Director of Corporate Projects & Real Estate

Job Description

Job Description:\n\n Position Summary\n The Director of Corporate Projects and Real Estate owns Knight-Swift Supply Chain's (KSSC) project delivery and commercial real estate capability end to end — leading the corporate project portfolio, the acquisition and disposition of warehouse facilities, and the startup, relocation, consolidation, and closure of operations across the network. This role is the single accountable owner for answering three questions on every facility commitment KSSC makes: whether the building, schedule, and budget will support the operation that has been sold, what it will cost to secure and stand up, and whether the facility is genuinely ready before it is released to a customer.\n Beyond individual projects, this role sustains project management and real estate as a living business capability — owning the stage gates, governance routines, and readiness standards the organization executes from, and maintaining forward visibility to lease expirations, renewal options, and notice dates across the network. Partnering closely with Operations, Solutions Design, Business Development, Finance, Legal, Information Technology, Safety, Procurement, and Operations and Analytics Excellence (OAX), the Director protects the capital, schedule, and customer commitments behind every facility decision — bringing Ownership and Quality to life in the way we build, open, and operate buildings.\n Essential Duties and Responsibilities\n \n Project Portfolio and Program Leadership\n \n \n Develops and executes the strategic roadmap for corporate project management, commercial real estate, warehouse development, and facility transitions, translating company objectives and growth plans into prioritized programs with defined scope, ownership, milestones, budgets, and performance measures.\n Directs multiple concurrent projects from initiation through planning, execution, implementation, stabilization, and closeout, ensuring each carries an approved charter, business case, budget, schedule, resource plan, risk register, and success criteria.\n Establishes repeatable processes, templates, stage gates, decision criteria, and governance routines, including steering committees, project reviews, milestone assessments, and escalation procedures, that scale with growth.\n Monitors project performance against scope, schedule, budget, quality, safety, and operational-readiness expectations, and identifies risks, dependencies, and resource conflicts early enough to lead mitigation or recovery.\n Develops project dashboards and executive-level reporting that communicate status, financial performance, critical risks, and decisions needed, and provides data-driven recommendations on facility strategy, capital deployment, and project sequencing.\n Transitions completed projects to the appropriate operational owner with complete documentation, training, warranties, contracts, and open-item tracking, and leads lessons-learned reviews that feed future standards and playbooks.\n \n \n Commercial Real Estate\n \n \n Leads KSSC's commercial real estate activity in coordination with executive leadership, Legal, Finance, Operations, Solutions Design, and external brokers.\n Translates facility specifications developed by the Solutions Design team into property-search requirements, including square footage, clear height, dock configuration, trailer parking, power, fire protection, floor condition, site access, labor availability, zoning, and permitting.\n Manages broker relationships and coordinates site searches, property tours, test fits, due diligence, and comparative facility evaluations covering lease economics, operating expenses, tenant improvements, capital requirements, transportation impacts, labor markets, expansion capacity, and operational risk.\n Supports the negotiation of letters of intent (LOI), leases, amendments, renewals, subleases, purchase agreements, and tenant-improvement allowances in partnership with Legal and executive leadership, documenting business requirements, financial impacts, risks, and approvals.\n Maintains visibility to critical lease dates, renewal options, notice periods, rent escalations, and facility obligations across the network, and develops long-range facility strategies aligned to customer contracts, operational forecasts, and growth plans.\n \n \n Facility Startups, Transitions, and Closures\n \n \n Leads new warehouse projects from opportunity assessment through facility stabilization and formal transition to Operations, delivering startups safely, on schedule, and within approved budget.\n Coordinates facility design, construction, permitting, racking, material handling equipment (MHE), technology, security, safety systems, utilities, and signage, and partners with Solutions Design to confirm the facility supports the approved operating model, throughput requirements, labor plan, material flow, and future growth.