General Manager

About the Role

We're opening a new 850,000 square foot campus in Dallas for a Fortune 500 financial services client - a ground-up build that will be one of the most ambitious corporate workplace projects in the country. The General Manager (GM) will define what the experience feels like from day one.

This is a hospitality leadership role in a corporate environment that oversees facilities management as part of a wider remit. You'll set and hold the standard across every touchpoint in the building - from the arrival experience to executive dining, from the events calendar to how a work order gets closed, from HVAC preventative maintenance to emergency break-fix - with the precision and intentionality of the best hotels in the world.

The scope spans Food & Beverage (F&B), reception and visitor management, events and programming, facilities, cleaning, security, lifestyle services, and technology. Some of those teams report to you directly, and you will manage hiring, goals, bonuses, and performance. Many don't - they're employed by vendor partners. You set the standard, enforce quality, and own every outcome regardless of who signs the paycheck. Think of it as conducting an orchestra where the musicians come from different ensembles but need to play as one.

You'll manage an operating budget in the tens of millions, with full transparency to a client who thinks about money the way you'd expect from a global financial institution. That means real P&L ownership: variance reporting, forecasting, cross-category tradeoffs, and the ability to connect every dollar to a tangible experience outcome.


You'll be in the building before it opens, building the team, contributing to partner selection and service design, and preparing for launch. This is a rare opportunity to write the playbook rather than inherit one.

Reports to the US Alliance Director for the client, who oversees all US client sites.

A typical day might look like:

Morning walkthroughs from the occupant's perspective - checking how the lobby feels, whether the coffee program is sharp, if the conference rooms are set the way they should be. A stand-up meeting with your direct leads and vendor partner managers to clear roadblocks. A deep dive into last month's cost variance in F&B with your finance lead, then a conversation with the client's real estate team about an upcoming board event that needs flawless execution. Afternoon coaching session with a team lead who's strong operationally but needs to develop their ability to read a room. You will close the day by walking around the building again because things look different at 5pm than they do at 8am.

Winning in this role means:

• The building is talked about - by the client, by visitors, by the people who work there every day - as one of the best workplaces they've ever experienced
• You run a tight operation financially. The client trusts your numbers, trusts your judgment on where to spend and where to save, and sees the connection between what they're paying and what they're getting
• 100-200+ people from multiple employers operate as one team with one culture, and that culture is unmistakably yours
• Problems get surfaced and solved before the client finds them. When something does go wrong, the client's first instinct is to call you because they trust you'll handle it
• The people on your team are growing - you're building future leaders, not just filling shifts

You'll love this role and succeed at it if:

• You are a hospitality person to your core. Not because it's on your resume, but because you can't walk through a lobby without noticing what's off. You've spent years in environments where every detail matters - hotels, restaurants, premium events - and you've internalized a standard that most people can't articulate but everyone can feel.
• You think about things from the numbers first . You're quick to frame any problem or opportunity in terms of its economic impact. You manage a P&L the way an owner would, not the way someone would who reports to the owner. You can hold your own in a conversation with a CFO about cost-quality tradeoffs.
• You know how to get results through people you don't directly control. You've managed outsourced teams, vendor partners, or multi-employer environments. You set expectations through contracts and KPIs, but you get results through relationships, trust, and relentless follow-up.
• You are a player/coach. You easily code-switch between a strategic conversation with the client's head of real estate and a coaching conversation with a reception lead about how to greet a VIP. You're on the floor every day, not behind a desk.
• You have high horsepower. You can own many things at once, dig into any topic - even ones where no one knows the answer - and get to a great solution quickly. A long to-do list energizes you.
• People want to follow you. Your teams go above and beyond not because you demand it, but because you lift people up. You're energizing to be around. You have a high standard and a warm way of holding people to it.

This might not be the right role for you if:

• You've managed buildings but not experiences. If your background is primarily in property management or corporate real estate without direct hospitality operations, the daily rhythm of this role will feel foreign.
• You've relied on a Director of Finance to own the numbers. This GM owns the P&L personally - variance analysis, forecasting, tradeoff decisions. If financial management has been a support function rather than a core part of your operating identity, this will be a stretch.
• You prefer managing people who all report to you. Most of the people in this building are employed by partner organizations. If ambiguity in authority makes you uncomfortable, this structure will be frustrating.
• You need a playbook handed to you. This is a pre-opening role. You'll be building the playbook, not executing someone else's.

Requirements:

• Hospitality instinct built through direct hospitality industry experience - hotels, premium F&B, luxury events, or equivalent environments where the standard is felt, not just measured
• P&L ownership at $10M+ annually with demonstrated authority to make cross-category spending decisions
• People leadership at 50+ person scale
• Experience managing a demanding institutional client or ownership group at an executive level

Strong Preferences:

• Pre-opening or new property launch experience
• Experience leading teams across multiple employers or partner organizations
• F&B oversight as part of a broader operation
• Exposure to building operations or facilities management
• Dallas market knowledge

Location:

Dallas, TX. This is a fully on-site role.


The GM will be in seat 6-9 months before the building opens to lead pre-opening planning, hiring, and partner onboarding.

Equal Employment Opportunity: CBRE has a long-standing commitment to providing equal employment opportunity to all qualified applicants regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, veteran status, political belief, or any other basis protected by applicable law.

Candidate Accommodations: CBRE values the differences of all current and prospective employees and recognizes how every employee contributes to our company's success. CBRE provides reasonable accommodations in job application procedures for individuals with disabilities. If you require assistance due to a disability in the application or recruitment process, please submit a request via email at View email address on click.appcast.io or via telephone at View phone number on click.appcast.io (U.S.) and View phone number on click.appcast.io (Canada).


CBRE GWS


CBRE Global Workplace Solutions (GWS) works with clients to make real estate a meaningful contributor to organizational productivity and performance. Our account management model is at the heart of our client-centric approach to delivering integrated real estate solutions. Each client is entrusted with a dedicated leader and is supported by regional and global resources, leveraging the industry's most robust platform. CBRE GWS delivers consistent, measurably superior outcomes for our clients at every stage of the lifecycle, and across industries and geographies.

Find out more