Manager – Handover (Bilingual)

About:Alef Group is a pioneer in developing premier lifestyle communities, destinations, and experiences through investment and strategic joint ventures. As part of its continued growth, Alef Group is seeking an experienced Manager - Handover (Bilingual) to lead the end-to-end customer handover process, ensuring timely unit delivery, seamless coordination across departments, effective snag management, and an exceptional customer experience.Job Purpose:The Manager – Handover leads Alef’s customer handover function, owning the end-to-end journey of handing over completed homes and units to customers across Sharjah developments, from handover planning and customer notifications through unit inspections, key release and post-handover transition. The role ensures every handover is well organized, on schedule and delivered to a consistent, high standard of customer experience, and that units are released to customers only once readiness, payment and documentation clearances have been confirmed by the responsible teams. Acting as the central point of coordination between Customer Relations, Projects, Quality Assurance/Quality Control, Finance, Legal and Facilities/Community Management, the role manages handover schedules, customer communication, snag follow-up, escalations and handover records.Key Accountabilities:1. Handover Strategy, Planning & DeliveryDevelop project-wise and phase-wise handover plans covering unit volumes, readiness milestones, customer appointments, staffing, documentation and dependencies; align delivery dates with approved project programs.Translate handover targets into weekly and daily schedules, allocate resources across concurrent projects and maintain contingency plans for delayed readiness, customer rescheduling and peak handover periods.Lead readiness and progress meetings, maintain an action and risk register, assign accountable owners and escalate constraints with recovery plans and revised forecasts.2.Handover Readiness & Unit ReleaseObtain formal unit readiness confirmation from Projects and Quality Assurance/Quality Control before scheduling customer inspections, and track readiness by building, floor and unit against the handover plan.Ensure the customer-facing environment is ready for handover, including access routes, lifts, parking, common areas, utilities, security, handover lounge and customer reception arrangements, with sign-off from the responsible teams.Apply a documented unit release checklist and hold or escalate units with unresolved safety, readiness, payment or documentation issues; technical and quality certification remains with Projects and QA/QC.3.Customer Experience & Handover ManagementEnsure a seamless and professional customer journey throughout the handover process, promoting customer confidence, satisfaction, and trust.Oversee customer communications and ensure timely, accurate, and consistent updates on handover readiness, appointments, and outstanding matters.Manage complex and high-priority customer cases, ensuring concerns are addressed professionally and resolved within agreed timelines.Establish service standards and customer engagement protocols to minimize dissatisfaction and unnecessary escalations.Monitor customer feedback, NPS, complaints, and satisfaction indicators, implementing initiatives to improve the overall handover experience.Work closely with CRM and other customer-facing teams to ensure continuity throughout the customer lifecycle.4.Customer Inspections & Snag Follow-UpManage customer unit inspection appointments, ensuring handover staff guide customers through their unit and record customer-raised snags clearly and consistently in the agreed system.Pass customer snags to Projects and contractors for rectification, follow up on agreed closure dates, keep customers informed of progress and arrange re-inspection appointments once closure is confirmed.Maintain transparent records of any agreed outstanding minor items, customer acknowledgments and follow-up commitments; share recurring customer snag trends with Projects to improve future handovers.5.Financial, Contractual & Documentation ClearanceCoordinate with Finance and Collections to confirm payment status, approved payment arrangements and applicable charges before possession; obtain formal clearance and escalate exceptions through the approved authority matrix.Ensure customer identity, ownership records and representative authorizations are verified by the responsible teams; coordinate with Legal and Sales Administration on contractual prerequisites and disputed cases.Control handover packs, inspection records, possession acknowledgments, key and access-card registers, meter readings and warranty information; maintain complete, signed and retrievable unit files.6.Sharjah Authority & Utility CoordinationWork with the designated authority liaison, Legal and Projects teams to track applicable Sharjah completion, occupancy, registration and utility prerequisites relevant to each development and handover phase.Coordinate customer guidance and internal follow-up for utility activation, metering and property documentation, using current requirements confirmed by the responsible specialists.Maintain an approvals and dependencies tracker, escalate missing prerequisites and ensure customer-facing teams do not communicate unverified regulatory or registration commitments.7.Facilities, Community & Post-Handover TransitionCoordinate the transition to Facilities and Community Management, including operational contacts, access arrangements, move-in procedures, asset information and outstanding issue registers.Ensure customers receive clear guidance on reporting defects and service requests; route issues to the appropriate warranty, defects-liability or facilities team in line with contractual responsibilities.Monitor agreed post-handover follow-up, unresolved commitments and customer feedback until formal transfer or closure, maintaining clear ownership between handover and aftercare teams.8.Team Leadership & Resource ManagementOrganize handover officers, coordinators and inspection support resources in line with the approved structure; define responsibilities, appointment coverage and escalation routes.Provide process training and practical guidance on inspections, documentation, customer communication, system updates and safe site access; promote consistent service standards.Plan handover team capacity for peak periods, manage the handover operating budget (e.g., handover events, customer welcome packs and support services) and obtain approval before additional commitments.9.Systems, Reporting & Continuous ImprovementMaintain accurate unit-level records in the customer relationship management system and handover trackers, distinguishing technical readiness, financial clearance, inspection, possession and post-handover status.Issue management dashboards covering planned versus completed handovers, forecast dates, snag ageing, customer concerns, clearance bottlenecks and corrective actions; reconcile data with Projects and Finance.Develop and improve standard operating procedures, checklists, templates and digital workflows; protect customer information, maintain audit trails and capture lessons learned after each handover phase.Educational Qualifications, Work Experience, and Skills Required:Educational Qualifications:Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Real Estate Management, Engineering or a related discipline.Relevant certification in customer experience, property management or project management is preferred.Work Experience – Mandatory Requirements:Minimum 8 years of relevant experience in property handover or developer-side customer operations, including at least 3 years leading a property handover team or function.Direct employment experience with a UAE real estate developer in a property handover role is mandatory.Hands-on experience delivering property handovers for developments located in Sharjah is mandatory, including coordination of local project-readiness, customer documentation and utility-related handover dependencies.Demonstrated end-to-end delivery of residential or mixed-use handover phases, covering readiness planning, customer inspections, snag closure, financial clearance, possession documentation and post-handover transition.Experience managing concurrent handover schedules, customer escalations and cross-functional dependencies with Projects, Finance, Legal and Facilities/Community Management.Practical experience using customer relationship management systems, digital snagging tools and management dashboards to maintain auditable unit-level records.

Preferred Experience

Large-scale, phased residential communities, apartment developments or mixed-use projects with high-volume customer handovers.Establishing handover procedures, implementing digital workflows and improving customer satisfaction or handover cycle times.Skills Required:Strong understanding of developer-side handover workflows, unit readiness, snagging, possession controls and post-handover responsibilities.Working knowledge of Sharjah property handover interfaces and the ability to verify current authority, registration and utility requirements with the responsible specialists.Practical understanding of unit layouts, finishes and snag reports sufficient to guide customers during inspections and route technical matters to Projects and QA/QC for resolution.Customer-focused communication, complaint resolution, negotiation and expectation management, with clear written records and professional handling of escalations.Strong planning, prioritization, team coordination and problem-solving skills across multiple projects and time-sensitive dependencies.High attention to detail in financial clearances, customer authorizations, key control, document completeness and confidential information handling.Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, reporting tools, customer relationship management systems and digital inspection or snagging platforms.Professional written and spoken English; Arabic communication skills are an advantage.