Senior Manager, Global Real Estate & Workplace Experience

​ Heidrick & Struggles is the world’s foremost advisor on executive leadership, driving superior client performance through premier human capital leadership advisory services. For more than 70 years, we’ve delivered value for our clients by leveraging unrivaled expertise to help organizations discover and enable outstanding leaders and teams. Learn more at

Job Description:

Who We Are:

Heidrick & Struggles is a premier provider of executive search, leadership assessment and development, organization and team effectiveness, and culture shaping services globally. In our more than 60 year history, we have conducted some of the most high-profile C-suite and board-level searches in the world.

Today, we are working with our clients across 29 countries to help them accelerate their performance and respond with agility to new opportunities and challenges in every industry. We continue to raise the bar in serving our clients as trusted leadership advisors, and we are also providing an expanded range of data-driven, tech-enabled tools and platforms across our executive search and consulting businesses. Managing top talent isn’t just our business. It’s our passion, and we are committed to investing in and developing the careers of our own people.

We look for people with experience from a variety of industries and diverse educational backgrounds who are passionate about partnering with innovative and influential organizations and share our commitment to our purpose – to help our clients change the world, one leadership team at a time.

Additional information on the firm can be found at .

The Role:

The Senior Manager leads the day-to-day strategic management of this global portfolio and translates business needs, workplace requirements and financial objectives into practical real estate solutions. They will serve as Heidrick & Struggles’ enterprise owner for global real estate portfolio management and workplace strategy, with accountability for portfolio planning, transactions, occupancy optimization, financial analysis, strategic-provider governance and executive recommendations. The role partners closely with Finance, Accounting, Operations, HR, Technology, regional leaders, Legal, Procurement and strategic service providers, including JLL.

Responsibilities:

• Own the global office and co-working portfolio, including openings, renewals, relocations, consolidations and exits.
• Develop and maintain a rolling three- to five-year portfolio plan covering lease expirations, options, capital requirements, anticipated demand and portfolio risks.
• Lead transaction strategy for new leases, renewals, terminations and flexible-workspace agreements, using market intelligence and brokerage support from JLL and other providers.
• Maintain a complete view of lease and workspace commitments, including critical dates, rights, obligations, restoration requirements and concentration or continuity risks.
• Prepare data-supported recommendations to expand, consolidate, relocate, exit or change workspace models, and lead internal approval materials and executive decision discussions.
• Establish annual portfolio priorities and portfolio-level targets for cost, utilization, flexibility and risk reduction.
• Establish global workplace principles, space standards, workspace classifications and decision frameworks that reflect Heidrick’s brand, client experience and employee workstyles.
• Develop occupancy plans, seat and desk ratios, utilization thresholds and triggers for expansion, contraction or configuration changes.
• Analyze occupancy and utilization data to right-size the portfolio, improve collaboration and ensure space remains aligned with business demand and cost expectations.
• Partner with HR, Technology and regional leaders on hybrid-work enablement, workplace adoption, employee experience and change management.
• Sponsor workplace pilots and use employee and office-leader feedback to evaluate their impact on utilization, collaboration, experience and cost.
• Own lease abstracts, rent schedules and key commercial terms for all locations, ensuring reliable portfolio and critical-date information.
• Validate business demand and challenge regional space requests before market engagement; recommend approval, modification or rejection of proposed office investments.
• Build financial models and scenario analyses comparing locations, lease structures, fixed and flexible space, and capital-versus-operating cost trade-offs.
• Partner with Finance and Accounting on budgets, forecasts, variance analysis and lease-accounting inputs under applicable IFRS and ASC requirements.
• Develop internal business cases and, when required, support investor-facing narratives for major investments, moves, consolidations or exits.
• Own the global governance framework and day-to-day executive relationship for JLL and other strategic real estate providers.
• Define provider scope, annual objectives, service levels, KPIs, reporting requirements and service-improvement plans; conduct quarterly business reviews and annual performance assessments.
• Determine when providers should initiate site searches, renewal negotiations, exit planning or other transaction activity.
• Review provider fees, pass-through costs, savings performance, resource levels and control effectiveness, and require corrective-action plans where performance falls short.
• Manage significant service failures, contractual escalations, competitive sourcing and scope changes in partnership with Procurement and Legal.
• Oversee co-working and serviced-office contracts to ensure commercial value, service quality, brand alignment and cost control
• Partner with regional office leaders and corporate functions to translate business requirements into real estate and workplace solutions that balance experience, cost, risk and flexibility.
• Communicate options, recommendations and material lease, financial, operational or service risks clearly to senior stakeholders.
• Serve as business sponsor and governance lead for material fit-outs, refurbishments and relocations, approving project objectives, scope, budget recommendations, delivery strategy and key business decisions.
• Oversee project outcomes through JLL or another appointed project manager; detailed scheduling, construction administration, site coordination and routine vendor management are generally performed by the external project-management team.
• Contribute to longer-term real estate strategy and workplace evolution as Heidrick’s business and client expectations change.
• Own data quality and governance for lease-administration and portfolio-management systems.
• Establish and maintain a single source of truth for lease, occupancy, utilization, cost, transaction and critical-date information.
• Define reporting standards and produce executive dashboards that support accounting, forecasting, transaction management and strategic planning.
• Conduct periodic data-quality and control reviews with Finance, Accounting and JLL.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in business, finance, real estate, architecture, engineering or a related field.
• 7–10+ years of experience in corporate real estate, commercial leasing, workplace strategy, or facilities or operations with a substantial real estate component.
• Direct experience managing a multi-site office portfolio.
• Experience leading lease or flexible-workspace transactions and developing executive-level financial business cases and recommendations.
• Proven experience governing major corporate real estate service providers, such as JLL or CBRE, through service levels, KPIs and performance reviews.
• Demonstrated accountability for real estate financial analysis, budgeting, forecasting, occupancy planning and portfolio reporting.
• Strong analytical and financial-modeling skills, with advanced proficiency in Excel and the ability to interpret real estate, occupancy and utilization data.
• Solid understanding of commercial lease terms, including rent, tenant improvements, options, restoration obligations and basic lease-accounting concepts.
• Experience with traditional leased offices and flexible or co-working models, including the commercial and operational differences between them.
• Ability to think strategically about portfolio and workplace requirements while maintaining a practical orientation toward execution, controls and detail.
• Excellent communication, executive-presentation and influencing skills, with the ability to work effectively with senior leaders, Partners and cross-functional teams across regions.
• Sound judgment and the ability to make recommendations with incomplete information, manage competing priorities and operate effectively in a fast-paced, client-driven environment.
• High degree of integrity, accountability and resilience.

Preferred Qualifications:

• An advanced degree or relevant professional certification, such as CoreNet or IFMA.
• Experience managing a multi-site office portfolio across multiple countries or regions.

Pay Range Guidelines for this Position:

The salary range for this position is 140000 USD to 175000 USD. Compensation is based on several factors including but not limited to education, work experience and skills. In addition to your salary, Heidrick & Struggles offers discretionary bonuses (subject to eligibility requirements) and a comprehensive benefits package including: medical, dental, vision, disability leave, parental leave, paid time off and 401k contribution (all benefits are subject to eligibility requirements). Note: we have a location based compensation structure; there may be a different range for candidates in other locations.

Heidrick & Struggles is an equal opportunity employer committed to hiring qualified protected veterans and individuals with disabilities. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, creed, age, sex, national origin, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability, marital status, veteran or military status, or citizenship status.