Job Description

About the role:

We have an exciting opportunity for a Head of Workplace & Property to join our Operations department. The role is a key member of the Operations leadership team, providing trusted advice and challenge to the Chief Operating Officer and wider firm leadership on property, workplace and portfolio matters.

Lead the development and delivery of the firm’s workplace, property and facilities management strategy, with primary responsibility for the UK portfolio and an evolving remit to support a more joined-up approach across the firm’s offices in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The role is accountable for creating safe, resilient, inclusive and inspiring workplaces that support business growth, client service, collaboration, productivity, wellbeing and evolving ways of working. The postholder will optimise the UK office portfolio, support international property projects in partnership with local office leadership, provide strategic advice to senior leadership and lead a high-performing Workplace & Property function.

Broadly the role covers:

• International workplace and property strategy
• Property portfolio and commercial management
• Workplace experience and future ways of working
• Major workplace projects and capital investment
• Facilities operations, resilience and client experience

About you:

Key Skills and Experience:

• Demonstrable ability to balance long-term strategic planning with complex, time-critical operational and project demands, while maintaining sound judgement, attention to detail and a strong delivery focus.
• Significant experience of leading a corporate occupier property portfolio and workplace or FM function in a professional services or complex corporate environment.
• Demonstrable experience of developing and implementing long-term property, workplace and FM strategies aligned with organisational objectives.
• Experience of lease negotiations, re-gears, acquisitions, disposals, landlord relationships, space strategy and forward portfolio planning.
• Experience of leading complex workplace projects and major capital programmes, including fit-outs, transformations, mechanical and electrical upgrades, construction procurement, landlord and tenant responsibilities, capital budgeting and consultant management.
• Experience of overseeing hard and soft FM operations and establishing service standards, performance measures and supplier governance.
• Strong commercial, financial and technical judgement, including budget leadership, business-case development, option appraisal and contract management, with the ability to resolve complex property, workplace and FM issues and balance strategic, operational and risk considerations.
• Ability to use workplace, occupancy, financial and service data to inform decisions and demonstrate outcomes.
• Credibility and influence with senior business leaders, partners and governance bodies, including the ability to challenge constructively and lead through ambiguity.
• Strong leadership and people-management experience, with a track record of building capability and high-performing teams.
• Experience of leading organisational change and engaging stakeholders in new workplace strategies and ways of working.
• Understanding of risk, health and safety, statutory compliance, resilience and business continuity within a multi-site environment.
• An understanding of the legal sector and its commercial, client-service and cultural context.
• International workplace or property experience is desirable.
• A relevant property qualification and/or RICS membership is desirable.
• Candidates without a formal qualification must demonstrate substantial experience managing property portfolios on behalf of an organisation that occupies property for its own operations rather than as a landlord, developer or property investor.

Location: The role requires regular travel across the firm's offices, including frequent presence in Birmingham where the wider Property & Workplace team is primarily based.

What We Can Offer You:

The opportunity to work for a firm that has been recognised as one of best places to work in the UK and has been ranked by Great Place to Work® for 26 consecutive years.

Excellent benefits, including:

• A hybrid approach to office and remote working.
• 25 days annual leave, with the option to buy up to a week's extra annual leave
• Private medical insurance, and the option to add family members
• A generous pension allowance
• Life assurance covering four times your annual salary
• The chance of a three-month sabbatical every five years
• Maternity, paternity and adoption leave schemes
• A range of health and wellbeing programmes
• State of the art offices, with an onsite restaurant
• Opportunities to flourish in your role through training and personal development

Equal Opportunities:

Gowling WLG is committed both to promoting equality and diversity in the firm and to Equal Opportunities in employment. The firm believes in equality of opportunity regardless of race or racial group (including colour, nationality, ethnicity, national origins), religion or belief, age, disability, sexual orientation, sex, gender re-assignment and gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy, maternity and paternity. This also includes any incidents of perceptive or associative discrimination and harassment.

At Gowling WLG we seek to attract and retain talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds and cultures, to create an exciting and rewarding place to work. Our aim is to fulfil everyone's potential and together to achieve personal and business goals.

If you have any queries in relation to this position or would like to see a full job description please contact Meg Astley at meg.astley@gowlingwlg.com

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