Real Estate Manager for Pakistan, Turkey, Arabia and Bangladesh

Reports to: RE Lead – India and PTAB

Scope: Regional - PTAB

Location: Istanbul, Turkey (preferred); Others within PTAB may be considered.

PURPOSE OF THE ROLE

The role will manage Unilever’s real estate portfolio in PTAB (Pakistan, Turkey, Arabia, Bangladesh, and any relevant geography that the business needs to engage in). Our real estate portfolio includes Offices, Supply Chain – land, factories and warehouses, and other asset classes. This role is part of the Global Workplace team and would report to the RE Lead for India and PTAB. It is a senior role in Unilever, where this role would be instrumental in enabling us to respond to changing business needs, minimizing costs and taking opportunities to maximize value while balancing risks. We are looking for a team player with leadership qualities of an owner’s mindset, who is self-driven, and who is excited by new challenges. Scope includes:

• Office, Residential, Land, Supply Chain, R&D, Retail and others.
• Owned, leased and 3P managed sites are within the scope of this role.
• Transactions, including but not limited to, acquisitions (buy, lease, built-to-suit), divestments (sale, lease exits), and other portfolio related activities (such as, renewals, rental etc.).
• Role is supported by an established 3P global supplier though transactions may be delivered without the 3P support.
• Ensure that Unilever’s governance and policies are adhered to.

WHAT WILL YOUR MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES BE

• Understand business units’ plans, space demands and real estate market trends and provide thought leadership in strategy sessions with business units to drive the best solutions considering all relevant occupancy scenarios.
• Proactively manage occupancy costs by understanding business units’ demands, market trends, hybrid ways of working, and space planning requirements to implement the best occupancy strategies and commercial options for the business (including sale/lease backs, adjustments of rent to market, etc.).
• Drive the Logistics Real Estate strategy aligned with the global guidelines and governance in place and drive wider support for the Supply Chain real estate portfolio.
• Evaluate the optimal balance of leased and owned facilities through financial analyses of alternative lease and ownership strategies, based on agreed assumptions and accounting criteria.
• Prepare comprehensive business cases that will be utilized to obtain consensus and approval from Business Units and Senior Management.
• Drive freehold divestments and acquisitions and any business activities (such as, M&A, separation).
• As required, step-in to manage other aspects of the real estate portfolio.

EXPERIENCES & QUALIFICATIONS

Necessary Experience & Qualifications  

• Relevant Degree or equivalent experience in real estate transactions career.
• Excellent analytical and communication skills (oral and written), advanced Excel skills, presentation packages (PowerPoint), interrogating databases (systems and web-based systems). Detail oriented and be able to look at the big picture and understand the business plans and trends.
• Experience in the engagement of key, senior level stakeholders, along with proven ability to influence and manage relationships with those stakeholders.
• Be able to have a high-level view and roll-up the sleeves to do the transactions themselves.
• Significant experience in taking divergent pieces of information, crafting clear, concise business plans and recommendations, and then land these recommendations to the business stakeholders.
• Strong financial acumen required to review strategic plans and scenarios.
• The ability to work a-synchronically with diverse groups.

Preferred Experience & Qualifications 

• 8+ years of experience.
• Experience driving change through a matrixed, complex organization.
• Experience leading cross functional teams charged with creating and implementing operational methods that are vastly different from current methods.

• Storyteller who is confident with leading presentations and landing a narrative with facts backing the information.
• Agile advocate who has embraced agile project delivery and agile working.

• Fluent spoken and written English. Turkish, Arabic, Other languages would be an advantage. 

SKILLS

• Real Estate (RE) industry knowledge including the following:
  • Best practices;
  • Contracting methods;
  • Service Level Agreement methodologies;
  • Strengths and weaknesses of third-party delivery models;
  • Key global, and regional service providers, and strengths and weaknesses of those providers;
  • Real Estate transactions.
• Previous experience managing a regional lease administration program.
• Previous experience leading a strategic real estate portfolio planning program, and successful experience tying corporate real estate objectives to business objectives.
• Previous experience with Office portfolio, Logistics and Industrial projects, including supporting on the strategy stage of the projects.
• Ability to manage suppliers, ensuring the Services delivered by Strategic Partners meet the cost and service level expectations and requirements of the Unilever business.  Experience in developing Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) and managing them across geographic regions.
• Experience of working regionally, bringing understanding and insight into the needs of other regions to the development of these service operations.
• Extensive experience in analyzing the “current situation” to develop strategies to drive efficiencies.
• Deep thinker keeping on top of trends, new ways of working and industry research.
• Energetic, action and people oriented. Team player who is working for the success of the business and the wider team is a critical element of this team’s culture.
• Strong Analytical and Organizational capabilities

• Effective communication and presenting skills
• Able to lead projects and manage project through prioritization and time management.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration & process improvement.

Leadership

• You are now a Leader of Change. People look to you to provide safety in a storm, and you also appropriately challenge yourself to get even better results. Your role model is resilience and care. You navigate these uncertain times by flexing plans and your leadership style, always with authenticity.  

• You are still responsible for delivering to the highest standards. You must be resilient to lead others to give with passion through uncertainty and create opportunities through the core and beyond. You must be able to flex your style and your plans to guide others through challenging times.  

• Critical SOL (Standards of Leadership) Behaviors

• PASSION FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE: Takes personal responsibility and accountability for execution and results. Generates intensity and focus to motivate people to deliver results at speed.  

• PERSONAL MASTERY: Sets lofty standards for themselves. Actively builds one's own wellbeing and resilience.  

• TALENT CATALYST: Invests in people – coaches individuals and teams to realize their full potential. Creates an inclusive climate, empowering everyone to be at their best. Inspires powerful teamwork and collaboration, connecting people for better results.  

• CONSUMER LOVE: Brings the voice of the consumer into everything we do, always.  

• BUSINESS ACUMEN: Creates opportunities for profitable growth through the core and beyond. 

Unilever embraces diversity and encourages applicates from all walks of life! This means giving full and fair consideration to all applicants and continuing development of all employees regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity. 

En tant qu'employeur responsable et inclusif, Unilever est attentif à la diversité et à la mixité de ses équipes. Nos recruteurs sont engagés et veillent à l'application de processus de recrutement non-discriminants.

Tous nos postes sont ouverts aux personnes en situation de handicap et Unilever accompagne ses collaborateurs dans la mise en place d'éventuels aménagements de poste et de dispositifs d'accessibilité.