Director of Development & Sales

Goodman Masson are excited to be leading an exclusive search for a Director of Development and Sales to join Midland Heart.

Midlands Heart is a housing association, providing quality affordable homes across the Midlands with 70,000 customers through the provision of 35,000 affordable, safe and well‑maintained homes.

You will provide strategic leadership of the end‑to‑end development and sales lifecycle, embedding a high quality, compliant and value for money affordable housing programme across the Midlands operating region.

Deliver a financially sustainable programme aligned to the Corporate Plan, shaping long term direction and building influential partnerships to enable successful delivery across new business, programme management, construction quality, sales and disposals.

Ensure strong governance, commercial performance, and alignment between development activity and organisational objectives.

Inspire and lead a high‑performing multi‑disciplinary team, championing a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement to achieve outcomes for our tenants, communities and the organisation.

• Lead the origination, appraisal and successful acquisition of new development opportunities across the West and East Midlands.
• Shape and deliver Midland Heart’s housing delivery strategy in line with the Corporate Plan.
• Build and maintain a strong pipeline of new business across Section 106 and develop partner land‑led and grant‑funded schemes.
• Bring, maintain and grow a high‑quality network of contacts across the developer market, including intermediaries, local authorities, West Midlands Combined Authority and Homes England.
• Secure competitive advantage through trusted partnerships and repeat delivery models.
• Present new business projects and investment propositions to governing committees and Boards, securing approvals.
• Provide strategic direction and oversight of a large affordable homes programme allocation.
• Ensure full compliance with Homes England requirements, including Funding Guidance, grant conditions, audit evidence and information governance.
• Own accurate forecasting, reporting and the timely drawdown of grant, ensuring deliverability against contractual milestones.
• Oversee programme planning, risk management and governance, maintaining clear stage‑gates, controls and decision rights.
• Work closely with Financial Planning to ensure the development cashflow is commensurate with the financial metrics of the organisation.
• Ensure contracted homes are high quality, safe and sustainable, meeting design standards, building safety duties and environmental objectives.
• Drive on‑time and on‑budget delivery, deploying contractual mechanisms (e.g. under JCT or equivalent) to remedy delays, defects and non‑compliance.
• Ensure compliance with planning, building regulations and all relevant regulatory requirements throughout the build process.
• Champion quality, design and excellence to deliver great customer and stakeholder outcomes from inception to handover.
• Lead effective management of contractors and consultants, ensuring clear scopes, KPIs and performance management.
• Drive value for money across all development activity, balancing cost, quality and risk to optimise financial and social value.
• Create the environment for robust financial appraisals, cost control and performance management, including market benchmarking and post‑project review.
• Direct the team delivering first‑tranche sales of shared ownership properties to secure cashflow and optimise sales values and demand.
• Support wider organisational disposals through the identification and sale of strategic disposals, aligned to funding needs and the development pipeline.
• Ensure sales processes comply with regulatory and consumer standards and deliver excellent customer experience.
• Lead, inspire and develop a highly motivated, accountable and strongly performing team, with clear objectives and succession plans. Act as a senior leader, collaborating with fellow Directors to support the Executive in organisational decision‑making and value creation.
• Provide clear, accurate and timely reporting and presentations to the Board and relevant committees,…