Head of Launch

Job description

### About Dwelly Dwelly is building the AI operating system for residential lettings. Its growing network of agencies provides its AI with real-world data, continuous feedback, and control over complete workflows, making exceptional service the standard for landlords and tenants. Today, Dwelly operates more than 15,000 properties and $470 million in GMV, making it one of the UK’s ten largest lettings operators. The company has raised $263 million. We’re a fast-growing, product-focused company, backed by top-tier investors and led by a team with deep experience in real estate, technology, and operations. **Position Summary:** Dwelly grows by acquisition. We are currently acquiring 1 to 3 lettings agencies every month, ranging from £100k tuck-in businesses through to companies with purchase prices of £20-30M. Our Launch team owns each business from the moment a deal completes (with involvement in due diligence and operational assessment shortly before completion) until the acquired portfolio is fully migrated onto Dwelly software and standardised operational processes, at which point responsibility passes to the Head of Operations. We are looking for a **Head of Launch** to build the engine that allows us to keep acquiring at scale. Your mandate is a repeatable, continuously improving onboarding and integration machine for small and mid-size agencies: the long tail of the UK lettings market. Today we integrate one business at a time. By early next year we need to be running 2 to 3 concurrent integrations, with capacity continuing to grow from there. This is not only an integration role. We keep buying while we integrate, which means at any given time you will own a portfolio of businesses that have completed but not yet entered the integration flow. From the moment a deal completes, your team is responsible for running each business: managing its people, owning day-to-day trading and P&L, and capturing early synergy opportunities ahead of full integration. Each Launch Manager carries a portfolio of businesses, both those in integration and those awaiting it. By the end of the year, with a team of five Launch Managers, you could be responsible for 25 individual businesses with combined annualised revenues in excess of £50M. Reporting to the Director of Launch, you will lead a group of Launch Managers and Launch Associates dedicated to this segment. You will inherit two direct reports and hire at least three more as the machine scales. The Director of Launch directly leads the other half of the team, Senior Launch Managers and Launch Associates focused on large to transformational deals, and you will act as their right hand across the whole Launch function. You will also be responsible for the eventual rollout of our platform-as-a-service offering: deploying Dwelly systems and processes into agencies we partner with rather than buy, under a profit share arrangement. We see this as the single biggest growth opportunity for Dwelly. Functionally offering integration as a service allows us to scale rapidly at a much lower cost than acquisition alone. This is, in reality, the heart of the role: turning integration into a product on small and mid-size deals. The acquired portfolio is your sandbox. Every business we buy is a live environment in which to build, test, and harden that product until it approaches self-service. The sensitivity bar rises accordingly: when we integrate a business we own, mistakes cost us an upset internal team; when we roll the product out to a partner, any issue lands on a paying client. The process has to be close to perfect before it leaves the building. Our vision is that the product matures to the point where very small agencies can effectively self-onboard, freeing your team to focus on the deals and partners that genuinely need hands-on expertise. **Key Responsibilities** - **Build the launch engine.** Design, document, and continuously improve the playbooks, tooling, and metrics that make onboarding and integration repeatable across a high volume of small and mid-size acquisitions. - **Run the pre-integration portfolio.** Own the day-to-day performance of acquired businesses awaiting integration, delivered through your Launch Managers: BAU operations, trading P&L, people management, and early synergy capture. - **Completion announcements and staff communications.** Build the completion day framework and communications playbook, executed by your Launch Managers. In the early months, be in the room yourself on completion day, establishing rapport with the agency owner, the management team that stays post acquisition, and the agency staff; over time, your team carries this standard and you attend the largest or most sensitive completions. - **People transitions.** Build the framework for identifying key talent to retain in the integrated businesses and for managing employee transitions for those not continuing with Dwelly, executed by your Launch Managers. You personally handle the most complex or sensitive cases and set the standard for a respectful, human-centred approach throughout. - **Establish status quo agency performance.** Ensure that right after acquisition your team establishes the baseline of the business (landlord managed portfolio, revenues, and so on) as well as baseline user experience metrics, then design and suggest ways to improve both. - **Integration and client migration management.** Lead your team in running multiple integration projects simultaneously: data transfer, process migration, and onboarding communications. You unblock the operational roadblocks your Launch Managers cannot, so every integration step is completed efficiently with minimal customer churn. - **Operational and administrative oversight.** Ensure your team coordinates and executes tasks such as accounting consolidation, office and car lease terminations, and other administrative clean-up, setting each integration up for long-term success. - **Build and lead the team.** Hire, develop, and coach Launch Managers and Launch Associates, growing the team in step with deal flow. - **Launch the partner service line.** Own the rollout of Dwelly systems and processes into partner agencies under our platform-as-a-service model. - **Improve the platform.** Work with the product team to continuously improve the integrations framework and map out processes not yet supported. - **Deputise for the Director of Launch.** Act as their right hand across the Launch function, representing the team with senior stakeholders when needed. **What we are looking for** - A senior operator with 10+ years of experience, including significant time in venture-backed, high-growth businesses. - A proven record of launching and scaling markets, functions, or business lines from zero: new country launches, new market entries, or post-acquisition integrations. - Experience building and leading teams through rapid growth, including hiring and developing managers. - A track record of designing scalable operating processes and playbooks that others can run repeatedly, not just one-off fixes. - Comfortable owning trading P&L across a multi-site portfolio, not just running integration projects. - An excellent communicator who knows how to deliver delicate messages in stressful settings, including on the day an acquisition is announced to staff. - Hungry for data, with a structured, analytical, and data-driven approach. - A "get things done" attitude with the flexibility to balance strategic planning and hands-on execution. - UK-based with the willingness to travel nationwide more than 50% of working time. **Growth Potential:** Dwelly is at the start of its journey. As the business expands internationally, this role has a clear pathway to leading all launch functions in the UK, spanning acquisitions of every size and the partner service line as well as being a key figure in the international expansion. Join us at Dwelly and play a pivotal role in transforming the rental experience. ### **What is it like being a Dwell-er** Feel free to check out [Dwelly Core Principles](https://docsend.com/view/7v8gwrjaky7mn895). That’s about what we believe in, how we operate and make decisions. What we offer is not a fancy office or a static workplace. Instead, this is solving one of worlds’ most complex problems in the largest consumer industry in the world (residential rentals), to improve the experience for >30% of households (>5M in the UK, and >100M including EU and US) that live in rental homes. This is about disrupting the largest, most antiquated industry in the world, with one of the strongest operational and technical teams that exist in the UK and the EU. We work hard, and we shoot for extremely ambitious results. But we want people to be proud of what they’ve built and be able to look back and say one day “hell yeah, that was me that did it all”. - **Customer obsession rather than competitive focus** - **Passion for invention** - **Operational excellence** - **Long-term thinking** **Compensation & Benefits:** Competitive salary with equity options By applying for this position, you consent to the processing and storage of your personal data for recruitment purposes for up to 365 days, in accordance with our data retention policy and applicable data protection laws.