National Facilities Manager

OBJECTIVES

1. MAIN FUNCTIONS OF THE JOB

Strategic Facilities Management

• Ensure all areas and assets within the facilities are maintained to Operational and Safety standards
• Implement proactive maintenance schedules and manage emergency repairs promptly
• Monitor and maintain compliance with health, safety, and regulatory requirements
• Standardize facilities policies, procedures, and service levels across all sites.
• Provide leadership and guidance to site-based facilities teams.
• Demonstrate the ability to make innovative and strategic decisions independently, while remaining receptive to guidance and direction when required.
• Maintain consistently high standards of cleanliness and organisation across all workshop and storeroom areas to ensure a safe, efficient, and professional working environments.
• Ensure timely response and resolution of issues to minimise operational disruption

Maintenance Program Development & Management

• Develop and implement comprehensive preventive and predictive maintenance programs for all building systems (e.g. grounds, façade, office and stores related HVAC, comfort cooling, electrical, plumbing, fire safety, lifts, etc.).
• Establish maintenance schedules, checklists, and performance benchmarking across facilities to ensure efficiency, consistency and standardisation.
• Utilize CMMS or other tools at your disposal to track works tickets, asset trends and history, and compliance with relevant industry and regulatory codes and standards.
• Conduct regular site-based audits and inspections to ensure effectiveness of maintenance program and drive for continuous improvement.
• Collaborate with site-based facilities teams, OEMs and/or service providers to ensure equipment efficiency, reliability and lifecycle optimisation.

Operational Oversight

• Ensure optimal performance of building systems including but not limited to grounds, façade, HVAC, comfort cooling, electrical, plumbing, fire safety, lifts, etc.
• Manage preventive and corrective maintenance programs across all locations.
• Active participation in inventory management of all critical spares.
• Ensure that records, drawings and schematics of the facilities under your direction are up to date, accurate and maintained.
• Assist Data Centre Managers with maintaining exceptional aesthetic standards within the data centres.
• Share knowledge and best practices across all facilities by building close relationship with Data Centre Managers and peers.
• Manage escalated support cases and lead appropriate internal resources and/or 3rd party vendors to resolution.
• Active participation in new data centre builds or expansions.
• Ensuring comprehensive Root Cause Analysis are completed for all incidents/outages.
• Foster a culture of collaboration between Facilities Management and all departments within the organisation.
• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement across all teams.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to interact professionally with a diverse group of clients, colleagues and staff.
• Interact with all levels of the organization in a professional, and tactful manner.
• Competence in team capacity planning.
• Active involvement in physical, network, and cyber security matters.
• Open to provide after-hours support as needed to address or resolve significant issues.
• Monitor compliance with health, safety, and environmental regulations.
• Monitor, measure and maintain compliance with OSH act, ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO45001, ISO 27001, ISO50001, SANS and other relevant building codes.
• Active involvement in periodic self-assessment, internal and external audits.

Team Leadership & Development

• Lead, mentor, and manage a national team of site-based facilities supervisors, and assistants.
• Set clear KPIs and performance expectations, conducting regular reviews and coaching with direct reports.
• Defining of personal development plans for direct reports.
• Guide and develop staff by working with HR to ensure skills, training and performance requirements are met.
• Ensure adequate staffing and succession planning across all teams.
• Active involvement with staff onboarding, providing support and adherence to BEE targets when onboarding new resources.
• Develop and implement a skills development and qualification program across all facilities.
• Foster a culture of accountability and continuous improvement within the team

Behavioural attributes

• Demonstrate a mindset of continuous improvement and innovation.
• Continuously and proactively seek opportunities to enhance and streamline processes for greater efficiency and effectiveness.
• Commit to the growth and development of team members.
• Deliver value to shareholders through operational excellence.
• Foster a culture of mutual respect and collaboration.
• Champion diversity and inclusion across all levels of the organisation.
• Uphold the highest standards of integrity and ethical conduct.
• Maintain a strong client-centric approach in all interactions.
• Exhibit reliability, responsibility, self-motivation, and enthusiasm in daily work.
• Thrive in both cross-functional team environments and independent roles.
• Stay focused on ongoing learning and personal development.

Vendor & Contract Management

• Establish a reliable contractor base across all regions and facilities.
• Oversee and manage service providers, ensuring service quality and adherence to agreed standards.
• Oversee national contracts for painting, plumbing, life safety systems, comfort cooling, cleaning, general maintenance, and other services which may be deemed applicable to your department.
• Negotiate service level agreements and monitor vendor performance.
• Drive cost efficiencies and ensure consistent and quality service delivery.

Budgeting & Reporting

• Develop and manage a national facilities budget, including forecasting and expenditure control.
• Provide regular reporting on facilities performance, risks, and project progress to senior leadership.

Risk Management & Compliance

• Ensure all facilities meet applicable local/international legal, regulatory, and internal compliance standards.
• Lead emergency preparedness planning and incident response coordination.
• Conduct regular audits and risk assessments across all sites.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• Diploma or Bachelor's degree in Facilities Management, Engineering, Business Administration, or related field.
• 5+ years of progressive experience in a facilities management role, with at least 3 years in a national or multi-site leadership role.
• Strong knowledge of building systems, maintenance best practices, and regulatory compliance.
• Proven experience managing multi skilled, geographically dispersed teams, complex buildings and intricate vendor relationships.
• Excellent leadership, communication, and project management skills.
• Experience in inventory or spare parts management systems (e.g. SAP MM module) would be advantageous.

Preferred Certifications
- Higher Certificate in Facilities Management.
- Project Management Professional.
- Health & Safety Certification.
- Green Building or Energy Management Certification.