Director, Global Real Estate

About the role

The Director, Global Real Estate owns the firm's global real estate strategy and portfolio. This is a strategy-and-oversight role for global real estate activities across strategy, workplace design, transactions, and financial management of the global lease portfolio.

Responsibilities

• Portfolio Strategy & Governance
  • Define and own the global real estate strategy, portfolio plan, and occupancy strategy aligned to firm growth and integration
  • Establish 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 outsourced 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 adaptations 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
  • 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)
• 10+ years of global corporate real estate experience within a multinational organization, 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
• Pioneered ability to provide strategic oversight of a global or multi-country portfolio
• Excellent stakeholder-management and executive-communication skills
• Ability to travel as business needs arise (international and domestic)

Benefits

The base salary range for this position is between $184,000 and $276,000. 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.

About Us

At Grant Thornton, we believe in making business more personal and building trust into every result – for our clients and you. Here, we go beyond your expectations of a career in professional services by offering a career path with more: more opportunity, more flexibility, and more support. It’s what makes us different, and we think being different makes us better. In the U.S., Grant Thornton delivers professional services through two specialized entities: Grant Thornton LLP, a licensed, certified public accounting (CPA) firm that provides audit and assurance services ― and Grant Thornton Advisors LLC (not a licensed CPA firm), which exclusively provides non-attest offerings, including tax and advisory services. In 2025, Grant Thornton formed a multinational, multidisciplinary platform with Grant Thornton Ireland. The platform offers a premier Trans-Atlantic advisory and tax practice, as well as independent American and Irish audit practices. With $2.7 billion in revenues and more than 50 offices spanning the U.S., Ireland and other territories, the platform delivers a singular client experience that includes enhanced solutions and capabilities, backed by powerful technologies and a roster of 12,000 quality-driven professionals enjoying exceptional career-growth opportunities and a distinctive cross-border culture. Grant Thornton is part of the Grant Thornton International Limited network, which provides access to its member firms in more than 150 global markets.