Location: Office-based, Sussex, with site visits as required
Hours: 8:00am to 4:30pm, Monday to Friday
Salary: £33,000 to £37,000 depending on experience
Contract: Permanent
Reporting to: Directors
About Vanguard
Vanguard Fire Protection Ltd is a passive fire compliance business operating across Sussex, Surrey, Kent, and Hampshire. We work with academy trusts, college groups, and property managers to bring their buildings to a defensible compliance standard and keep them there, through a structured three-stage process we call the ARM Process: Assess, Reinstate, Maintain.
We are a small, founder‑led business with a clear growth plan. We have a growing portfolio of long‑term maintenance contracts, and a pipeline that is expanding. This hire is part of a deliberate move to build an operational team that can deliver to a high standard and grow sustainably. The person we bring in now will help shape how this business runs.
The Role
This is the first dedicated operations hire Vanguard has made. You will own the coordination of every live job, from booking through to invoicing, and be the central point between the directors, the in‑house engineer, subcontractors, and clients. The role requires someone who is organised, commercially aware, and able to manage a busy and varied workload without constant direction.
You will be working in a business that is growing fast. Processes are established but still being refined. The expectation is that you contribute to improving how things work, not just follow a fixed set of instructions.
What You Will Be Responsible For
Job Scheduling and Coordination
* Own the scheduling of all live jobs (in SimPro & OneTrace) across inspections, maintenance visits, and remediation projects
* Manage the daily schedule of the in‑house engineer, efficient routing, confirmed access arrangements, all pre‑start requirements
* Coordinate subcontractor allocation, booking, and day‑of management
* Ensure jobs move through our systems accurately from instruction to completion and are invoiced promptly
Operational Client Communication
* Handle day‑to‑day client communication on operational matters, scheduling, access, job progress, and any on‑site issues
* Attend pre‑start meetings and periodic quality assurance site visits
* Manage client expectations proactively and escalate anything commercial or relationship‑critical to the directors immediately
Financial and Purchase Order Management
* Raise and manage purchase orders, matching subcontractor and supplier invoices to jobs in SimPro
* Ensure job costs are allocated correctly and flag immediately where a job is tracking over budget
* Support weekly cashflow accuracy by keeping job financial data current at all times
Quality and Documentation
* Review field reports before jobs are closed, flag incomplete or non‑compliant documentation before it leaves the business
* Review O&M files before client handover
* Support subcontractor compliance tracking, including document and expiry date management
Systems and Process
* Work across SimPro, OneTrace, and Google Drive as the operational hub of the business
* Maintain Google Drive job folder structure, all documentation filed correctly and accessible
* Contribute actively to process improvement as the business scales
What We Are Looking For
* Proven experience in a project coordination, operations, or scheduling role, ideally within construction, facilities management, or a trade‑based compliance business
* Experience using job management or field service software, SimPro experience is a strong advantage
* High attention to detail. In this business, documentation errors have real compliance consequences
* Confident and professional communicator, able to manage clients, engineers, and subcontractors calmly under pressure
* Comfortable reading job‑level financial data and understanding cost against budget
* Able to manage and prioritise a demanding workload independently
* Full UK driving licence
* Experience in passive fire protection, fire safety, or a wider construction compliance environment
* Familiarity with SimPro, Onetrace, Google Workspace and/or MS suite
* Project Management training
The Opportunity
Vanguard is a growing business with a clear direction. The Project Coordinator we hire now will be at the centre of how this business operates and scales over the next two to three years. As the team grows and processes mature, this role grows with it. For the right person, someone who is organised, takes ownership, and wants to be part of building something rather than just maintaining it, this is a good place to build a career.
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