Senior Director, Global Real Estate

Grant Thornton is seeking a Senior Director, Real Estate to join the team. Approved office locations can be found below. 

The Senior Director, Real Estate owns the firm's global real estate strategy and portfolio. This role leads global real estate activities across strategy, workplace design, transactions, and financial management of the global lease portfolio. The Senior Director sets portfolio direction, occupancy strategy, and workplace design standards, and partners closely with Workplace Operations on place-based execution.

Key Responsibilities

Portfolio Strategy & Governance

• Define and own the global real estate strategy, portfolio plan, and occupancy strategy aligned to firm growth and integration

• Build and lead a new global real estate organization with the capabilities, operating model, and regional reach required to support a changing portfolio driven by global acquisitions and organic growth

• Set workplace design standards and guardrails applied across the portfolio

• Establish real estate governance, data, and analytics to support capital and occupancy decisions

• Continuously evaluate and propose automation and AI adoption opportunities within real estate and design & construction processes, partnering with Global Transformation & Integration on centralized prioritization and delivery

Transactions & Partner Management

• Own the transactions strategy and oversee execution through the firm's appointed real estate transactions partner

• Oversee the external design & construction partner relationships, ensuring best-in-class outcomes with fees appropriately charged to capital projects

• Manage an outsource provider- and partner-first delivery model, holding partners accountable to performance and service standards

Design & Construction Oversight

• Own the global design standards, recommending changes in office designs and layouts in accordance with business needs and regional/local adaptions where necessary

• Ensure projects are delivered on scope, schedule, and budget, and to firm design standards

Data, Analytics & Performance

• Establish metrics and targets for efficiency, cost, and customer satisfaction across the real estate portfolio

• Build, monitor, and act on reports and dashboards that track performance and progress against targets, elevating the function's data, analytics, and business-intelligence maturity

• Example metrics: occupancy cost and cost per square foot/seat, lease timelines and upcoming expirations, office/space utilization, portfolio footprint and vacancy/sublease exposure, and capital project budget vs. actual — informing strategic portfolio decisions

• Use data-driven insights to inform decisions, prioritize improvements, and demonstrate value to firm leadership

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Partner with Workplace Operations on place-based execution (occupancy, moves, fit-outs) via the dotted-line relationship with Regional Managers

• Collaborate with Finance on capital planning, accounting and financial reporting treatment, and project economics

• Represent the function with strong executive presence, delivering clear, concise, and executive-ready communications and deliverables

• Co-design the function's detailed target model with the Global Administrative Services Leader

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in real estate, business, architecture/engineering, or a related field (advanced degree a plus)

• 15+ years of corporate real estate experience, including portfolio strategy and transactions oversight

• Experience leading a partner-led delivery model (brokerage, design, and construction vendors)

• Strong financial acumen, including capital planning and project economics

• Proven ability to provide strategic oversight of a global or multi-country portfolio

• Excellent stakeholder-management and executive-communication skills

The base salary range for this position is between $187,500 and $312,500. Placement within the pay range is at Grant Thornton’s discretion, and it is based on multiple factors, including but not limited to, job -related knowledge/skills, experience, business needs, progression within the role, geographic location, and internal equity. At Grant Thornton, compensation decisions are dependent upon the facts and circumstances of each position and candidate.