.

Viktorija Sherriff was head of recruitment for a national facilities business and hired the full FM stack. That is why facilities manager recruitment here includes contract managers, regional leads and operations roles — and why it does not pretend a helpdesk title is the same hire. Network only. £450 to start.

The network goes as deep as operatives because that is how you know who can actually run a contract. This page is not a volume desk for cleaners. If you want a facilities or contract-manager search run properly, start on Contact. A short note is enough.

Credentials she vets

What actually gets checked.

Whether they have held a contract, a building, or a portfolio — not only a facilities title
Hard services, soft services and total FM are different searches; she will not pretend otherwise
Whether they can sit with the responsible person on fire safety and statutory duties, not hide behind a helpdesk
Right to work in the UK, as every employer must check: gov.uk/check-job-applicant-right-to-work

In occupied buildings the responsible person still has fire-safety duties under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. GOV.UK sets out who that can be — including a facilities manager — at fire safety in the workplace. VS Recruitment is a headhunter, not a fire safety or health and safety adviser.

Typical searches

Roles she is asked to find.

Facilities managers for occupied buildings and estates
Contract managers on hard-FM, TFM and client-side accounts
Regional and mobile FM leads who can hold more than one site
Operations and property roles that sit next to the FM stack

Also in this market: Site manager recruitment, Fire risk assessor recruitment, Built sector recruitment.

How the search runs

Getting facilities manager recruitment right.

What to put in a facilities manager brief

Say whether the role is hard FM, soft FM or integrated; one site or a portfolio; client-side or service provider; and what the person is accountable for — the budget or P&L, the team, the supply chain and statutory compliance. Name the client type and the relationships that matter, and be honest about the state of the contract: stable, mobilising, recovering or up for retender. Those facts decide who is right far more than years of experience.

What the interview should test

Use scenarios that happen on real contracts: critical plant failing during occupied hours, a statutory compliance gap found during mobilisation, a subcontractor missing planned maintenance, a client complaint escalated to a director. Listen for control and communication — who they call, what they record, how they protect people and the building, and how they rebuild trust afterwards. Ask what their monthly client report contains and what they would change in their first ninety days.

What a good shortlist looks like

A handful of people who have run work of the same shape and size, each with a short note on the contract they hold now, why they would move and what their notice period is. The person who runs the contract is usually busy running it. They are reached through a trusted conversation, not an advert, which is why the search is network-only.

Questions

FAQs

Do you recruit contract managers as well as facilities managers?

Yes. FM recruitment here includes contract managers, regional FM, and operations roles that actually run an account or a building. A helpdesk title is not the same search.

Do you fill operative or cleaning vacancies?

No. This is not a volume desk for cleaners or a money page for operative labour. The network includes the wider FM stack — including operatives — because that is how you know who can run a contract. The searches on this page are for managers.

Why does her FM network go that deep?

Viktorija was head of recruitment for a national facilities business and hired the full FM stack. That is public phrasing for a decade of work, not a claim about a named former employer. She knows the difference between a contract manager and a supervisor with a better email signature.

What does the £450 fee buy?

It opens a named search. It is not a listing charge and it is not payment for a batch of unsolicited CVs. If the brief is not a fit, she will say so before anyone pays.

Start a facilities manager recruitment search.

A short note is enough. If it is not a fit, she will say so.

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