Service Improvement Manager

To apply for this role, send your CV and a covering letter to recruitment@isha.co.uk by 9am on Monday, 12 October 2026.

In your cover letter, you must answer the following questions:

1. Why do you believe you are a strong fit for the role, with reference to the job description and person specification?
2. Describe a significant service improvement initiative you have led. What was the challenge, what actions did you take, and what measurable outcomes were achieved?
3. Tell us about a service that frustrates you as a customer. What do you think is causing the problem, and what would you do differently if you were responsible for improving it?
4. What motivates you most about service improvement and delivering excellent outcomes for customers?
5. Is there anything else you would like us to know in support of your application?

Please keep your responses to a maximum of 300 words per answer.

Unfortunately, we cannot consider your application if you do not answer these questions.

Reports to: Director of People and Performance
Direct reports: Service Improvement Officers (x2)
Team: Service Improvement Team
Directorate: People and Performance

Job purpose

This is a rare opportunity to establish and lead a brand-new service improvement function at ISHA and make a visible difference to the services our residents receive. As Service Improvement Manager, you will lead a small team to help ISHA turn resident feedback, complaints, performance information and operational insight into practical action, ensuring improvements are implemented, embedded and deliver measurable results.

This is not a purely strategic role. We are looking for someone who will roll up their sleeves, get underneath how services operate and work alongside teams to solve problems, remove barriers and improve outcomes. Using resident feedback, Tenant Satisfaction Measures, complaints learning, regulatory requirements and frontline insight, you will identify the root causes of issues and support services to deliver improvements that matter most to residents.

Working closely with directors, managers and frontline colleagues, you will lead a portfolio of improvement activity and develop a culture of continuous improvement across ISHA. Success in this role will be measured not by the number of reviews undertaken or reports produced, but by the tangible improvements achieved for residents and colleagues.

Ultimately, you will help ISHA become better at learning, better at improving and better at delivering the services our residents deserve.

Our values

Consistently demonstrate and champion ISHA’s values through your behaviours, decisions, and interactions, whilst always acting as a positive and visible role model for our values:

• Professional
• Motivated to Deliver
• People Focused
• Compassionate 

Key accountabilities

1. Use in-depth housing sector understanding to lead ISHA's approach to service improvement and coordinate a portfolio of improvement projects across our services, working closely with colleagues to identify priorities, remove barriers to performance and deliver measurable improvements for residents, colleagues and the organisation.
2. Use complaints, resident feedback, Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs), Housing Ombudsman learning, service performance data, benchmarking, audits, regulatory requirements and frontline operational insight to identify service failures, recurring issues, risks and opportunities for improvement. Translate learning into practical improvement plans, clear actions and measurable outcomes.
3. Undertake deep-dive reviews of housing services, processes and resident journeys, identifying root causes of poor performance and working with teams to implement solutions that improve resident outcomes.
4. Partner with managers and frontline teams across housing management, repairs, complaints and resident engagement services to review processes, remove barriers, solve problems and implement sustainable improvements.
5. Personally lead high-priority improvement projects and interventions where additional expertise, capacity or coordination is required.
6. Ensure resident experience and outcomes are at the heart of improvement activity, using resident insight, engagement and co-design to improve accessibility, communication, consistency, responsiveness and overall service quality, whilst ensuring the needs of vulnerable residents and those with protected characteristics are considered.
7. Ensure improvement activity reflects relevant statutory and regulatory responsibilities, including equality, safeguarding, data protection, health and safety and the Regulator of Social Housing's consumer standards.
8. Ensure learning from complaints, Ombudsman determinations, resident scrutiny, audits, assurance reviews and regulatory activity is embedded into service delivery and results in demonstrable change. Build organisational capability by supporting colleagues to use evidence, understand root causes, test solutions and continuously improve services.
9. Build strong relationships and effective partnerships with residents and colleagues across ISHA, including housing, repairs, technology, governance, risk, data, complaints, performance and resident engagement teams, to enable effective and sustainable improvement.
10. Spend time with frontline teams and residents to understand service challenges first-hand and ensure improvement activity reflects the reality of service delivery.
11. Build a culture of continuous improvement where colleagues are equipped and empowered to identify issues, solve problems, use data and resident insight effectively, and take ownership of delivering better outcomes.
12. Promote good-quality data, peer benchmarking and recognised best practice to strengthen decision-making, identify improvement opportunities and support better service delivery.
13. Lead, manage and develop a high-performing Service Improvement Team, providing clear direction, coaching and support. Build effective relationships across ISHA and influence stakeholders at all levels to deliver sustainable improvements and better outcomes for residents.
14. Track and evaluate the impact of improvement activity, demonstrating measurable benefits for residents, service performance and value for money.

