The British Embassy in Tehran has a vacancy for Residence Manager, job grade Administrative Officer (AO) to start as soon as possible.

The successful candidate will oversee the Residence at British Embassy Tehran, making sure that it runs to a very high standard of hospitality and presentation. The Embassy Residence is foremost a venue for influence, and we expect our Residence Manager to maintain these standards.

Roles and responsibilities / what will the jobholder be expected to achieve:

• Leading a team of four (Chef, Cook and two household stewards) to manage all the upkeep and service standards of the venue.
• Overseeing cleanliness and sanitation to a high standard.
• Ensuring food from the kitchen is of the highest quality.
• Overseeing all purchase and procurement processes of perishable and non-perishable goods.
• Working with the Chef to ensure that food suppliers are providing us with the best quality and value for money.
• Liaising with the Chef on catering requirements with regards to cost and specific food and drink requirements, considering allergies, religious restrictions and local preferences.
• Working with the Chef on the introduction of new dishes (with tasting sessions) while ensuring that menus showcase British style food as far as possible.
• Overall management of expenses for the Residence, for official functions, food, accommodation and any products/equipment.
• Keeping a diary of residence activity and brief the staff in advance on the inputs required, including planning menus and producing menu cards for dinners and events.
• Managing inventories of all Residence assets and maintaining an accurate stocktake inclusive of food and beverages.
• Reporting immediately all maintenance issues to the corporate team.

A further aspect within the role of Residence manager is staff management. Within this your duties will include:

• Managing the staff to keep them fully utilised, morale high, and support their development.
• Managing performance to ensure Residence staff uphold high standards of presentation and performance and maintain their leave and sickness records.
• Overseeing and reviewing performance by agreeing on SMART objectives for each team member during yearly appraisal meetings and regular reviews. You will manage staff training requirements and take appropriate disciplinary action if and when required.
• Organising the duties and schedules to ensure all household tasks are clearly defined and fairly distributed to ensure there are no staffing gaps.
• Submitting attendance records in a timely manner and ensuring that overtime hours are accurately recorded and kept to a minimum, vacations are honoured, and that appropriate compensatory time and flexible work schedules are utilized.
• Keeping Residence staff informed and updated of any issues or changes in the Embassy.

This is a space that will host Ambassadors and other Embassies’ staff but it is also a family home. You therefore need to manage an operation that supports the Ambassador and his family while also offering the British taxpayer the highest quality of representation appropriate to the available resources.

You will also assist in delivering first rate events which reflect positively on the Embassy and deliver on UK Government objectives. Your duties will include:

• Working with the Events Manager, Ambassador and Embassy colleagues to plan effective events in sufficient time to enable their design and delivery.
• Assisting in managing the budgets of events. To ensure value for money and delivery to the agreed budget and forecasting and reconciling spend accurately against the annual budget.
• Assisting in maintaining supplier, procurement, audit and other documentation in line with Embassy rules.
• Working with the Events Manager to produce and manage guest lists and invitations for each event.
• Attending any larger events, for which time off in lieu can be claimed, to ensure the event runs smoothly.
• Working with the Events manager to manage the overall event schedule ensuring deconfliction and feasibility for each event within available resources.
• Being a part of events delivery committees in the Embassy, for example for The King’s Birthday Party.

This is not an exhaustive list but covers the key set of tasks and responsibilities. The jobholder may be asked to carry out other ad-hoc duties upon discussion with the line manager. The jobholder will be expected to do all tasks within their level of skill and ability. The job description may be reviewed to meet changes in business needs.

Resources Managed:

• 2 Residence Staff, 1 part-time Residence Cook, and 1 part-time Residence Chef.

Key Behaviours required for the job:

• Managing a Quality Service – Deliver service objectives with professional excellence, expertise, and efficiency, taking account of diverse customer needs.
• Working Together – Form effective partnerships and relationships with people both internally and externally, from a range of diverse backgrounds, sharing information, resources, and support.
• Delivering at Pace – Take responsibility for delivering timely and quality results with focus and drive.
• Making Effective Decisions – Use evidence and knowledge to support accurate, expert decisions and advice. Carefully consider alternative options, implications and risks of decisions.

• Fluent in English language, both written and spoken. Able to express ideas and messages clearly.
• Operational knowledge of Farsi, both written and spoken. Able to express ideas and messages clearly.
• Experience of managing processes or projects.
• People management experience.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and proven ability to engage at all levels internally and with external contacts and collaborate effectively across Embassy teams.
• Excellent organisational ability and an attention to detail, with the ability to manage, plan, prioritise and deliver tasks and workloads.
• Strong work ethic and demonstrates high level of professionalism.
• Excellent customer service skills. Demonstrates courtesy and consideration in dealing with customers and other stakeholders.
• Strong IT computer skills and in using MS Office applications (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Ms Teams).