Global Workplace Experience Lead

Global Workplace Experience Lead - UK, Sweden, Denmark or Spain - Remote with travel. To £75k plus package

We have an exciting opportunity to work with one of the best Global IFM service providers on an exciting global account. We are looking for someone who has previous multi country experience managing the workplace experience for in a corporate office setting. You will be used to ensuring that a five star customer experience is delivered.

Purpose of the Job

The Workplace Experience Lead owns the workplace experience strategy and standards across the global portfolio. The role translates objectives into a consistent, measurable and locally relevant experience that brings together workplace services, hospitality and food. This is a portfolio leadership and connector role rather than a single-site operational position. It sets the standard, enables regional and local teams, strengthens service consistency and uses insight to improve the experience for employees, visitors and customers across every location.

Characteristics − APAC, EMEA, Brazil − 23 countries − Approximately 47 sites − Matrix management

Context and main requirements

 Lead the implementation of the client’s workplace experience strategy and our approach across the global account.  Act as the principal point of contact for workplace experience, partnering with workplace, real estate, people and service excellence stakeholders.  Define clear, portfolio-wide experience standards covering the brilliant basics, hospitality, human connection, food experience and signature moments.  Enable regional workplace champions, site teams, food service managers and chefs to deliver a consistent experience while reflecting local culture and requirements.  Use customer insight, operational data and contractual measures to improve satisfaction, consistency, productivity and commercial performance.  Champion sustainable and responsible workplace solutions, including food-waste reduction, carbon reduction and wellbeing-led initiatives.

Main assignments

Understand the client and shape the strategy

 Partner with the global and regional workplace, real estate, people and service excellence leaders to understand business priorities, occupier needs and the outcomes that matter.  Align the workplace programme with the wider strategy and translate agreed objectives into a clear workplace experience roadmap.  Act as a trusted adviser and champion the partnership across the account.  Bring the voice of the customer into account governance, service design and continuous improvement.

Set and embed the workplace experience standard

 Define and maintain the global workplace experience framework, playbooks, service standards, standard operating procedures and delivery model, ensuring the required processes, systems, governance and capability are in place to deliver the service.  Create a consistent portfolio experience while allowing appropriate adaptation for local culture, site profile and customer needs.  Embed hospitality principles and relevant WELL Standard and wellbeing practices across the portfolio.  Identify workplace best practice and innovation through our regional and global workplace experience networks, then convert relevant ideas into scalable account solutions.

Drive delivery across the global portfolio

 Lead the network of Regional Workplace Champions and establish an effective global workplace experience community.  Build the capability of front-of-house teams and Regional Workplace Champions through training, coaching and practical tools, enabling a consistently high-quality user experience across different workplace environments.  Set portfolio standards for site occupancy management, ensuring spaces are configured for the right capacity and purpose, occupancy is proactively managed and reliable occupancy data is available in agreed formats.  Establish and assure standards for meeting rooms and workstations, including accurate system set-up, booking and usage controls, routine checks, equipment and consumable readiness, and timely resolution of defects.  Promote activity-based working (ABW) where implemented, using insight, communication and change management to encourage and sustain the required user behaviours.  Work through regional and local operational teams to deliver the agreed standards across all service lines.  Coach teams, share best practice, remove delivery barriers and address gaps or inconsistency between locations.  Support workplace refurbishments and service changes so that customer experience remains central to design and implementation.  Provide practical workplace experience leadership during mobilisation, transformation and change activity.

Lead hospitality and food experience enablement

 Ensure that food and hospitality services support the overall workplace experience proposition and the customer expectations.  Partner with food service managers and chefs to improve service consistency, capability, customer engagement and the quality of the offer.  Support the implementation of appropriate food concepts and account-wide initiatives, including sustainable food solutions, food-waste reduction and carbon reduction.  Promote food safety, health and safety, hygiene and purchasing compliance through the relevant operational and functional teams.  Provide specialist input to culinary recruitment, development and talent activity where required.

Measure performance and continuous improvement

 Establish meaningful workplace experience measures and track satisfaction, occupancy, space usage, service performance and contractual KPIs / SLAs across the portfolio, ensuring data is accurate, current and available in agreed formats.  Use workplace analytics, regular engagement with business representatives and customer feedback to document business needs, identify priorities, support evidence-based decisions and share consolidated insight with the client.  Lead portfolio space planning so that workplace layouts and capacity support intended ways of working, business values and optimum use of space, with appropriate change management for affected users and teams.  Ensure space-management systems are updated accurately and promptly, including layouts, seating plans and space-allocation charts where applicable.  Provide clear monthly updates and insight for account governance, including progress, risks, opportunities and agreed improvement actions.  Identify opportunities to improve revenue, labour productivity, margin efficiency and value for the client without compromising the customer experience.  Undertake operational excellence reviews and drive consistent follow-through on recommendations.

Governance, risk and stakeholder leadership

 Maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders, global functions, regional leadership and local delivery teams.  Work within agreed budgets, commercial commitments, legislation, standards and client-specific requirements.  Identify and manage workplace experience risks, escalating issues appropriately and protecting service continuity and profitability.  Contribute to new business and wider Global Strategic Account workplace experience activity where relevant.

Accountabilities  Every location delivers a recognisable, high-quality workplace experience aligned to client’s objectives and the agreed global standard.  Customer and occupier satisfaction improves, with greater consistency across regions and sites.  Regional Workplace Champions and local delivery teams are connected, capable and clear about the standards expected of them.  Workplace, hospitality and food initiatives are implemented successfully and achieve agreed customer, sustainability and operational outcomes.  Performance is evidenced through reliable insight, governance reporting and achievement against agreed KPIs / SLAs.  The client views us as a strategic partner in creating productive, engaging and sustainable workplaces.

Person Specification

Essential  Proven experience in workplace experience, hospitality, facilities management or a related service environment, with multi-site or portfolio-level exposure. Proven experience in stakeholder management.  Ability to translate client goals into clear standards and drive consistent delivery through teams that are not all under direct line management.  Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills, with credibility across senior client contacts, global functions and operational teams.  Customer-led and people-first approach, with a genuine passion for creating excellent workplace experiences.  Experience of change, performance improvement and implementation across a complex or geographically dispersed environment.  Data and outcome orientation, with the ability to interpret insight, build a clear narrative and make practical recommendations.  Commercial awareness, including experience of budgets, KPIs, SLAs, productivity and performance reporting.  Excellent communication, presentation, organisation and relationship-building skills.  Fluent English and willingness to travel internationally as required.

Desirable

 Experience on a global enterprise account within integrated facilities management.  Experience designing or implementing workplace experience playbooks, standards or SOPs across a portfolio.  Knowledge of hospitality or food-service operations, customer engagement and sustainable food programmes.  Familiarity with the WELL Standard, workplace wellbeing, occupancy and space-management technology, activity-based working (ABW) and workplace data tools.  Experience of lean principles, operational excellence, service innovation or continuous improvement.

Competencies

Capability -What good looks like Client and customer focus - Turns client priorities and customer insight into practical experience improvements. Strategic workplace leadership - Creates a clear direction and connects strategy, standards and delivery. Influence without authority Mobilises regional and local teams through credibility, coaching and shared purpose. Innovation and change - Identifies, tests and scales improvements that add measurable value. Commercial and operational judgement - Balances experience outcomes with safety, compliance, productivity and financial performance. Collaboration and capability building - Builds effective communities, develops others and encourages best-practice sharing