Manager – Real Estate

AlphaSights is the global leader in knowledge on-demand. We connect investment and business leaders with a dynamic network of industry professionals whose informed perspectives help our clients make superior investment and business decisions. With 2000+ employees and nine offices across the US, Europe, Middle East, and Asia, AlphaSights regularly ranks as one of the fastest-growing companies in the world. Learn more at alphasights.com.

 

The Role

Based in our London Office, this position will be to manage our global Real Estate portfolio and work closely with our workplace experience team in managing our facilities. Sitting within the global Finance function, and working closely with senior stakeholders across the organisation, the Real Estate Manager will take a role in setting our global real estate strategy, and will be responsible for the end-to-end delivery, tracking, and operations of our global real estate footprint. 

We are a high-growth organisation that is driven by attracting and engaging top talent globally. As such, ensuring that our physical office space and associated facilities are world-class is central to our success. This is an ideal role for someone who is passionate about creating attractive workspaces that energise our global team and engender a collaborative and dynamic organisational culture. 

This role also represents a good fit for someone looking to leverage their commercial acumen and negotiation skills to make a meaningful impact on the bottom line of a global business. The operating and capital expenditure associated with our real estate footprint across 9 locations accounts for a significant proportion of our cost base. Ensuring that our facilities are as economical and efficient as they are attractive is a key facet of this role. 

This remit is best suited for someone looking to take on an exciting challenge, and bring impressive experience and energy to bear on a high-growth organisation with a global footprint. 

This role is a maternity cover role, with a fixed term of 12 months.

Responsibilities 

Real Estate Strategy and Planning:

• Monitor headcount growth projections vs physical space by office. Propose detailed plans and associated cost models that consider densification, expansion, renewal and relocation options. Propose, maintain, and report on budgets for operating and capital expenditure. 

Lease Negotiations:

• Manage broker partners (in geographies where they are used) to build a pipeline of options, having worked with key stakeholders to develop briefs. Select a shortlist of options, propose and execute a negotiation strategy. Review and negotiate lease agreements, working with in-house and external legal counsel. Ensure AlphaSights, landlords, and 3rd parties operate within the parameters of negotiated leases. 

Project Management:

• Manage construction build outs, densifications, refurbishments, and reinstatements. Design briefs, interview, negotiate rates, and appoint 3rd party professional teams (e.g. design & build organisations / general contractors / external RE counsel / cost consultants / architects). Manage external and internal teams to deliver projects within time and budget. 

Facilities Management:

• Work closely with other stakeholders to ensure smooth running of all aspects of our global facilities and facilities services, including: maintenance / security / cleaning / rates appeal / H&S / fire safety / business continuity / waste. Work with local operations teams to keep pulse of workspace requirements of local business units, collate and analyse inputs, and plan and implement re-stacking as necessary. 

Vendor Management:

• Work with a diverse team of internal and external stakeholders, both directly and indirectly, to achieve goals.
• In addition to leveraging 3rd party vendors and partners, this role will primarily scale through indirect management of global Workplace Experience and Facilities team members and partnership with local stakeholders 

 

Requirements

• F&RE Experience: 8+ years of directly relevant experience in a fast-paced environment.  Robust experience and demonstrable successes in each of the areas listed under “Responsibilities.” Experience managing tens to hundreds of thousands of square feet globally across multiple sites. Knowledge of real estate standards, policies, metrics, and best practices is required. Global experience is a plus.
• Qualifications: A Bachelor’s Degree is a requirement, preferably relating to Real Estate, Facilities, Construction Management, Finance, or Real Estate Finance. Relevant professional qualifications are a plus (Project Management / Facilities Management). Proven record of achievement in professional, academic and/or extracurricular activities. 
• Results Orientation and Drive: The successful candidate will be a resourceful self-starter with strong prioritisation skills, taking a pragmatic approach to identifying the highest impact areas of focus, then designing and following well-considered plans to unlock value. Resilience and determination are key qualities for this role, as is a meticulous mindset and consistent attention to detail.
• Creativity and Adaptability: This role requires a tolerance for ambiguity, as well as the ability to conceive of innovative and efficient new systems and workarounds.
• Analytical mindset: Takes a structured, logical, and critical approach to problems. Sharp appreciation and manipulation of value drivers. Comfortable modelling and comparing scenarios in excel. Gets a kick out of constantly optimising.
• Organisation and Project Management: Extensive experience managing multiple concurrent large-scale projects. Tackles projects, business as usual operations, and ad hoc tasks with a meticulous, organised, and thorough approach.
• Agility: Confident multi-tasker who relishes the challenge of working cross- function / geography / project / discipline, with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders
• Communication: Compelling written and spoken communicator, comfortable navigating nuance and inspiring confidence and positivity in others.
• Stakeholder Management and Interpersonal Skills: Working as a sparring partner across all functions, levels, and regions, the successful candidate will be able to quickly forge trusted and positive professional relationships. The ability to create, assess, and constructively challenge compelling business cases is a crucial skill in this position. High EQ; gravitas to convey expertise along with the humility to accept feedback and others’ points of view in a highly collaborative environment.
• Design skills: Strives for careful design of physical environments, processes, and user experience