\n Develops integrated startup plans covering real estate, construction, Information Technology, Warehouse Management System (WMS) implementation, customer integrations, procurement, staffing, training, inventory transfer, testing, and go-live readiness.\n Establishes commissioning, testing, acceptance, and readiness standards before a facility is released for customer or operational use, and facilitates pre-launch readiness reviews that assign owners, corrective actions, and approved resolution dates to critical deficiencies.\n Leads post-go-live stabilization and verifies that performance meets approved project and customer expectations.\n Leads facility closures, consolidations, and relocations, including exit plans addressing inventory movement, customer communication, associate impacts, equipment disposition, Information Technology decommissioning, landlord requirements, and facility restoration, while minimizing operational disruption and cost.\n \n \n Acquisitions and Business Transitions\n \n \n Leads or supports project management for acquisitions, integrations, divestitures, and major business transitions, developing integration plans that address people, processes, customers, systems, facilities, contracts, compliance, and organizational change.\n Conducts structured assessments that identify operational gaps, implementation risks, resource needs, and critical dependencies, and establishes transition governance, workstreams, milestones, decision rights, and executive reporting.\n Tracks synergy commitments, integration costs, and achievement of anticipated business benefits, and captures lessons learned into repeatable transition playbooks.\n \n \n Financial and Resource Management\n \n \n Develops annual operating and capital budgets for projects, real estate initiatives, facility startups, relocations, and closures.\n Prepares business cases, financial comparisons, capital requests, return on investment (ROI) analyses, and total-cost-of-occupancy models.\n Monitors committed and actual project expense, forecasts cost-to-complete, addresses unfavorable variances, and ensures project changes follow established review and approval requirements.\n Reviews vendor proposals, statements of work, change orders, and invoices for accuracy and contractual compliance, and partners with Procurement to competitively source contractors, consultants, suppliers, equipment, and professional services.\n \n \n Team Leadership, Governance, and Continuous Improvement\n \n \n Recruits, leads, coaches, and develops the Senior Manager of Corporate Projects and Real Estate and, through that position, the Project Manager and Assistant Project Manager team; sets priorities, balances workload, and builds capability in project management, negotiation, financial analysis, and change leadership.\n Serves as the primary liaison among executive leadership, internal departments, customers, landlords, brokers, and contractors; facilitates steering committees, project reviews, and facility-selection meetings; and presents complex project and real estate information in a concise, decision-oriented format.\n Influences outcomes across functions where direct reporting authority does not exist, and supports Business Development by providing facility strategy, startup expertise, budget estimates, and implementation timelines for prospective customers.\n Ensures projects comply with applicable laws, permits, building codes, lease requirements, customer commitments, and company policy; partners with Safety, Security, Legal, Information Technology, and Human Resources to build risk controls into every project; and confirms that vendors and contractors meet insurance, safety, and performance requirements.\n Maintains complete project documentation, approvals, contracts, decision logs, and risk registers, and partners with Operations and Analytics Excellence (OAX) on reporting, performance measures, and continuous-improvement initiatives that can be replicated across the warehouse network.\n Reports on function performance measures, including on-time and on-budget project completion, facility readiness at go-live, budget forecast accuracy and capital-project return on investment, real estate savings and cost avoidance, compliance with project stage gates, unresolved risks at launch, stakeholder satisfaction, on-time completion of lease renewals and notice requirements, and team development and retention.\n Performs other duties as assigned.\n \n Required Qualifications\n \n Bachelor's degree in project management, construction management, engineering, real estate, supply chain, business administration, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education, professional certification, and demonstrated experience.\n Seven (7) or more years of progressively responsible experience delivering capital, construction, facility, or supply chain projects, including three (3) or more years leading project managers or cross-functional project teams.\n Demonstrated experience managing a portfolio of concurrent projects with competing deadlines, capital budgets, and executive-level reporting.