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About the Role

The Head of Service Charge Accounting is responsible for providing strategic and operational leadership of the Service Charge Accounting function. This role holds full accountability for the integrity, governance, and transparency of service charge budgeting, expenditure control, variance analysis, and insight to drive performance, as well as robust and timely year-end reconciliations across the portfolio. Acting as a strategic business partner, the role drives continuous improvement and automation, champions new systems and ways of working, and ensures service charge processes deliver value for money, regulatory compliance, and customer confidence.

Responsibilities

Lead, develop and inspire the Service Charge Accounting team, with full accountability for recruitment, onboarding, performance management, capability development and succession planning.
Set clear expectations and standards, embedding a culture of ownership, accountability, continuous improvement and customer focus.
Build strong, credible relationships with internal stakeholders, acting as a trusted advisor on service charge matters and influencing decision-making.
Lead engagement with tenants, service charge consultants and external partners, resolving issues pragmatically while protecting Landsec’s reputation and customer trust.
Work closely with our external partners to conduct cost reviews, challenge spend and drive efficiency and value-for-money outcomes.
Act as a role model for proactive leadership, professional judgement and collaborative working.
Work closely with the Operations team and take ownership of service charge budgeting processes, ensuring robustness, consistency and alignment with operational plans and business priorities.
Influence and positively challenge the budget assumptions driving value for the business and customers.
Review, challenge and approve service charge budgets and year-end reconciliations, ensuring accuracy, transparency and full compliance with lease obligations and best-practice requirements.
Oversee service charge expenditure across the portfolio, proactively identifying, investigating and addressing variances and emerging risks.
Produce and own portfolio-level variance analysis, providing clear insight and actionable commentary to senior stakeholders.
Provide service charge expertise to support acquisitions and disposals, ensuring risks, liabilities and assumptions are clearly understood, accurately assessed and effectively managed.
Lead the review and allocation of central service charge costs, ensuring fairness, transparency and consistency.
Drive system optimisation and process improvement initiatives, championing new tools, controls and ways of working to improve efficiency, insight and data quality.
Continued maintenance of process documentation, ensuring end-to-end finance processes are clearly documented, kept up to date, and aligned to current controls, governance requirements, and ways of working.
Review KPI performance and reporting leveraging Power BI, providing clear narrative and insights that support informed management action.
Partner closely with the D&T team to create and develop a suite of reports for Service Charge providing clear, standardised analysis and insight into the business supporting decision making.

Requirements

Proven leadership experience, with a strong track record of building high-performing teams and driving accountability, ownership and consistent delivery against expectations and deadlines.
Solid understanding of complex budgeting, accruals, reconciliations and variance analysis ensuring accuracy and strong financial governance.
Demonstrated ability to operate as a senior business partner, influencing stakeholders across finance, operations and external partners through insight and constructive challenge driving performance.
Highly analytical and commercially minded, with the confidence to challenge existing practices and recommend improvements.
Proactive, pragmatic and solutions-focused approach, with a continuous improvement and growth mindset and the ability to challenge and improve processes.
Resilient in the face of challenges and adversity whilst demonstrating integrity and courage through decision making.
Track record of driving change from concept through to implementation, holding teams to account for delivery and ensuring improvements are embedded into business-as-usual governance and ways of working.
Strong ability to prioritise effectively in a fast-paced, complex environment, making sound, transparent decisions where there are competing deadlines, risks and stakeholder needs.
Strong change and improvement mindset, with the ability to pragmatically assess existing processes, challenge the status quo and embed sustainable improvements.
Strong communication skills, able to distil complex financial issues clearly for non-financial stakeholders.
Agile and flexible, willing to champion new systems and ways of working.
High level of accountability and ownership of deliverables and outcomes.
Demonstrated ability to manage detail pragmatically, balancing accuracy with efficiency and business priorities.
Experience with service charge accounting would be helpful in getting up to speed, but it is not essential.
The role calls for someone with resilience, initiative, and a proactive, hands-on approach, who is motivated to make a meaningful impact and continuously evolve how we work.

Skills

Service charge accounting
Budgeting
Accruals
Reconciliations
Variance analysis
Financial governance
Business partnering
Stakeholder management
Process improvement
System optimisation
Data analysis
Power BI
Change management
Leadership
Team building
Communication

Location

London, Victoria

Work Type

Hybrid working (Minimum 3 days in the office)

Experience Level

Senior

Benefits

Performance based annual bonus plan
25 days annual leave (plus bank holidays) rising to 27 days after 2 years
Option to purchase up to 10 additional days each year
Three-day December festive break
One 'My Day' off for personal use
Enhanced pension contributions (Landsec will contribute up to 10.5% subject to your contribution)
Private medical insurance
Health Cash Plan
Life assurance
Income protection
Enhanced maternity, adoption, shared parental leave policies
Two different share plans
Up to 4 working days to volunteer per year
'Give As You Earn' programmes with a 20% top-up
Employee assistance programme
Digital GP
Cycle to work scheme
Mindfulness app
Health app supporting fertility and menopause

About the Company

We identify and shape places that create opportunity, enhance quality of life, and bring joy to the people connected to them.
This is how we’ve created the UK’s leading portfolio of urban places and one of the largest real estate companies in Europe.
Our £10 billion portfolio is built around premium workplaces, the country’s pre-eminent retail platform, and a residential pipeline that will redefine urban life.
We’ve honed this ability over 80 years.
Spotting the opportunities, building the partnerships, and continually adapting to shape the places that meet the needs of a changing world.
Places where life happens.
Where businesses grow.
And where cities are defined.

Equal Opportunity

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and we do not discriminate on the grounds of age, disability, gender identity and gender expression, sexual orientation, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy and/or parental status, ethnicity, race, nationality, citizenship, cultural background, socio-economic background, religion or belief.