Head of Workspace, Design & Construction - Real Estate Services

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Real Estate Services (RES) is part of the Global Procurement & RES Infrastructure team within the Global Chief Operating Office (GCOO) at HSBC. The function is responsible for shaping and delivering the Bank’s real estate strategy globally, working in close partnership with businesses, senior leadership and external strategic partners.

We are currently seeking an experienced professional to join our team in the role of Head of Workspace, Design & Construction - Real Estate Services.

In this fantastic new role, you will lead HSBC’s workspace strategy, design standards, and the delivery of capital projects. You will play a critical role in shaping how HSBC’s workspaces are designed, built, and evolved to support business needs, colleague experience, and long-term portfolio strategy.

This is a truly global role, directly engaging with multiple suppliers worldwide, and driving supplier partner performance is critical to success. You will own and govern HSBC’s global construction management contracts, providing strategic oversight of supplier relationships and service delivery.

The role will report to the Global Head of RES as a member of the central global leadership team.

In this role you will: 

• Define and embed the global framework, policies, operating procedures, and service delivery model for the Workspace Design and Construction (WDC) service line, to be adhered to globally.
• Own and govern the global Workspace Design & Construction Management supplier strategy, including the service contracts with Mace, Turner & Townsend, and Newmark.
• Define assurance, governance, and design and construction project management oversight across the project lifecycle.
• Oversee the WDC global capital expenditure budget (FRP) & planning. Working with the delivery leads, evaluate the financial and commercial impact of project programmes, and effectively prioritise the capital program in accordance with the Financial Resource Plan (FRP) as effective portfolio planning principles.
• Own global retail and workspace design standards, and govern adherence to ensure quality, consistency, and sustainability standards. Be a key global business partner on WDC for WPB.
• Drive construction supply chain strategic sourcing, in partnership with Procurement in support of a consistent and effective approach as well as appropriate sustainability outcomes.
• Working with the global ESG lead and procurement drive the ESG strategy through the entire value stream and fully integrated with Portfolio Management & Transactions and Property Management (FM).
• Define and embed workspace strategy and change management model to support adoption of new workspace concepts and ways of working.
• Create strong global standards for delivery and risk management, implementing a robust assurance process to ensure risk is clearly identified, managed, and escalated.
• Drive the reporting of key portfolio performance metrics, delivering regular insights to leadership via dashboards and executive reporting.
• Amplify leadership effectiveness by enabling the Head of Real Estate Services to focus on strategic outcomes by providing structure, clarity, and oversight of functional delivery.
• Embed standards of excellence through leading and managing team members in a matrix environment, ensuring accountability and reinforcing a culture of high performance
• Collaborate across Real Estate Services, Global Procurement and broader GCOO teams to ensure alignment of strategy, policy, and delivery.
• Collaborate and contribute proactively to the data and technology Future State Architecture in RES.

To be successful in this role you should meet the following requirements: 

• Technical & professional expertise: Extensive experience across workspace strategy, design, and construction. Ability to operate effectively across a global portfolio, balancing cost, risk, and performance.
• Supplier & Operating model management: Experience managing global supplier relationships and operating models, with accountability for effective partnership and service delivery
• Financial Performance: Ability to drive financial performance across the global real estate portfolio, including budgeting, forecasting, capital allocation, and cost optimisation to maximise value and support HSBC’s strategic objectives.
• Risk Management: Ability to identify, assess, and manage real estate-related risks, ensuring compliance with HSBC’s risk framework.
• Stakeholder Engagement & Influence: Exceptional communication and stakeholder management capability, with the ability to craft compelling narratives and influence decision making
• Enterprise leadership and advisory capability: Demonstrated experience acting as a senior leader and trusted advisor within a complex, global organisation, operating with credibility at executive level
• People & Culture Leadership: Demonstrated ability to lead and develop teams, fostering accountability and a high performing culture, while role-modelling collaborative behaviours.
• Change and Transformation: strong change and transformation mindset to drive simplification and digitisation of activities
• Professional qualification: relevant & demonstrable professional qualifications in both a design and a project management discipline.

This role is based in Hong Kong or London on a hybrid basis.

Opening up a world of opportunity
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