\n Experience opening, relocating, expanding, consolidating, or closing warehouse, distribution, manufacturing, or comparable commercial facilities.\n Experience selecting and securing commercial industrial space, including managing broker relationships and supporting the negotiation of letters of intent (LOI), leases, renewals, subleases, and tenant-improvement terms.\n Experience building capital budgets, capital requests, financial models, and executive business cases, and managing project spend against approved budgets.\n Ability to translate business and operational requirements into executable facility and project plans, and to interpret building specifications, test fits, construction documents, and facility layouts.\n Strong analytical, decision-making, and problem-solving ability, with the written, verbal, and presentation skills required to brief executive leadership and influence stakeholders without direct reporting authority.\n Proficiency with Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint and with project scheduling or portfolio management software.\n Ability to work onsite at the Dallas corporate headquarters full time; remote and hybrid arrangements are not available for this role.\n Ability to travel approximately 25 percent, including overnight and multi-day travel, with a valid driver's license and an acceptable driving record.\n Third-party logistics (3PL), warehousing, fulfillment, or distribution experience preferred.\n Experience leading acquisitions, integrations, or other complex organizational transitions preferred.\n Project Management Professional (PMP) certification preferred; comparable project-management education, certification, and demonstrated experience may be accepted in place of a PMP.\n Lean Six Sigma, Prosci Change Management, Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM), or construction-management credentials preferred.\n Working knowledge of lease structures, operating expenses, tenant improvements, property due diligence, critical-date administration, and total-cost-of-occupancy analysis preferred.\n Experience with warehouse design, automation, Warehouse Management System (WMS) implementations, material handling equipment (MHE), and racking preferred.\n \n Physical Demands\n \n Regularly required to sit, stand, walk, communicate, and use a computer and standard office equipment, including extended keyboarding and close reading of data, drawings, and contract documents.\n Frequently required to move throughout warehouse, construction, and commercial property environments, including walking active facilities on concrete surfaces for extended periods.\n Occasionally required to climb stairs, bend, stoop, and reach to inspect facility and project conditions, and to lift or move items weighing up to 25 lbs.\n \n Work Environment\n \n Standard office environment with moderate noise levels.\n Regular time in warehouse, construction-site, and commercial property environments, which may include noise, dust, temperatures not controlled by climate systems, moving equipment, uneven surfaces, and active work areas.\n Exposure to moving material handling equipment (MHE), including forklifts and conveyors, when in operating facilities; compliance with all site safety, security, and personal protective equipment (PPE) requirements is mandatory.\n \n Travel Requirements\n \n Travel of approximately 25% is required depending on project activity and geographic scope, and includes property tours, due-diligence reviews, construction meetings, warehouse startups, facility transitions, and acquisition integrations.\n \n Equipment Used\n \n Standard office equipment, including laptop computer, monitors, printer/scanner/copier, and telephone or softphone.\n Microsoft Office Suite, with advanced use of Excel and PowerPoint.\n Project scheduling and portfolio management software used to maintain schedules, milestones, risk registers, stage gates, and executive dashboards.\n \n Supervisory Responsibilities\n \n Directly supervises one (1) Senior Manager of Corporate Projects and Real Estate and leads a team of five (5) through that position, including two (2) Project Managers and two (2) Assistant Project Managers.\n \n Benefits Offered:\n \n Health Coverage That Starts Fast – Medical, Dental & Vision kicks in the first of the month after just 30 days. \n Smile on Us – We’re covering your dental premiums for all of 2026! \n Security You Can Count On – Paid Life Insurance + 401(k) with company match. \n Time Off from Day One – PTO, holidays, and 2 floating holidays for flexibility. \n Weekly Paychecks – Because waiting is overrated. \n Invest in YOU – Full tuition grants & tuition reimbursement. \n Celebrate Success – Quarterly performance bonuses. \n \n Hayes Company/Knight Swift Warehousing and Fulfillment is an equal opportunity employer and considers qualified applicants for employment regardless of race, gender identity, gender expression, age, color, religion, disability, veter