Summary
Aldar Education is hiring a Cluster Facilities & Services Officer to manage facilities and general services at a base school and provide cover at other schools across the cluster as needed. The role oversees maintenance, cleaning, security, transport, accommodation, purchasing, contractors, budgets and health and safety compliance. Candidates should have at least three years of mid-level experience in education or facilities services; experience across multiple sites is preferred. The position is based in Abu Dhabi, commences in November 2026, and requires travel between school sites.
The posting
As published on aldaracademies.com. Pulled from the employer's site and shown as they wrote it.
Aldar Education are hiring Cluster Facilities & Services Officer commencing November 2026.
As a member of the school operations team, the Cluster Facilities & Services Officer (C.FSO) will be responsible for managing all Facilities & General Services related activities at their base school, provide reliever support to other schools across the cluster and wider portfolio as required, and ensure each school they support complies with all Aldar Education directives within daily school operations. The role reports to the Associate Director Operations, with a dotted line to the Head of Operations at the base school.
The incumbent will continuously strive to exceed internal & external customer expectations, delivering value for money and making effective use of resources, while embracing the Aldar Education Core Values.
To embody the values, vision and ethos of Aldar Education and assist the Associate Director Operations, school Heads of Operations and Principals in implementing process and policy which will ensure high quality and successful outcomes.
Responsibilities
Main Duties
- To be responsible for the delivery of facilities and general services at their assigned school, and to provide reliever support to other schools across the cluster and wider portfolio as required. Delivering a 'service culture' and ensuring efficient, effective staff and resource deployment in timely manner.
- To ensure the school facilities are maintained to Aldar Education standards (cleanliness, maintenance and safety) and that the support service teams are performing effectively and efficiently.
- To oversee the school's accommodation requirements, ensuring staff are housed in accordance with school expectations, Aldar Education housing policy and allowances.
- To oversee efficient and cost-effective purchasing and contracting in accordance with the school budget, Aldar Education policy and school development plans.
- To work closely with the Associate Director Operations and the school Head of Operations to align priorities, share resources and maintain consistent standards across the cluster.
- To act as a reliever FSO for other schools across the cluster and wider portfolio, as agreed with the Associate Director Operations, typically covering planned leave, sickness absence, vacancies or peak operational periods. Cover will normally be short-term and include a handover from the relieved school, with base school duties delegated to the on-site team during that time.
Specific Duties
General Operations
- To ensure all repairs and maintenance at the base school (and at relieved schools during cover periods), including the inspection of required repairs and, where necessary, the appointment of external service providers in line with Aldar Education HQ guidance and Aldar Education Procurement framework, and ensuring agreed works by staff or contractors have been completed satisfactorily and following up on any deficiencies to the initial scope of works.
- To ensure the security and efficient operation of the school site, buildings and grounds at all times, in accordance with current Health & Safety guidance, ensuring daily checks of the site are carried out by the site services team for vandalism and ensuring cleaning standards are acceptable.
- Implementation of issued policies, systems, processes and student safeguarding measures in conjunction with the Aldar Education HQ.
- To ensure school events and activities are effectively planned and resourced in a timely and appropriate manner.
- Ensure essential central services such as catering, security, maintenance, cleaning, transport, waste disposal and recycling are effectively planned and resourced throughout the year and be the point of contact for external services management.
- Support the Associate Director Operations and school Heads of Operations in the utilisation of space and resources for buildings, or re-organisation of current premises.
- To ensure daily monitoring of the BMS and BMS alert systems (where installed) are carried out amongst the site services team.
- To support the Associate Director Operations and school Heads of Operations (and Group Housing Manager) in procuring and maintaining the Aldar Education standards of staff accommodation (where required).
- To act as the designated Incident Commander for the base school (and to support the relieved school's incident response during cover periods), and be contactable outside of normal School hours, available to attend site when required in line with the Aldar Education Critical Incident Response Protocols.
Leadership & Management
- To ensure the external support service teams are performing in line with school expectations, fully resourced and delivering on their contractual obligations delivering best value for each school and high standards of service for each school community.
- Manage the facilities and general service teams to ensure high standards of service are maintained throughout the school and that they provide an effective service culture.
- Ensure each member of the Facilities & General Services team partakes in professional development, appraisal and training and undergoes an individual development plan to help the cluster in building a high-performance team.
Finance, Commercial & Procurement
- To oversee relevant budgets and expenditure, effectively manage costs, and ensure the school receives best value and service at all times in relation to facilities and building standards.
- To support opportunities for shared resource, cost and/or services across the cluster and wider portfolio to ensure that the schools benefit from improved access to service teams and physical resources (ie support staff, transport etc).
- Ensure purchasing policy and the Delegation of Authority (DOA) processes and procedures are followed at all times.
Relationship & Stakeholder Management
- Ensure that schools are fully compliant with local government authority regulations to safeguard against fines of any nature as a result of non-renewal of contracts at school level.
- Ensure all internal and external audit actions are completed in a timely and appropriate manner.
- Act as the main facilities contact for the Head of Operations and Principal of the base school (and of relieved schools during cover periods), and provide regular updates to the Associate Director Operations.
Health, Safety & Environment
- To promote a positive and proactive health and safety culture throughout their teams for health and safety.
- To ensure the base school (and any school being relieved, for the duration of the cover period) complies with current Health & Safety legislation and/or guidelines as issued by Aldar Education HQ.
- To review and monitor the health and safety performance of contractors and suppliers within their respective schools.
- To support the Associate Director Operations and school Heads of Operations with environmental related aims and objectives and ensuring that they are delivered within the required timelines.
- Ensure all internal and external health, safety and environmental related audits are effectively completed in a timely and appropriate manner.
Qualifications
Minimum Experience
• At least 3 years’ experience in a mid-level position within an education or facilities service oriented industry; experience across multiple sites is preferred.
Job Specific Knowledge & Skills
- Fluent English communication skills, written and oral.
- Attention to detail with diligent follow up, and able to execute in a timely manner.
- Skilled in multi-tasking and handling pressure.
- Able to manage competing priorities across multiple school sites and travel between school sites, sometimes at short notice; a valid UAE driving licence is preferred.
- Organizational ability, of self and others.
- Forethought and forward planning (particularly as this relates to local Government compliance matters).
- Capable of influencing people and talented in networking with cultural sensitivity.
- Good interpersonal skills.
- Strong and consistent supervisory skills.
- Commercial acumen.
- Confident using digital and AI-enabled tools (e.g. CAFM/helpdesk systems, BMS analytics, AI assistants) to streamline facilities processes, reporting and planned maintenance, in line with Aldar Education data and IT policies.
- Willing to work flexibly, including occasional early starts, late finishes or weekends to support events, works or incidents.