Housekeeping Supervisor
MAGDALENE COLLEGE CAMBRIDGE
Housekeeping Supervisor
Candidate Information Pack
June 2026
About Us
Magdalene College is one of the 31 Colleges of the University of Cambridge. It was originally founded in 1428 and re-founded in 1542. Although we are proud of our history, we are a thoroughly modern and forward-looking College.
There are roughly 600 undergraduate and postgraduate students in residence. 100 Fellows and the Master who together make up our College community. We have developed a strong programme in the Sciences alongside traditional strengths in Arts subjects and the first priority for students is academic work. There is a thriving extracurricular life in the College and we take pride in the high level of pastoral care offered to our students. Further information is available on the College website at www.magd.cam.ac.uk.
Magdalene College Values
Magdalene's greatest asset is its people: a resident community of nearly 800 students, Fellows, and staff.
The College’s core values are ‘freedom of thought and expression’ and ‘freedom from discrimination’ and it encourages its Fellows, staff, students and visitors to engage in robust, challenging, evidencebased and civil debates as a core part of academic enquiry and wider College activity, even if they find the viewpoints expressed to be disagreeable, unwelcome or distasteful.
Magdalene College expects that you will:
Treat all members of the College (including all staff, partners, students, fellows and visitors) with respect, courtesy and consideration at all times.
Behave professionally and expect professional behaviour from others in the community (including all staff, partners, students, fellows and visitors).
Take care of their own health and safety, not compromise the health and safety of others, and comply with College and departmental safety requirements.
College Facilities for Staff
Staff are able to use the College gym which consists of a weights gym and a room with cardio equipment. The College also has a squash court and Eton Fives court. These can be booked through the Porters Lodge. Basketball, tennis and volleyball courts along with football Astro pitches can be booked through St John’s College.
Magdalene is registered with Cycle Scheme, a tax-efficient scheme for buying a new bicycle.
During the summer staff may use the College punts for up to two hours. These should be booked through the Porters Lodge.
The College has a social committee who run events for staff, including the annual day trip which is open for all staff to attend.
Meals
All staff working a shift of a minimum of 4 hours per day are eligible to take a free lunch. This includes permanent staff and those on a fixed term contract. The value of the meal is up to £7.20per day which equates to over £1600 per year for those working in College 5 days a week.
Family Friendly Policies
The College offers enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay as well as generous sick pay for those who have more than six months service. This is in addition to the flexible working policy. More details on all of these are in the Staff Handbook.
Staff are eligible to use the Tax-Free Childcare Scheme recently introduced by the government to replace Childcare Vouchers
Benefits
The college offers a range of benefits, including:
• Group Life Assurance.
• Help@hand Portal where you can access remote GP appointments, medical second opinions, savings and discounts, financial support and much more.
• Wellbeing classes such as pilates and yoga.
Flu jabs.
• College pension contributions of up to 12%.
Eye tests with Specsavers.
Department Information
The College is home to a community of some 100 Fellows and 600 students, around 450 of which are housed in college-owned accommodation.
The College provides a wide range of housekeeping services to its members (students and fellows) and staff as well as to external conference clients.
The College has a thriving conference business which has been developed over the past few years which supports all major types of events from weddings; residential conferences; summer schools; and banqueting. The conference business takes place usually outside of the term and provides a significant financial contribution to the College’s academic mission.
| Conference | |
| Weddings | Up to 25 per year |
| Summer Schools | 7000 bed-nights or 1/3 of total turnover Summer and Easter vacation period / % of total |
| Residential conferencing Day meetings | turnover Held throughout the year |
| Bedrooms | |
| 500 units with over 80 ensuite rooms. | |
The Housekeeping Department is also responsible for the provision of internal room furnishings for the College and has to provide and manage the furniture stock.
Role Summary
The Housekeeping Supervisors ensure that the highest possible standard of housekeeping is achieved in College buildings within the allocated time and supervise College housekeeping staff in this process.
The Supervisors communicate with the Housekeeping Manager regarding all departmental issues.
Responsible to: Housekeeping Manager
Job Description
Main Duties and Responsibilities
The main duties of the post include the following (this list is not exclusive):
Supervising and working with all housekeeping staff in the daily cleaning of all areas in College according to daily instruction from the Housekeeping Manager, ensuring all areas are maintained to the required standard.
Supervising and working with all housekeeping staff in the deep cleaning and turnaround of student rooms and communal areas when occupants leave and the subsequent preparation, cleaning and servicing of guest and conference/summer school accommodation, according to instruction from the Housekeeping Manager.
Report maintenance issues and repairs to the Housekeeping Manager or directly to the Maintenance Manager.
Ensure all Health and Safety regulations are adhered to and report any issues to the Housekeeping Manager and assist to carry out all risk assessments for the housekeeping department and maintain records.
• Assist with the careful control of hired linen stock and issue the linen as required by the housekeeping team.
• Assist with the careful control of departmental expenditure and the monitoring of stock for cleaning supplies within the housekeeping department, issuing stock to the housekeeping team as required.
• Working as part of the housekeeping team ensuring the smooth running of the Housekeeping Department.
Person Specification
The following criteria are appropriate to this post:
Knowledge and Experience
• Experience at a level in some or all of housekeeping/ conference / hotel/ hospitality sectors.
• Broad knowledge of cleaning equipment, supplies, and chemicals.
Organisational skills.
• Demonstrating leadership of large and varied teams.
Personal Skills and Abilities
Proven supervisory skills.
• Good level of interpersonal skills so to develop effective working relationships within the organisation.
Capable communicator, both verbally and in writing.
• Must be able to work under pressure with a range of competing deadlines.
• Well organised and capable of forward planning.
Responsive to change and adaptable.
Innovative and a forward-thinking approach.
Remuneration and Benefits
Remuneration
£12.91 Per Hour, £26,982 per annum.
Hours of Work
The hours of work are 40 hours per week.
Holidays
The College offers full time members of staff 33 days leave a year, including bank holidays. This is prorata for those who are not full time.
Pension
The post-holder may, subject to meeting the enrolment criteria, be eligible to join the College’s auto enrolment pension scheme at the relevant time, with the option for enhanced employee and employer contributions following successful completion of the probationary period.
Probationary and Notice Period
There will be a Four-month probationary period. Upon successful completion of the probationary period, the notice period will be one month.
How to Apply
Please download and complete both parts of the application form from the College website at www.magd.cam.ac.uk/about/vacancies/non-academic.
Send your completed application by email to the HR Manager, Hannah Millward, at hr@magd.cam.ac.uk.
The College postal address is:
HR, Magdalene College, Magdalene Street, Cambridge CB3 0AG
Enquiries
Further enquiries about your application may be made by email to hr@magd.cam.ac.uk.
Closing Date
9:00am Monday 6th July 2026