Essentials

In addition to the principal accountabilities of the role, there are significant elements that we deem essential for every role at ISHA:

Ensure safeguarding responsibilities are fully and effectively met by promoting a safeguarding culture appropriate to the scope and seniority of the role.

Champion equity, diversity and inclusion in all aspects of work, ensuring policies are actively applied and the principles of fairness, inclusion and respect are positively promoted.

Maintain a safe, compliant and responsible working environment by ensuring full adherence to health and safety and data protection requirements, and by promoting practices that protect personal wellbeing, organisational data and the safety of others.

Ensure priorities are met through flexible and responsive working, adapting approach and taking on additional reasonable responsibilities to support the needs of the team, directorate and ISHA, as and when required.

Personal specification

Dear applicant

Thank you for your interest in the role of Service Improvement Manager at ISHA and for taking the time to read this recruitment pack. I hope it gives you a sense of who we are, where we are heading and why this is such an exciting opportunity to join our organisation.

ISHA is a community and neighbourhood-based housing association that owns and manages around 2,500 homes across North and East London, including approximately 400 shared ownership properties. Our vision is to provide high-quality homes and services and contribute to thriving communities. We are proud of our strong social purpose, our commitment to our residents and our ambition to continuously improve the services we provide.

This is a new and important role that reflects our commitment to delivering excellent services and creating a culture of continuous improvement. We are looking for someone who can help us identify opportunities to improve performance, enhance the customer experience, strengthen processes and embed a data-driven approach to service delivery across the organisation.

As our Service Improvement Manager, you will work collaboratively with teams across ISHA to turn insight into action, drive meaningful change and ensure that improvements deliver measurable benefits for residents, colleagues and the organisation. We are looking for someone who can balance innovation with practical delivery, challenge existing ways of working constructively and help us build services that are efficient, effective and centred on the needs of our customers.

I hope this opportunity inspires you to consider joining us. However, don't just take our word for it. Please do your own research, speak to others and find out more about us. I am confident you will discover an organisation with strong values, ambitious plans and a genuine commitment to making a difference.

Best wishes

Thea McNaught-Reynolds
Director of People and Performance

Shape Better Services. Drive Meaningful Change. Make a Real Difference.

At ISHA, we're ambitious about delivering excellent services for our residents. We know that listening, learning and continually improving is vital to achieving this. That's why we're creating a brand-new Service Improvement Team, and we're looking for an exceptional leader to build it from the ground up.

This is a rare opportunity to establish and lead a new function with the freedom, visibility and support to make a lasting impact across the organisation.

As our new Service Improvement Manager, you won't just identify problems, you'll help solve them.

You'll lead a small team passionate about transforming resident feedback, complaints, performance data and operational insight into practical improvements that deliver better outcomes for residents. Working across housing management, repairs, resident engagement and corporate services, you'll help colleagues understand what's getting in the way of great service and support them to make lasting improvements.

This is a role for someone who enjoys getting under the skin of how services really work. You'll spend time with frontline teams and residents, challenge assumptions, analyse root causes and lead interventions that improve performance, resident experience and value for money.

Success won't be measured by the number of reports you produce. It will be measured by the difference you make.

The job:

• Building and leading ISHA's new Service Improvement Team.
• Driving a culture of continuous improvement across the organisation.
• Using complaints, resident feedback, Tenant Satisfaction Measures, Ombudsman learning and performance data to identify priorities and opportunities.
• Leading deep-dive service reviews to uncover root causes and implement practical solutions.
• Managing a portfolio of high-impact improvement projects from diagnosis through to delivery.
• Working alongside directors, managers and frontline colleagues to remove barriers and improve outcomes.
• Embedding learning from complaints, audits and regulatory activity into day-to-day service delivery.
• Ensuring resident voice and lived experience are central to service design and improvement.
• Measuring and demonstrating the impact of improvement activity through clear outcomes and benefits.

