JOB DESCRIPTION

View Vacancy – JPN (Tokyo) – Japan Estates Manager, EO

The British Government is an inclusive and diversity-friendly employer. We value difference, promote equality and challenge discrimination, enhancing our organisational capability. We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. We do not discriminate on the basis of disability, race, colour, ethnicity, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, age, veteran status or other category protected by law. We promote family-friendly flexible working opportunities, where operational and security needs allow. The FCDO operates an agile workforce and to facilitate this, you may be required to undertake other duties from time to time, as we may reasonably require.

Job Category

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Operations and Corporate Services)

Job Subcategory

Estates

Job Description (Roles and Responsibilities)

Main Purpose of Job:

Corporate Services is the engine room of the Embassy, providing a broad range of essential services to support delivery of British Government objectives in Japan. We provide services to around 200 staff from 7 government departments in Japan and provide the lead for Corporate Services policies across both posts in the Japan Network (the Embassy in Tokyo and the Consulate-General in Osaka).

We are currently looking for an Estates Manager to join our team in Corporate Services. The selected candidate will report directly to the Head of Corporate Services. The Estates Manager is responsible for working with our facilities management provider to ensure that all users have a positive experience working in our offices and that the accommodation provided to our diplomats is safe and kept to a high standard. The Estates Manager is our designated legionella and fire safety responsible person and takes the lead on ensuring we meet our health and safety duties across the UK diplomatic estate in Japan.

This role will appeal to a candidate who is willing to develop and improve services creatively and innovatively, use their facilities management or estates knowledge and experience to support a wide range of staff in both Japanese and English, and is confident to provide direction and advice to our directly employed staff as well as to the FM provider.

What the Jobholder will be Expected to Achieve:

Estates Management (30%)

• Work closely with service providers, including the FCDO Estate Operations team and the Facilities Management (FM) provider to ensure that any necessary estates and maintenance works are carried out by the FM team, to an agreed standard.
• Take a lead in coordinating office moves, understanding staff requirements from the estate, and in making improvements to the office environment.
• Bring together stakeholders engaged with our official Ambassador’s Residence, ensuring that maintenance and improvements are value for money and delivered with the minimum disruption to events and operations in the Residence.

Residential Accommodation (35%)

• Working through our FM provider, ensure housing is provided on arrival of diplomats, prepared to a good standard and fully equipped, and in line with the FCDO housing policy.
• Communicate policies to staff before they arrive and respond to any questions or concerns. Take an active role in understanding customer perceptions of the service provided and work with the FM provider on continuous service improvement.
• Maintain an oversight of accommodation leases proposed and executed by the FM provider. Ensure leases meet FCDO requirements and are signed or renewed in a timely manner.
• Review the state of furniture and housing packs, conduct sample checks on our housing portfolio, and ensure that central accommodation policies are being followed and documentation kept.

Health and Safety (25%)

• Lead on health and safety issues for the FCDO in Japan (including building standards, workstation assessments, and fire wardens).
• Organise regular H&S training for the Japan Network.
• Lead on the completion of our annual H&S reporting duty, as well as responding to H&S incidents as they happen.
• Act as our “responsible person” for legionella, asbestos, and fire safety. Working through the FM provider, ensure that regular checks and risk mitigation are carried out.

Planning and Procurement (5%)

• Support the Head of Corporate Services in producing and delivering the estates elements of our annual plan, supporting Country Plan objectives and delivering a safe, modern, and pleasant working environment for staff.
• Responsible for the management and forecasting of the post estates-related budgets ensuring resources are used in line with FCDO guidance.
• Provide input on supplier selection, service level agreements, and management to our FM provider.

Corporate (5%)

• Assist the Head of Corporate Services in updating policies and procedures, and their implementation, to ensure cost effective management.
• Work closely with other corporate teams including Community Liaison, HR and IT to deliver a joined up approach to estates management.
• Collect and review feedback from customers of the estates and accommodation services provided in Japan. Lead of the development of improvement plans as necessary.

Resources Managed (staff and expenditure):

• Directly line manage one AO Estates and H&S Officer

Essential qualifications, skills and experience

• Experience working with a facilities management provider to deliver safe and high-quality office accommodation
• Has managed a variety of H&S responses, working to keep people safe
• Enjoys being part of a busy team but can work independently with little supervision and able to help cover for the head of department and others in their absence
• Has experience influencing behaviours and persuading others, and is adept at building and maintaining good working relationships
• Is confident in working with our contractors both in developing our estates arrangements and in responding to H&S incidents
• Is a good communicator and people-person, who takes pride in good service and enjoys working in a busy team
• Has evidence of working at pace and managing multiple projects at the same time

Language Requirements:

This role requires written and spoken proficiency in both English and Japanese. Fluency (minimum of C2 level for CEFR framework*) in one language and business level (B2) in the other.

*Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) for Languages sets the following mastery or proficiency levels:

• C2: Can understand with ease virtually everything heard or read. Can summarise information from different spoken and written sources, reconstructing arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation. Can express themself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in more complex situations.
• B2: Can understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in their field of specialisation. Can interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party. Can produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain a viewpoint on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.

Desirable qualifications, skills and experience

• Holds the JAHMEC Building Environmental Health Management qualification or equivalent
• Experience assessing the quality of residential accommodation
• Experience working within public sector and government organisations

Required behaviours

Changing and Improving, Communicating and Influencing, Delivering at Pace, Making Effective Decisions, Managing a Quality Service, Working Together

Application deadline

5 October 2025

Grade

Executive Officer (EO)

Type of Position

Full-time, Permanent

Working hours per week

37.5 hours

Region

Asia Pacific

Country/Territory

Japan

Location (City)

Tokyo

Type of Post

British Embassy

Number of vacancies

1

Salary Currency

JPY

Salary

JPY 555,600

Type of Salary

monthly

Start Date

1 December 2025

Other benefits and conditions of employment

• 1 month salary bonus equivalents payable in June and December
  (Note: Salary may be reduced due to tax status)
• Commuting allowance of up to JPY35,000 per month (paid on an actual cost basis)
• 25 days paid annual leave (calculated pro rata)
• Health Insurance and Employee pension (kenko hoken/kosei nenkin)
• Employment Insurance (koyou hoken)

Working Patterns:

The British Embassy supports and promotes flexible working as a crucial part of our inclusive offering. This role allows for flexible working e.g. start and end times, working compressed hours, working remotely on one day a week, and the possibility of a job share arrangement, subject to agreement with management.

This role will be offered pending successful reference and security checks and is subject to the appropriate permissions to work. Staff recruited locally by the British Embassy Tokyo is subject to Terms and Conditions of Service according to local Japan employment law.

No accommodation or relocation expenses are payable in connection with this position. All candidates must be legally able to work and reside in Japan with the correct visa/work permit status or demonstrate eligibility to obtain the relevant permit. Any costs related to obtaining or renewing permits and visas are the responsibility of the successful applicant.

Employees who are not liable to pay local income tax on their Mission salary may have their salaries reduced by the equivalent local income tax amount.

The FCDO operates an agile approach to delivery. To facilitate an agile workforce, you may be required to undertake other duties from time to time as we may reasonably require.

Learning and Development Opportunities (and any specific training courses to be completed):

The British Embassy offers comprehensive learning and development opportunities that will be fully available to the jobholder. We regularly run both work area specific training, as well as more general skills development in project management, finance, and leadership. Each year the job holder will be encouraged to use 5 development days to pursue job related and personal development goals.

Additional information

Please note that the deadline for applications is 23:55 on the day mentioned in the above field “Application deadline”.

Please be aware that the deadline for submitting applications is considered to be the time zone for the country where the vacancy has arisen.

We advise you to allow enough time to complete and submit your full application, since only applications completed and submitted before the deadline will be considered.

Note: All applicants are required to mandatorily fill the online application form completely including the employment and educational details, experience, professional skills and behaviour-based questions. We will be thoroughly reviewing the applications and incomplete form in any respect may not be considered while shortlisting for the next stage.

Only shortlisted candidates for interview will be contacted. Interviewees will be assessed on the core behaviours/qualifications listed above. Unsuccessful candidates will be notified via the system in due time. Appointable candidates who were unsuccessful may be placed on a ‘reserve list’. If during the reserve period of 6 months the same or a largely similar role becomes available, that role may be offered to the second or subsequent candidate.

To ensure a successful application it is important that you explain how you demonstrate these behaviours, including through your experience. You are strongly advised to read the Success Profiles Civil Service Behaviours Framework, which provides detailed guidance on how the behaviours are defined.

Applicants are encouraged to use the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) format to prepare specific examples of when they have demonstrated these behaviours in their application. Using the STAR format to provide evidence of your skills and experience in your application and at interview helps to give a structure. You briefly describe the situation in which you showed the behaviour, and then explain your task in addressing the situation, what action you took and the result of this.

Please ensure that your application is authentically written based on your own experiences. If AI tools are used, their usage must only be limited to specific tasks such as ensuring formatting consistency and keyword relevance. The core content, personal narratives, and responses to behaviour and skill-based questions must genuinely reflect your professional journey, experiences, and achievements. We place great importance on originality and individual effort throughout the application process. Any form of plagiarism will result in immediate disqualification.

For inclusivity and diversity, please remove the following personal information when uploading your CV: name, address, email address, age, date of birth, gender and nationality.

The start date mentioned in the job advert is a tentative start date and the successful candidate will be required to undergo security vetting procedures. Any offer of employment will be subject to the candidate achieving suitable clearances.

Please be aware that you will only be able to apply to vacancies for Country Based Staff roles with the British Government through this official tal.net site (operated by Oleeo). Jobs may be advertised on third party websites, however our adverts will always link back to the official tal.net site. If you complete and send an application through any other site, we will not receive it.

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: No requirements