The posting
WE ARE HIRING: Manager – Soft Services / Housekeeping
Location: Colombo, Sri Lanka Employment Type: Full time Industry: Mixed-Use Property Development
Role Overview
We are seeking an experienced and service-driven Manager – Soft Services / Housekeeping to oversee large-scale housekeeping, janitorial, waste management, pest control, vendor management, and soft services operations across a premium commercial property environment.
The selected candidate will be responsible for ensuring seamless 24/7 operations, managing outsourced service providers, supervising large workforce deployment, maintaining service quality, analyzing operational data, and ensuring compliance with agreed SLAs, KPIs, and tenant expectations.
Key Responsibilities
- Forecast and plan large-scale manpower requirements to ensure smooth 24/7 soft services operations.
- Oversee housekeeping and janitorial operations across office tower, mall, public areas, service areas, washrooms, back-of-house areas, and common spaces.
- Manage external soft service providers, vendors, contractors, and outsourced workforce teams.
- Ensure strict adherence to Service Level Agreements, Key Performance Indicators, quality standards, and contractual obligations.
- Oversee the strategic allocation and rostering of a large janitorial workforce through facility supervisors.
- Ensure optimal staff coverage during peak mall hours, corporate office hours, after-hours cleaning, weekends, and special operational requirements.
- Direct wet and dry garbage collection, segregation, recycling, and disposal processes.
- Manage waste management, recycling programmes, pest control services, and hygiene-related service contracts.
- Monitor cleaning frequencies and service schedules based on footfall, tenant requirements, customer feedback, and operational needs.
- Analyze operational data such as footfall trends, consumable usage, cleaning performance, customer feedback, and service metrics.
- Identify trends and recommend improvements to optimize service delivery, manpower allocation, and cost efficiency.
- Conduct regular inspections to ensure cleanliness, hygiene, safety, and presentation standards are maintained.
- Coordinate with facility supervisors to address service gaps, complaints, and urgent operational requirements.
- Ensure cleaning, waste management, and soft services are delivered in line with premium corporate tenant expectations.
- Negotiate, review, and enforce SLAs and KPIs for outsourced janitorial, waste management, pest control, and related service contracts.
- Prepare service reports, vendor performance reports, operational summaries, and management presentations.
- Train, guide, motivate, and manage a diverse blue-collar workforce across multiple shifts.
- Ensure team discipline, attendance, grooming, service quality, and operational compliance.
- Handle escalations from tenants, customers, vendors, and internal stakeholders professionally.
- Work closely with facilities, engineering, security, operations, procurement, and property management teams.
- Maintain accurate records of manpower, attendance, vendor performance, consumable usage, complaints, incidents, and service improvements.
- Support audits, compliance checks, safety inspections, and operational reviews.
- Ensure adherence to health, safety, hygiene, environmental, and organizational standards.
- Drive continuous improvement initiatives to strengthen operational excellence and service quality.
Candidate Profile
- Bachelor's degree in Facility Management, Hospitality Management, Business Administration, or a closely related field.
- Minimum 8 to 10 years of progressive experience in soft services, housekeeping, facilities management, janitorial operations, or property operations.
- Minimum 4 years of managerial experience overseeing a large workforce of 100+ staff or vendors.
- Experience managing soft services in malls, commercial towers, mixed-use developments, hotels, airports, hospitals, large facilities, or premium property environments will be preferred.
- Extensive experience drafting, negotiating, monitoring, and enforcing SLAs and KPIs.
- Strong experience managing outsourced janitorial, waste management, pest control, hygiene, and related soft service contracts.
- Proven ability to forecast manpower, plan rosters, and manage multiple shifts across large-scale operations.
- Strong understanding of cleaning standards, waste segregation, recycling, consumable control, and hygiene requirements.
- Ability to analyze operational data and use insights to improve service delivery.
- Strong vendor-management, contract-management, negotiation, and follow-up skills.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
- Ability to present reports to senior management and coordinate with premium corporate tenants.
- Strong leadership skills with the ability to motivate, train, and manage a diverse blue-collar workforce.
- Good problem-solving skills with the ability to manage complaints, escalations, and service disruptions.
- Strong planning, coordination, reporting, and time-management skills.
- Ability to work in a fast-paced, high-footfall, and service-critical environment.
- High level of professionalism, accountability, discipline, and attention to detail.
- Ability to work flexible hours and support 24/7 operations when required.
Ready to take your career to new heights?
We're InTalent Asia, your go-to recruitment partner in Sri Lanka, and we've got an exciting opportunity for you! Our client is looking for a dynamic individual to fill the role of Manager – Soft Services / Housekeeping.
At InTalent Asia, we're not just recruiters; we're here to architect your career success. Join us in the journey of matching your skills with unparalleled opportunities.
Apply now and see how you can be the perfect fit for this exclusive position!
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