We're looking for a curious, driven and collaborative improvement professional who combines strategic thinking with a hands-on approach.

You'll bring:

• Significant experience in social housing, local government, social care, public services or another regulated customer-focused environment.
• A proven track record of leading service improvement, transformation, performance or change programmes that have delivered measurable results.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to identify root causes and turn insight into action.
• Experience of leading complex cross-organisational projects and influencing stakeholders at all levels.
• The ability to challenge constructively, build credibility quickly and bring people with you through change.
• A passion for resident outcomes and service excellence.
• A strong understanding of the social housing landscape, including Tenant Satisfaction Measures, Consumer Standards and the Housing Ombudsman's Complaints Handling Code, would be particularly valuable.

Why join ISHA?

This is an exciting time to join us. You'll have the opportunity to influence how services are designed, delivered and improved across the organisation while helping shape our future approach to organisational learning and resident experience.

This role offers you the chance to leave a lasting legacy. You will establish a function that helps ISHA learn faster, improve continuously and deliver better outcomes for residents. Your work will influence services across the organisation and ensure that resident feedback leads to tangible change.

Ultimately, you'll help ISHA become better at listening, better at learning, and better at delivering the services our residents deserve.

Ready to make a difference? We'd love to hear from you.

At ISHA, community and neighbourhood mean everything to us, and our roots run deep in the areas of North London that we serve. Founded over 90 years ago, we provide around 2,500 homes for over 5,000 people across Islington, Hackney and Waltham Forest.

ISHA is smaller and more local than many other housing associations operating in London. We are proud to remain a community-based housing association with a strong social purpose and an ambitious future.

We offer a wide range of housing choices: social rented, shared ownership, intermediate rent, market rent, supported housing, and options for the elderly. We also provide homes and support for the Vietnamese, South-East Asian and wider communities.

Our purpose

To provide quality, safe, and affordable homes across north and east London.

Our mission

Provide high-quality homes and services and contribute to thriving communities.

Our values

We have four values: Professional, Motivated to Deliver, People Focused  and Compassionate.

We live our values every day and take pride in the diversity of our communities. We are committed to creating inclusive spaces where residents feel happy, respected, and able to be themselves. Our values are at the heart of everything we do, which means we are committed to ensuring that every colleague feels they belong and can contribute fully to our success.

We offer a generous pension scheme, 29 days annual leave, eye care vouchers, a cycle to work scheme, health cash-plan, and other great benefits. And we will invest in your professional development with on-going learning and career development opportunities.

Contractual

29 days annual leave (plus bank holidays) rising to 31 days after five years’ service (pro-rata for part-timers). There are three compulsory office closure days between Christmas and New Year, which need to be taken from an employee’s annual leave entitlement.

Non-contractual

Pension: Defined Contribution as a salary sacrifice. Starting at employer (ER) contribution of 6% and 2% employee (EE), or match funded up to a maximum of 10% from ER and EE.

Emergency leave: Up to five days per annum for unexpected emergencies. Day one is paid on five occasions to allow employees time to make alternative arrangements.

Financial services: We joined the London Credit Union that provides employees with fair, ethical, and affordable financial services. You can also access the home contents insurance negotiated for our residents.

Working flexibly: Up to three days working from home per week, if your role allows and with prior managerial approval. With monthly designated ‘all in’ days.

Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), offering emotional and practical support, advice for legal or financial matters, a manager support line and access to online self-help resources that can help you stay focused and protect your mental health and wellbeing.

Support for continuous professional development: Everyone has a personal development plan, and we offer opportunities to take qualifications, contributing partial funding and study leave. We also offer study loans repayable over 10 months.

Management Academy for managers: Ongoing professional development for all managers that supports ISHA to set minimum standards and helps us meet best practice as line managers. We are members of the Institute of Customer Service and other relevant bodies with access to training through them. We also support all colleagues by paying for one relevant professional subscription (with approval).

