4721 Senior ICT Applications Support Officer - First Choice Homes Oldham

New Business and Acquisitions Manager

Location: Oldham, Hybrid

Reporting to: Head of Development

Responsible for: Land and Acquisitions Officer

Contract: Full time, 37 hours per week

Salary: £64,198



Improving lives in Oldham:

First Choice Homes Oldham (FCHO) have an exciting opportunity for an experienced and commercially astute New Business and Acquisitions Manager to play a key role in delivering our growth ambitions.

This is a full time, hybrid role where you’ll split your time between home and our friendly, collaborative office in the centre of Oldham.

As we continue to deliver against our growth strategy, this role will be central to identifying, securing and shaping new development and acquisition opportunities that enable us to provide high quality homes and create lasting impact for our communities.

Please see the full job description attached at the bottom of this page.



The impact you’ll make:

In this role, you’ll take the lead in identifying, appraising, and securing land and development opportunities that strengthen FCHO’s development pipeline and align with our Corporate Plan.

You’ll combine commercial acumen with strategic insight, ensuring opportunities are financially viable, policy compliant and deliverable. Working closely with internal teams, local authorities, developers, and consultants, you’ll shape projects from initial identification through to board approval and acquisition.



You will:

• Lead the appraisal and acquisition of land and development opportunities to support FCHO’s growth strategy.
• Build and maintain a robust, deliverable pipeline aligned to tenure mix, customer need and financial viability.
• Prepare detailed development appraisals, cashflows and viability assessments to support investment decisions.
• Negotiate Heads of Terms, option agreements, S106 agreements and acquisition contracts to achieve best value and manage risk.
• Oversee planning applications and appeals, liaising with planning officers and supporting community engagement activity.
• Manage relationships with landowners, agents, developers, solicitors, consultants and local authority partners.
• Prepare high quality reports and presentations for senior leadership and Board approval.
• Contribute to shaping FCHO’s growth strategy, policy and procedures through market intelligence and commercial judgement.
• Lead and develop the Land and Acquisitions Officer, ensuring strong performance and professional growth.
• You’ll play a pivotal role in ensuring every opportunity we pursue supports our ambition to deliver homes we are proud of and services that improve lives in Oldham.

Our ideal candidate:

You’ll be a commercially minded and strategically driven development professional with strong negotiation skills and a proven ability to secure and deliver viable projects.



You will have:

• Significant experience in residential development, regeneration or land acquisition.
• Strong knowledge of the planning system at local and national level.
• Proven experience in negotiating complex land and development agreements.
• Experience preparing and reviewing development appraisals and financial viability assessments.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to build and maintain productive partnerships.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including experience producing reports for senior stakeholders or Board.
• A proactive, solutions-focused mindset with strong decision-making capability.
• Experience managing consultants and working collaboratively across multi-disciplinary teams.

Desirable:

• Professional membership such as RTPI, RICS, CIOB or equivalent.
• Experience working within a housing association or registered provider environment.
• Knowledge of affordable housing funding and tenure models.

Why Join FCHO?

First Choice Homes Oldham (FCHO) is a housing association providing safe, affordable, and high-quality homes across Oldham and the surrounding areas. We own and manage over 11,500 properties and have the highest regulatory (G1/V1) Governance rating. Every day, we’re proud to make a real difference in our communities.

Our work is guided by our Big Plan, focused on providing homes we’re proud of, supporting people to thrive, and creating a great place to work. We care deeply about our customers, our colleagues, and our communities and we’re committed to delivering services we can be proud of while improving the lives of people across Oldham.

We need great people to work with us - it’s an exciting time to join as we work towards out big ambitions, supporting the growth and prosperity of our local region.



What’s In It for You?

We offer a fantastic range of benefits designed to support your wellbeing, work-life balance and career development:

• Salary of £64,198 per annum
• 37-hour working week with hybrid working options
• 30 days’ annual leave plus 8 bank holidays
• Option to purchase additional annual leave
• Defined contribution pension scheme with up to 10% employer contribution and salary exchange option
• Death in service benefit
• Healthcare cash plan covering dental, optical and physiotherapy treatments
• Private health insurance
• Employee Assistance Programme offering 24-hour confidential support
• 24/7 worldwide GP access through Doctorline
• Access to our colleague benefits platform
• Discounted gym membership
• Professional subscriptions paid where essential for the role
• Enhanced maternity, paternity, adoption and sick pay
• On-site wellbeing room and café
• Long Service awards

Interested?

If you’re ready to shape the future growth of FCHO and make a lasting difference to communities across Oldham, we’d love to hear from you.

We are committed to building an organisation that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives and skills and are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. As an equal opportunities employer, FCHO is committed to the equal treatment of all current and prospective colleagues and does not condone discrimination on the basis of age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, gender identity, or marriage and civil partnership.

We care that you have a great experience with us at FCHO and if you need us to make any reasonable adjustments to make your experience smoother, please let us know and we’ll do all we can

Click here for further information