Senior Cleaner

Salary: £27,319.00 - £28,778.00  per annum

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 14 May 2026

The Role

Estates & Facilities are a very large multidisciplinary team that look after the development, maintenance, safety and security of over 150 buildings across various sites including a wide variety of world class teaching and research facilities, a range of diverse accommodation for over 3500 students across three student villages as well as caring for our beautifully landscaped grounds. We are also the team at the University responsible for catered halls, great food and drink, conferences and events.

We have an exciting opportunity for a Senior Cleaner (Senior Building Facilities Operative) to supervise staff in the team who provide portering, mail and cleaning services to the University main campus and medical buildings.

Working within the Building Facilities team you will be part of a wider Estates & Facilities department whose aim is to deliver a wide variety of services to a high standard in support of the University's vision. You will be responsible for planning and leading the day to day activities of a team of staff across the campus to specific service level standards in order to deliver a high quality, efficient and effective service.

You must be customer focussed with good interpersonal skills, have experience of supervising a team of operational staff and have good numeracy and literacy skills. You will be responsible for the day to day operational supervision of a team of Cleaners (Building Facilities Operatives and Portering staff) across campus and to ensure that Building Facilities operations are carried out to specified Service Level Standards in conjunction with all stakeholders.

It is a requirement of the post that candidates, as part of their working week, are willing to work between the hours of 0700 - 2300 on a rota, including weekends, evenings and Bank Holidays and University Official Closure Days to cover University business, as and when required. If this is you, we are really interested in hearing from you. Please contact Heather Willis on 0191 208 5949 or David Bujara on 0191 208 6629 for more information.

In addition we recommend and welcome you to join us on our Building Facilities Open Day, Friday 8th May 10am to 2pm, where you will have the opportunity to learn more about the position, meet the teams and enjoy a campus show around. The open day is a relaxed chance designed to bring to life the role and help answer any questions you may have about this opportunity.

Open Day details: 

Date:Friday 8th May

Time: 10am to 2pm ( please arrive no later than 1pm to be able to get the most from this)

Location: Newcastle Unnversity, Boiler House, see map link for detailshttps://maps.app.goo.gl/Xxqebe8ruYbuVQGU7 

Register here.

***Attendance at event is not mandatory, but all welcome.

To apply for this position , please upload your most up to date CV to our application portal and complete the mandatory fields in the application form.

Interviews are looking to be held week commencing 18th May, if successful estimated to start by early to mid June

Key Accountabilities

• To plan and direct the routine activities of a team of Building Facilities Operatives (including portering and cleaning staff) across the campus, to ensure Building Facilities operations are completed to specified standards, maximising the use of Human and Physical resources.
• Ensure appropriate and adequate resources are available to complete operations to the required standard. This will include managing local stocks of resources, raising orders for supplies and resources with supervisors.
• Plan, organise and carry out routine tasks and to liaise with School, Faculty or Service staff who request additional services. Also to prepare and distribute resources in accordance with manufacturers recommendations and to ensure safety in use.
• When required, perform operational duties in a specific area to ensure standards are achieved and maintained with respect to Health and Safety, hygiene etc.
• Liaise with customers with respect to operations and, in the event of complaint, take remedial action.
• Report defects and potential hazardous situations to immediate supervisor to effect action for rectification
• Ensure all new staff, within the team, receive the relevant training to enable them to perform their work to the required standards – completing the induction checklist following Building Facilities procedures
• Monitor staff dispositions and, when required, undertake preliminary counselling and report any recurrent problems to supervisors.
• Carry out routine team briefings to ensure all staff receive timely and appropriate information regarding University and section activities and developments
• Undertake timely performance and development review (PDR) as directed by the Supervisor to maintain and improve individual and team performance.
• To assist supervisors in the selection and recruitment of staff to maintain appropriate operational levels. Participating in the interview process and completing relevant documentation
• Contribute to the maintenance of the security of premises, observing local security procedures and reporting faults/incidents to immediate supervisor
• Ensure safe working practices by observing and complying with Building Facilities and Faculty/School Health and Safety procedures. This includes carrying out and participating in Risk Assessment, COSHH Assessment etc.

The Person (Essential)

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

Essential

• Basic IT skills
• Good communication and interpersonal skills
• Experience of working in a Customer Focused environment
• Experience of supervising and organising a team of operational staff
• Work flexibly and able to adapt, especially to change
• Able to work under pressure
• Physically able to carry out the role
• Able to work contracted hours flexibly

Desirable

• Experience of working in the Higher Education/Further Education sector
• Experience of cleaning operations

Attributes and Behaviour

• Inspiring Others (Communication) – Communicate effectively at all levels within the organisation, use face to face communication where appropriate and hold the attention of others using various communication techniques
• Taking Responsibility (Delivering Service) – Works continually to deliver quality expectations to staff, students and visitors, constantly strives to improve service delivery
• Finding Solutions – Works with team and customers to seek solutions to facilitate service goals
• Working Together (Team Working) – Works collaboratively with others to form relationships within own team and across the organisation
• Looking to the future (Embracing Change) – Understands that the service will constantly evolve and embraces change to facilitate service improvement, actively participate in the change process to allow the service to evolve.

Qualifications

Essential

• Literacy and numeracy skills
• NVQ 2/3 Management (or working towards)
• Commitment to continuing personal development
• Willing to Continue Professional Development and undertake any training deemed necessary for the job role

Desirable

• Knowledge and experience of using facilities resources
• Knowledge and experience of working in a service industry
• Health and Safety certificate
• Training qualification
• Driving licence

Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.  As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society.  We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent.  We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a Gold Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality.  We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC.  We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe. 

Requisition ID: 29271