Head of Global Real Estate & Corporate Site Operations
- Biibhr
- Cambridge, MA
- 8mo ago
- Full-Time
- Hybrid
...
About This Role:
As the Senior Director of Global Real Estate & Corporate Site Operations, you will hold a pivotal role in steering Biogen’s global real estate portfolio and overseeing site services at our Cambridge, MA headquarters. This role combines strategic vision and operational excellence to ensure optimal management of administrative spaces and R&D laboratory environments across 40+ countries and 4.3M square feet of space. Reporting into the Global Engineering and Technical Services organization, you will play a critical role in delivering business operations that fuel innovation, drive commercial growth, and enhance employee experiences. With deep expertise in real estate strategy, lease negotiation, facilities management, and global service delivery, you will lead a diverse team of professionals and vendors while shaping real estate and site services strategies that align with Biogen’s sustainability goals and business priorities.
What You’ll Do:
- Define and execute global real estate strategy aligned with long-term business objectives, cost targets, and sustainability priorities.
- Oversee lease negotiations, renewals, acquisitions, dispositions, and subleasing across 44 global locations.
- Develop annual and multi-year real estate plans in coordination with Finance, Legal, Procurement, and local operations teams.
- Manage a global lease database and reporting infrastructure while leading benchmarking and cost optimization initiatives.
- Monitor market trends and implement real estate risk mitigation strategies such as consolidations and transitions.
- Provide executive leadership for site operations at Biogen’s Cambridge headquarters, including facilities services, mailroom, transportation, and vendor management.
- Ensure seamless operations within R&D lab environments and office spaces in a highly regulated setting.
- Drive capital planning and site improvement projects, including space reconfigurations and preventative maintenance programs.
- Establish global models for facility service delivery (e.g., internal vs. outsourced IFM models) and optimize performance, sustainability, cost, and compliance across all facilities.
- Lead a culture of continuous improvement and standardization using metric-based governance (KPI/SLAs).
- Develop space policies and standards that promote efficiency, safety, and collaboration.
- Lead and develop a global team of real estate, facilities, engineering, and site service professionals and vendors.
- Champion cross-functional collaboration across functions including GBS, R&D, Finance, PO&T, Legal, and Procurement to align real estate and site strategies with organizational goals.
- Advise and influence senior leadership on real estate and site strategies, including cost management, operating models, and service integration.
- Support the design and execution of a Real Estate & Site Services Center of Excellence to improve global governance, service innovation, and talent strategy.
- Drive the development of a Real Estate & Site Services Center of Excellence to improve global governance and service innovation.
Who You Are:
You are a strategic thinker with a passion for operational excellence and global collaboration. You thrive in fast-paced, complex environments and have a natural ability to balance big-picture vision with attention to detail. You bring empathy and executive presence to your leadership style, fostering trust and accountability across teams and partnerships. You excel at navigating ambiguity and driving transformation, leveraging your expertise to deliver innovative solutions and measurable results.
Required Skills:
- Bachelor’s degree in Real Estate, Engineering, Architecture, Business, or a related field.
- Minimum 15+ years of progressive leadership experience in corporate real estate and facilities/service operations.
- Proven track record managing global real estate portfolios in regulated industries such as biotech, pharma, or med devices.
- Deep understanding of site operations, lab infrastructure, lease administration, and vendor management.
- Strong financial acumen, project execution ability, and data-driven decision-making skills.
- Demonstrated experience in leading change, driving continuous improvement, and creating enterprise-wide service strategies.
Preferred Skills:
- Lean or Six Sigma certification.
- Background in workplace experience, sustainability, and hybrid workplace planning.
- Empathy, executive presence, and a collaborative leadership style that builds trust and accountability.
Additional Information
Base salary offered is determined through an analytical approach utilizing a combination of factors including, but not limited to, relevant skills & experience, job location, and internal equity.
Regular employees are eligible to receive both short term and long-term incentives, including cash bonus and equity incentive opportunities, designed to reward recent achievements and recognize your future potential based on individual, business unit and company performance.
In addition to compensation, Biogen offers a full and highly competitive range of benefits designed to support our employees’ and their families physical, financial, emotional, and social well-being; including, but not limited to:
- Medical, Dental, Vision, & Life insurances
- Fitness & Wellness programs including a fitness reimbursement
- Short- and Long-Term Disability insurance
- A minimum of 15 days of paid vacation and an additional end-of-year shutdown time off (Dec 26-Dec 31)
- Up to 12 company paid holidays + 3 paid days off for Personal Significance
- 80 hours of sick time per calendar year
- Paid Maternity and Parental Leave benefit
- 401(k) program participation with company matched contributions
- Employee stock purchase plan
- Tuition reimbursement of up to $10,000 per calendar year
- Employee Resource Groups participation
Why Biogen?
We are a global team with a commitment to excellence, and a pioneering spirit. As a mid-sized biotechnology company, we provide the stability and resources of a well-established business while fostering an environment where individual contributions make a significant impact. Our team encompasses some of the most talented and passionate achievers who have unparalleled opportunities for learning, growth, and expanding their skills. Above all, we work together to deliver life-changing medicines, with every role playing a vital part in our mission. Caring Deeply. Achieving Excellence. Changing Lives.
At Biogen, we are committed to building on our culture of inclusion and belonging that reflects the communities where we operate and the patients we serve. We know that diverse backgrounds, cultures, and perspectives make us a stronger and more innovative company, and we are focused on building teams where every employee feels empowered and inspired. Read on to learn more about our DE&I efforts.
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, race, color, national origin, ancestry, ethnicity, religion, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information or any other basis protected by federal, state or local law. Biogen is an E-Verify Employer in the United States.