Assistant Director - Market Engagement

Assistant Director - Market Engagement

Fixed term / secondment opportunity from May 2026 until April 2027

Closing Date: 5/3/2026

Interviews will take place on 27/3/2026 and 30/3/2026

As part of the interview process you will be required to complete an online Occupational Personality Questionnaire (OPQ) 

A bit about the role...

The Assistant Director – Market Engagement is a high‑profile leadership role, responsible for overseeing and leading Homes England and the National Housing Bank’s strategic engagement with the housing and regeneration sector. This is a maternity cover opportunity running from May 2026 to April 2027.

You will lead a specialist Market Engagement team, providing professional leadership and setting the strategic direction for how the organisation understands, engages with and builds relationships across the housing and regeneration market. The role plays a critical advisory function, providing strategic insight and intelligence to the Chief Executive, Board, Executive Leadership Team (ELT) and Senior Leadership Team (SLT) to inform decision‑making, delivery strategy and programme design.

You’ll be joining a highly skilled, collaborative and motivated Market Engagement team, committed to professional excellence and continuous improvement. The role reports directly to the Executive Director for Strategy, Markets and Analysis and has responsibility for leading and developing a team of senior professionals, embedding a culture that champions inclusion, innovation and high performance. 

This is a varied and influential role, balancing strategic relationship with operational delivery. You will lead Homes England and the National Housing Bank's market engagement systems and strategies, including the Key Account Manager programme, Customer Relationship Management system, and the National Partner Perception Survey. You will lead on the gathering and analysis of qualitative market intelligence, ensuring insight is used to inform investment, delivery and strategic decisions.

You will lead the design and delivery of corporate partner engagement strategies, including segmentation and prioritisation. Working with our Communications colleagues, you will oversee and co-ordinate large scale engagement events and activities, including national events such as Homes England Live, senior-level roundtables and executive-led partner engagement. 

A bit about you…

You’ll be comfortable operating at pace in a complex environment, supporting senior leaders with high‑quality strategic insight and advice. You will bring deep expertise in market intelligence, partner engagement and stakeholder management, ideally within housing, regeneration or the built environment.

You will be confident leading teams and systems, experienced in using CRM platforms and research insight to drive better decision‑making, and skilled at managing relationships with senior internal and external stakeholders. You’ll be resilient, credible and persuasive, able to balance strategic thinking with practical delivery in a regulated public‑sector context. 

As an experienced leader, you will demonstrate a collaborative and inclusive approach, role‑model strong values‑led leadership, and be motivated by the opportunity to make a tangible impact through market‑leading engagement and insight.

Who are we? 

Homes England: The Housing and Regeneration Agency

We believe that affordable, quality homes in well-designed places are key to improving people’s lives. As the government’s housing and regeneration agency, we create thriving new places and transform urban areas, combining the full breadth of our powers, expertise, land, capital and influence to bring investment to communities and get more homes built.

How? We form long-term partnerships that bridge the gap between the public and private sector to meet local needs and aspirations. We use our influence to champion the creation of sustainable homes, communities and places that are brilliantly designed for the people that live there now, and in the future. And we use our funding and support to build a more resilient, diverse and innovative housing sector, helping new entrants in the market, encouraging modern methods of construction and design, and promoting the utmost attention to building safety.

Together with our partners, we’re accelerating the pace of house building, remediation and regeneration across the country, as we seek to deliver ever more affordable homes in places people are proud to call home for generations to come.

What we offer... 

As well as a competitive salary and 33 days annual leave, we are committed to 50/50 hybrid working. We’ll support you, wherever possible, so that you don’t miss out on what matters to you. 

Membership of the Homes and Communities Agency Pension Scheme, which is a contributory defined benefit scheme with the amount you receive on retirement based on your salary and years worked at the Agency.

Internal applicants: please note that if you are successful, the salary you are offered will be in accordance with our pay policy. You can find details on the HR Hub SharePoint site.

If you ever need a bit of extra help, we have a great employee assistance programme, a wide range of healthcare plans, financial wellbeing support and access to many great discounts with leading high street names. 

Our range of network groups are also there to support you to be yourself at work and play a key role in helping shape our future. 

If you are a member of a professional body, we’ll pay for your membership and once you get your digital kit, you’ll be good to go. 

Homes England are a geographically diverse community. We work to a 50/50 office/ home based model. Moving back into our office environments has enabled us to utilise our space and time together in the most collaborative way. 

We would encourage all applicants to apply as soon as possible as we may close vacancies early should we receive a high number of applications. 

We also encourage you to apply using the full application option as opposed to quick apply, this is especially important if you would like to indicate to us that you would like to be considered under the disability confident scheme. 

We’re a diverse team of more than 1,000 professionals spanning 17 professions, helping Homes England to be effective, efficient and deliver for communities.

Our people remain at the heart of everything we do, and we’re committed to building an Agency that not only reflects the diverse communities we serve, but also champions inclusion in how we shape homes and places across the country. For more information about our EDI strategy please see our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Report 2024 to 2025 — Second Edition - GOV.UK

You will be required to have the Right to Work in the UK and Homes England do not offer visa sponsorship. If your application is shortlisted to interview we will require you to provide proof of your Right to Work in the UK at this stage.

Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.