Social opportunities: as a small organisation we meet regularly as a whole team, celebrate successes and share experiences.

Staff awards: Quarterly awards where colleagues nominate one another to express gratitude for great work. There are gift voucher prizes for individuals and a team award.

Health and wellbeing: a health cash plan to reclaim a percentage of the costs for a variety of health services, virtual GP appointments, second opinion diagnosis, online physio, shopping, and gym membership discounts. We also offer eye care vouchers, cycle to work scheme, Interest Free Season Ticket Loan (these are all available post probation).

We expect all ISHA’s staff, residents, and stakeholders to be treated equitably and with respect in their dealings with us.

We will be inclusive and reflect the rich and diverse communities we exist to serve.

We will work to earn the trust and confidence of staff, residents, and stakeholders that they can expect - from us and our contractors - respect, fairness, and equitable treatment.

ISHA has co-created an equality, diversity, and inclusion strategy for 2023-25 (running concurrent to the current strategic plan) and works within the framework of this as well as all current legislation and codes of practice.

London Living Wage

We are proud to be a London Living Wage employer, and no employee will earn below that level.

Diversity

We are a diverse organisation with opportunities across a wide range of roles and professions, and we welcome talent from different backgrounds.

Safe spaces

We provide safe spaces for staff to speak out and have a plan to make us proudly anti-racist. This work has led to co-creating a diversity and inclusion strategy, and we have an internal staff-led Council, who hold regular surgeries for staff to share their concerns in a safe space.

Working in partnership

We work in close cooperation with local authorities, the Regulator of Social Housing, Homes England, the Greater London Authority (GLA), the Building Safety Regulator and other local housing associations, including Black and Minority Ethnic, specialist housing associations and co-operatives. Investment in development is provided through our own borrowing, the GLA and local authorities. ISHA leads the North River Alliance (NRA), a consortium of North and East London community-based housing associations.

We have a G1 Governance rating, C2 Consumer Standards rating, and a V2 Financial Viability rating.

Our commitment to inclusion

We want ISHA to be a great place to work and to ensure that our communities are represented across our workforce. A vital part of this is ensuring we are a truly inclusive organisation that encourages diversity in all respects, including diversity of thinking. We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and those of Other Ethnicities, LGBTQ+, disabled and neurodiverse communities to make a real difference to our residents so that passionate commitment to customers, respect for everyone, pride in Team ISHA and trusted to make the difference remains at the heart of everything we do.

Our address is: 102 Blackstock Road, London, N4 2DR

Getting to the office

Parking: There is very limited parking in the Finsbury Park area, but ISHA can provide a parking permit to staff with a disability who can only commute via car. We have pool cars, and staff can book parking spaces when transport is essential for their role, subject to availability and approval.

Bicycle racks are available outside the back and front of the office.

Tube/Underground: The nearest tube station is Finsbury Park on the Victoria and Piccadilly lines (10 minutes’ walk to our office).

Trains/overground: The nearest train station is Finsbury Park with trains from Moorgate and Kings Cross. London Overground operates a train from Stratford to Finsbury Park.

Buses: Many buses run between Finsbury Park station and our office: 4, 19, 106, 236. Other buses stop on Seven Sisters Road (7 minutes’ walk) 29, 253, 259, 279.

Physical layout and features

Our reception and Repairs Team are located on the ground floor. All other departments are on the first and second floors. There is a lift that serves each floor.

Our office is wheelchair accessible, and there is a disabled toilet on every floor, and one at reception. The height of some desks can be adjusted and would be suitable for wheelchair users or very tall people.

There are soft strip lights throughout with good natural light. Some managers’ offices are further away from windows and rely more on artificial lighting. However, those offices have an air-cooling system to facilitate temperature control.

As the office is mainly open plan, noise levels vary and can, at times, be high. Most employees sit in an open plan office area with colleagues, with computers and printers operating intermittently during the day.

There are audio loop systems in the main meeting room, the tenant interview rooms, and at reception.

If you prefer, you can download or view all this information in a single file.

• Full recruitment pack for Service Improvement Manager (PDF, 2.7mb)