Director of Technical Services & Asset Delivery

Sydney

Full time: $140,000 - $160,000 per year + superannuation

About the Business

Urban Rest is a high-growth flexible living operator and technology platform disrupting the serviced apartment and corporate housing space across APAC and Europe. The business focus is on owning the distribution layer for the contracted travel market into living assets, while delivering a consistent brand and guest journey through technology. Urban Rest also offers physical asset operation services that enable branded accommodation assets such as hotels to be managed with greater efficiency and distributed to contracted clients such as enterprise, government, insurance and SME clients. We provide the digital infrastructure and services that connect institutional living-sector assets and the contracted travel market at scale. Our mission is to make flexible living seamless.

Benefits and Perks

- Employee, friends and family discounts at at Urban Rest properties
- One flexible work from home day per week when business allows
- Mental Health Leave days and Volunteer days available
- Regular team socials and events
- As the company grows, this role will provide plenty of room for career growth and progression
- We’re a social bunch and we strive to have a fun, friendly, and collaborative work environment
- Pet friendly (for house-trained and well-behaved pets) office in Surry Hills, close to public transport

About the Role

The Director of Technical Services & Asset Delivery is a senior leadership role responsible for bringing current Urban Rest properties from pipeline to fully guest-ready operation. The role oversees the technical disciplines, project delivery and supply chain functions that ensure every property is designed, built, supplied and handed over to the required standards. You will lead three integrated functions: Technical Services, New Property Onboarding & Asset Delivery, and Supply Chain, ensuring strong technical governance, project delivery, commercial outcomes and operational readiness across the APAC portfolio.

You will be the primary contact for owners, developers and external property stakeholders throughout the pre-operational phase, managing relationships, negotiations, design approvals, make-good obligations and defect periods with commercial and technical expertise. Reporting to the Regional General Manager - APAC and sitting on the APAC Senior Leadership Team, you will work closely with the Director of Operations to ensure operational learnings continually inform how future properties are designed, delivered and brought into the portfolio.

Responsibilities

Technical Services: Space Planning, Design & Engineering Review (25%):

- Lead Urban Rest's technical review process for all new and refurbished APAC properties - assessing architectural plans, space layouts, interior design proposals, and engineering specifications against Urban Rest's brand standards, operational requirements, and guest experience principles.
- Own the space planning function - evaluating apartment layouts, common area configurations, back-of-house workflows, and furniture placement plans to ensure that every space is optimised for both guest experience and operational efficiency.
- Conduct or commission engineering reviews for new properties - covering electrical, hydraulic, HVAC, building services, and structural considerations - to identify technical risks, compliance gaps, or specification deficiencies before they become costly in-construction or post-handover issues.
- Establish and maintain Urban Rest's technical standards documentation - including design briefs, specification guides, engineering checklists, and brand compliance requirements - as the definitive reference for what a new Urban Rest property must meet before it is approved for construction or fit-out.
- Develop and manage the technical sign-off process for new properties - with clear gate criteria, documented approvals, and a transparent escalation pathway for items that fall short of standard.

Recent Property Onboarding & Project Delivery (25%):





- Own the end-to-end onboarding process for all new Urban Rest properties across APAC - from design sign-off and construction oversight through fit-out, furniture installation, technology commissioning, and operational readiness sign-off.
- Manage new property projects with rigorous programme management discipline - clear project plans, milestone tracking, risk registers, budget accountability, and stakeholder communication from first site visit to handover.
- Lead and develop the APAC Onboarding team - setting performance standards, providing structured coaching, and building a team capable of managing multiple simultaneous property launches across different markets.
- Coordinate across Real Estate, Technical Services, Operations, Revenue, IT, and Sales to ensure every new property is fully guest-ready before the first booking is taken - with all technology, linen, supplies, and documentation in place at handover.
- Establish and continuously improve the Urban Rest onboarding playbook - a property-type-specific framework that defines exactly what is required from a new asset before it enters the live portfolio, and the precise process for getting it there.
- Manage the relationship with landlords, developers, and building owners through the construction and fit-out phase
- Ensure all new properties meet Urban Rest's safety, compliance, and regulatory requirements prior to opening
- Deliver a structured, documented handover to the Director of Operations for every new property - including a complete operational brief, outstanding items register, supply inventory, and technical systems guide.

Supply Chain Management (15%):

- Own the end-to-end supply chain function for the APAC portfolio
- Build, manage and lead commercial negotiations with vendors and suppliers
- Develop and maintain a centralised procurement framework - covering category management, approved supplier lists, purchase order governance, spend thresholds, and authorisation protocols that ensure cost control without creating procurement friction for the operations team.
- Manage FF&E; specification and standardisation across the APAC portfolio
- Build inventory management systems and par stock frameworks for consumables and operational supplies
- Monitor supply chain performance - lead times, defect rates, fulfilment accuracy, and cost-per-unit trends - and use that data to drive continuous improvement.
- Ensure supply chain practices meet Urban Rest's ethical sourcing, sustainability, and compliance requirements.

