Head of Front of House

Head of Front of House

Salary: up to £75,000 per annum plus company benefits

Location: London, covering sites at EC2N and SW1Y

Contract: Permanent, Full Time

Shifts: 40 hours per week, 9.00 to 18.00 with 1 hour unpaid lunch break

Work Model: Fully onsite

Williams Lea seeks a Head of Front of House to join our team!

Williams Lea is the leading global provider of skilled, technology-enabled, business-critical support services, with long-term trusted relationships with blue-chip clients across investment banks, law firms and professional services firms.

Williams Lea employees, nearly 7000 people worldwide provide efficient business services at client sites in often complex and highly regulated environments, from centralised Williams Lea onshore facilities, and through best cost company offshore locations.

Purpose of role

The Multi-Site Head of Front of House is responsible for delivering an outstanding client and visitor experience across our two London offices. Acting as the senior representative of the Front of House (FOH) function, you will provide leadership, direction, and operational oversight across reception, hospitality, events, and customer service, working closely with our Facilities, Hospitality and Cleaning teams. You will also perform full frontline receptionist duties, as and when required.

You will ensure that all services are delivered to the highest standard, aligned with contractual obligations, service level agreements and client expectations. The role requires a strategic mindset, strong leadership capability, and exceptional attention to detail to continually enhance the first impression and overall client/guest experience within both locations.

This role contributes to the development and delivery of service strategies, policies, and best practices, supporting the Director of Human Resources & Administration in achieving operational, financial and customer satisfaction targets, and working closely with the Account Manager for the service.

This is a critical leadership role requiring flexibility, visibility across both sites, and a commitment to maintaining high service standards. The successful candidate will exemplify professionalism, operational excellence and a customer-first mindset

Key responsibilities

Service Excellence & Client Relationship Management 

• Deliver service excellence across reception, hospitality, events and client-facing services within both offices.
• Complete the monthly First Impression Account Review Report and set six-monthly client FOH objectives.
• Fully understand contractual requirements and service level agreements; ensure compliance and continuous improvement.
• Build strong relationships with partners, managers, and others working in both offices, promoting proactive communication and service enhancements.
• Lead on customer relations, feedback mechanisms, surveys and service reviews.
• Identify and implement opportunities to elevate the FOH offering and add value to the client. 

Operational Management 

• Ensure best practices and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are maintained, reviewed, and continuously improved.
• Ensure that requests submitted to the FOH teams in each office are handled efficiently.
• Oversee and coordinate catering orders as required, ensuring timely and accurate delivery.
• Manage ongoing hospitality orders to support office needs and events.
• Coordinate internal events, working with the social committee (and others) as appropriate.
• Handle customer complaints effectively, ensuring timely, positive resolutions and preventing re-occurrence.
• Ensure compliance with all health and safety policies and any office-specific requirements.
• Carry out regular service audits, risk assessments and performance reviews across both sites.
• Participating in the late-shift rota when required, performing full frontline receptionist duties.
• Coordinate cross-site initiatives, events, and projects to strengthen service delivery.

Team Leadership & People Management 

• Lead, coach and develop FOH team members across both offices, fostering a culture of trust, accountability, service excellence, and continuous improvement.
• Manage the day-to-day activities of the Catering Assistant, ensuring service excellence at all times.
• Build a cohesive, multi-skilled, well-trained team across both locations.
• Manage performance, including conducting 1:1s, appraisals and ongoing feedback sessions.
• Oversee resource planning, ensuring effective rota management, and sickness and holiday cover across both sites.
• Manage FOH recruitment when required, including agency resource as appropriate.
• Organise/provide additional hospitality support when needed
• Provide escalation support and ensure staff concerns are addressed promptly. 

Financial Oversight & Commercial Management 

• Support in setting FOH service budgets and ensure adherence to financial targets.
• Complete monthly financial variance analysis and ensure compliance with contractual financial obligations.
• Minimise discretionary and controllable costs such as overtime, absence cover and external recruitment spend.
• Contribute to benchmarking exercises and utilise findings to recommend service enhancements or additional FOH services.
• Support the completion of internal processes required for accurate invoicing.

Personal attributes

Essential Skills & Experience 

• Proven experience leading and developing FOH operations in a legal (or corporate or other professional services) environment.
• Strong background in customer service and people management.
• Exceptional communication skills, both written and verbal, with the ability to engage confidently at all levels.
• Highly motivated and proactive, with the ability to lead by example and inspire others.
• Good knowledge of Microsoft packages.
• Excellent attention to detail, strong organisational skills, and the ability to manage multiple priorities across two locations – including the ability to juggle competing demands, and to deal with last-minute requests.
• Professional appearance and demeanour, with a strong focus on delivering outstanding first impressions.
• Computer literate, with the ability to learn systems quickly and adapt to new processes. 

Desirable 

• Experience managing multi-site operations.
• Exposure to hospitality or events management within a corporate setting.
• Strong understanding of soft services or facilities management.

Rewards and Benefits:

We believe in supporting our employees in both their professional and personal lives. As part of our commitment to your well-being, we offer a comprehensive benefits package, including but not limited to:

• 25 days holiday, plus bank holidays (pro-rata for part time or fixed term roles)
• Salary sacrifice schemes, retail vouchers – including our TechScheme which can be used on a range of gadgets such as Smart TV’s, laptops and computers or household appliances.
• Life Assurance
• Private Medical Insurance
• Dental Insurance
• Health Assessments
• Cycle-to-work scheme
• Discounted gym memberships
• Referral Scheme

You will also have the opportunity to work for a global employer who is dedicated to offering each and every employee an enjoyable, challenging and rewarding career with future career development prospects!

Equality and Diversity

The Company values the differences that a diverse workforce brings to the organisation and will not discriminate because of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race (which includes colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins), religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation (each of these being a “protected characteristic” in discrimination law). It will not discriminate because of any other irrelevant factor and will build a culture that values openness, fairness and transparency.

If you have a disability and would prefer to apply in a different format or would like to make a reasonable adjustment to enable you to make an interview please contact us at [email protected].

View our Privacy Notice http://www.williamslea.com/privacy-statement