Job Introduction

Principal Housing Officer (Housing Options)

37 hours per week, Permanent

£49,282 - £53,460 per annum

Are you looking for an exciting and varied role leading a team to prevent and tackle homelessness and rough sleeping, and make a real and lasting difference to people’s lives? This is a senior role within the shared Housing Service across Malvern Hills and Wychavon districts and offers the opportunity to work at both a strategic level through the implementation of homelessness strategies, commissioning of services, and leading on corporate projects, but also coordinate the operational work of the Housing Options Team working closely with the Senior Housing Officers who will report into you.

About you

We are looking for someone with strong leadership skills who can organise, motivate and maximise the performance of a busy Housing Options Team with high and complex workloads. You will need to be dynamic, have tenacity and possess excellent problem-solving skills to respond to the needs of an ever-changing service area. You will need to think and act strategically to prepare the service for future change e.g. national housing and homelessness policy/strategy implementation and funding, implementation of local homelessness and rough sleeping strategies, commissioning of services, transformation of services to improve efficiency, and Local Government Reorganisation.

You will also take a leading role in delivering on council plan promises to prevent homelessness and rough sleeping, and increase the amount of good quality, self-contained temporary accommodation.

We want someone who champions our Leadership Behaviours Framework by inspiring, communicating, collaborating and empowering self and others, leading by example.

The successful candidate will be responsible for overseeing the delivery of our statutory housing function (including budgetary responsibility) which means we want to see an eye for detail and a deep understanding of homelessness and housing legislation to ensure the service is compliant. It is important that the Council’s values are upheld and we want to see that the successful candidate demonstrates openness, innovation, fairness, respect and great customer service at the heart of everything they do.

We are looking for someone who has a keen interest in the national agenda and builds strong relationships both internally and externally. We want to ensure a high-quality Housing Options service that is innovative and takes into consideration best practice from across the UK.

The Housing Options Team has expanded over recent years with the implementation of the new legislation and policy requirements, which means an understanding of outcomes and quality assurance is a key part of the role. The successful candidate must be able to embed robust performance management and quality assurance processes and work with the team to ensure that all service initiatives are delivering the outcomes expected.

We look forward to receiving applications from strong, inspirational leaders who can ensure the service is delivered to a high standard and that performance is maximised. The successful candidate will demonstrate a passion for supporting homeless households and be able to inspire their team to ensure each customer gets the best possible service.

What we can offer

Our staff are at the heart of what we do and are key to ensuring we deliver our We are Wychavon District Council plan (attached) to make a positive difference to our communities, our economy and our environment. We are always looking to recruit, develop and retain the very best talent we can find. So, as well as a rewarding career, we offer a range of attractive benefits, such as:

• Excellent pension scheme with employer contributions
• Generous annual leave entitlement with options to purchase additional annual leave
• Committed training programme and development opportunities
• Onsite nursery with 20% staff discount
• Discounted Gym and swim membership
• Health and Wellbeing support and a Free Employee Assistance scheme including access to counselling services
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Employee Discounts with a range of companies including EE and the Kaarp discount scheme

We are an employer that values face to face communication, collaboration and connection, therefore all our roles have an office-based requirement with some agile working as part of the role.

Please note: Wychavon District Council does not currently offer sponsorship for candidates without the Right to Work in the UK.

To discuss the post or for further information, please contact Laura Marshall, Head of Housing Services

Closing date: Sunday 22 March 2026

Interview date: Tuesday 31 March 2026

Please note: If we experience a high intake of applications, we may close the role and interview for the position sooner than advertised.