Owner, Developer & External Stakeholder Management (15%):

- Serve as the primary Urban Rest contact for property owners, developers, architects, and project managers throughout the design, construction, and fit-out phases of new APAC properties.
- Manage owner and developer relationships with professionalism, technical credibility, and commercial discipline - representing Urban Rest's interests without damaging the long-term relationship with the asset owner.
- Lead the negotiation and management of lessor works, owner contribution schedules, defect liability periods, and make-good obligations
- Maintain a clear communication cadence with owners and external stakeholders throughout the onboarding process
- Build and maintain Urban Rest's reputation as a professional, technically capable operator in the eyes of owners, developers, and the broader property investment community.
- Collaborate with the Real Estate function during the due diligence and HMA or lease negotiation phase

Lifecycle Planning & Cross-Functional Governance (10%):

- Develop and maintain Urban Rest's APAC asset lifecycle planning framework - covering multi-year FF&E; refresh schedules, capital replacement cycles, and planned refurbishment programmes
- Partner with the Director of Operations on the governance boundary between in-life maintenance (Operations) and capital works, refurbishments, and technical interventions (Technical Services).




- Provide lifecycle cost input into the annual budgeting process.
- Feed technical and supply chain learnings from completed onboarding projects back into the design standards, specification guides, and procurement frameworks that govern future properties.
- Represent the Technical Services & Onboarding function on the APAC Senior Leadership Team
- Champion continuous improvement across the Technical Services & Onboarding and Supply Chain functions.

Team Leadership & Operational Governance (10%):

- Lead, coach and develop the Onboarding and Supply Chain teams
- Plan and manage team resourcing across the APAC portfolio - ensuring the team has the capacity, capability, and geographic coverage.
- Develop and maintain KPI and reporting frameworks that give leadership a clear view of project health and delivery performance, supply chain performance, and new owner pre-opening satisfaction across the APAC portfolio.
- Champion continuous improvement to identifying opportunities to improve systems, workflows, technology, and processes that make the team more effective and the portfolio better maintained.

What Success Looks Like

In your first 90 days:

- Full audit of every property in progress assessed for programme status, technical compliance, budget position, and owner relationship health
- Technical standards documentation reviewed
- Supply chain baseline established
- Key internal relationships established
- Owner and developer relationships for all active onboarding properties personally engaged

By end of Year 1:

- Every new property launched in the year was delivered on time, on budget, and with a clean handover to Operations
- Technical standards documentation is current, comprehensive, and being used consistently by the onboarding team
- The supply chain function is operating with discipline
- The feedback loop between Operations and Technical Services is functioning
- Urban Rest's reputation with owners and developers is strong

What We Look For

Essential

- A technically strong property professional with a background spanning at least two of: space planning, interior design review, building services or engineering, project management, or hospitality operations - ideally in serviced apartments, hotels, build-to-rent, or a comparable sector.
- A disciplined project manager - you have delivered complex, multi-site property projects on time and on budget, and you bring genuine programme management rigour to every onboarding.
- Commercially literate in the context of property - you understand CapEx allocation, OpEx vs CapEx boundaries, lease and HMA obligations, owner negotiation dynamics, and lifecycle cost modelling.
- Detail-oriented and systematic - you believe that consistency and rigour in process is what separates a smooth launch from a chaotic one, and you build that rigour into everything the function does.

Desirable

- Procurement and supply chain capable - you understand category management, vendor negotiation, contract structuring, and the operational realities of managing a multi-site supply chain at scale.
- A natural team leader who develops capability deliberately
- A skilled external stakeholder manager

Diversity & Inclusion

At Urban Rest, we extend our invitation to candidates from Indigenous, neurodiverse, disabled, international and diverse cultural backgrounds. Our commitment to fostering an inclusive workplace ensures that all applicants receive the necessary support and accommodations throughout the recruitment and onboarding process. We encourage candidates from various backgrounds to apply, as we value diversity and believe in creating an environment where everyone can succeed. Please let us know if you require any additional adjustments or support to help you through this process so you can shine as the best version of yourself.

How to Apply

Please submit your application through the link on this website by including an up-to-date resume with relevant skills and experience, alongside a cover letter addressing how you meet the criteria and your interest in the role.

If you want to learn more about our company, please see our website - https://www.stayurbanrest.com - We look forward to hearing from you!

📌 Director of Technical Services & Asset Delivery (Sydney)
🏢 Urban Rest
📍 Sydney