Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Workplace Program Manager

🎯 Role Definition

A Workplace Program Manager leads end-to-end workplace and facilities programs that optimize office portfolio performance, enable hybrid work strategies, and deliver outstanding employee experience. This role manages capital and operational projects (office moves, refreshes, expansions), coordinates cross-functional stakeholders (real estate, IT, HR, finance), ensures vendor and contractor delivery, controls budgets and schedules, and drives continuous improvement across workplace operations and real estate programs.

Key keywords: Workplace Program Manager, workplace strategy, portfolio management, facilities operations, office relocations, space planning, hybrid work enablement, capital projects, vendor management, employee experience, workplace technology.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Facilities Coordinator / Facilities Specialist
Project Manager (construction, workplace, or IT infrastructure)
Real Estate Analyst or Workplace Operations Analyst

Advancement To:

Senior Workplace Program Manager / Program Director
Director of Global Workplace & Real Estate
Head of Workplace Experience or VP of Real Estate & Facilities

Lateral Moves:

Facilities Operations Manager
Real Estate Portfolio Manager
Workplace Experience Lead

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Lead the planning, execution and delivery of multi-site workplace programs including office openings, moves, consolidations, and refresh projects, ensuring projects are delivered on time, on scope and within budget.
Develop and manage detailed program plans, schedules, milestones, and RACI matrices for complex capital projects and operational initiatives across regional or global portfolios.
Own program financials: build budgets, create cost estimates, track actuals vs. forecast, run variance analysis and present financial status and risks to senior leadership.
Coordinate cross-functional stakeholders including real estate, IT, HR, security, legal, procurement and business unit leaders to align scope, timelines and success criteria.
Lead vendor selection and vendor management activities: RFP development, contract negotiation, performance SLAs, and ongoing vendor relationship governance.
Oversee workplace design and space planning activities with internal designers and external architecture firms to translate business requirements into efficient, code-compliant space solutions.
Drive change management and communications for workplace transitions, including employee move communications, floor plans, move-day logistics and post-move support and surveys.
Ensure workplace safety, regulatory compliance and local code adherence by managing inspections, permitting activities and coordination with contractors and authorities having jurisdiction.
Manage construction and refurbishment delivery on-site: conduct regular site visits, issue RFIs, manage punch lists, verify scope completion and approve contractor invoices against deliverables.
Establish and maintain workplace standards, policies and playbooks (move playbook, furniture standards, workplace operations manual) to ensure consistency across locations.
Implement workplace technology and occupancy tools (IWMS/CAFM, space utilization sensors, reservation systems) and partner with IT to enable hybrid work models and desk hoteling.
Drive continuous improvement through post-implementation reviews and lessons-learned sessions; identify process improvements and implement standardized workflows.
Prepare and present monthly or quarterly program status reports, risk registers and executive-level summaries highlighting key milestones, risks and mitigation plans.
Develop, maintain and report on workplace KPIs: occupancy rates, space utilization, cost per workstation, move success rates, vendor performance and employee satisfaction metrics.
Manage strategic real estate initiatives such as portfolio rationalization, lease renewals coordination, workplace strategy pilots and capacity planning for future growth.
Lead procurement activities for furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E), managing sourcing strategy, lead times and inventory staging for multi-site rollouts.
Handle escalation management: triage complex stakeholder issues, remove execution blockers and re-sequence activities to minimize business disruption.
Mentor and manage project managers or coordinators on the workplace program team; assign work, review deliverables and drive professional development.
Implement risk management processes including contingency plans for schedule delays, budget impacts, and supply-chain disruptions; proactively update stakeholders and revise plans.
Drive sustainability and ESG considerations within workplace programs (material selection, energy efficiency, waste reduction) to meet corporate sustainability targets.
Align workplace initiatives with corporate security and continuity plans, ensuring secure access, emergency procedures and resiliency requirements are embedded into workplace designs.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
Coordinate with HR to integrate onboarding and offboarding flows related to space allocations and access provisioning.
Support benchmarking exercises and vendor market scans to inform workplace strategy and sourcing decisions.
Maintain detailed program documentation repositories, asset lists and warranties to support lifecycle management.
Partner with finance and real estate teams to evaluate cost avoidance and return-on-investment for workplace initiatives.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Program and project management expertise with demonstrated experience delivering multi-site workplace or capital programs (PMP, PgMP or equivalent experience preferred).
Financial acumen: budget building, forecasting, cost control, and financial reporting for capital and operational projects.
Experience with workplace and facilities technology: IWMS/CAFM (Archibus, FM:Systems, Trimble), space management tools (SpaceIQ), room/desk booking systems and occupancy sensors.
Proficiency in project tools and collaboration platforms: MS Project, Smartsheet, Asana, JIRA, Microsoft 365 (Teams, Planner), and Confluence.
Technical understanding of construction processes, FF&E procurement, MEP basics, and ability to read floorplans, schematics and construction documents.
Familiarity with CAD/Visio or ability to coordinate with designers to validate space plans and furniture layouts.
Contract writing and vendor negotiation skills, including RFP development, SOWs, SLA drafting and contractor performance management.
Data analysis and reporting: advanced Excel skills, KPI dashboards, and experience building program-level reporting for executive stakeholders.
Knowledge of local code, building permit processes, ADA compliance, health & safety standards and sustainability certifications (LEED, WELL) where applicable.
Change management tooling and methods, including communications planning and adoption measurement.

Soft Skills

Strong stakeholder management and executive engagement skills with the ability to influence and build consensus across cross-functional teams.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills — able to produce succinct executive summaries, status reports and communications for employees.
Proven leadership and team development capabilities; experience mentoring project leads and managing distributed teams.
Problem-solving orientation and ability to make trade-off decisions under ambiguity while protecting program outcomes.
High emotional intelligence and adaptability to manage change, competing priorities and fast-paced program demands.
Negotiation and conflict resolution skills to manage vendors, contractors and internal escalations.
Organizational skills and attention to detail — track multiple concurrent projects with interdependencies across geographies.
Customer-focused mindset with a bias for delivering exceptional employee experience and operational reliability.
Time management and prioritization skills with an ability to re-sequence work to meet critical deadlines.
Cultural sensitivity and experience working with global teams, local regulations and regional vendors.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Facilities Management, Project Management, Real Estate, Architecture, Engineering, or a related field.

Preferred Education:

Master's degree (MBA, MSc in Facilities/Real Estate/Project Management) or relevant certifications (PMP, Lean Six Sigma, IFMA credentials).

Relevant Fields of Study:

Facilities Management
Real Estate / Property Management
Project Management / Construction Management
Business Administration / Finance
Architecture / Engineering

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

5–10 years of progressive experience managing workplace programs, site operations, facility projects or real estate initiatives.

Preferred:

7+ years managing large-scale workplace or capital programs across multiple sites or geographies, with proven experience in vendor management, budget ownership and stakeholder engagement. Experience with hybrid workplace initiatives, IWMS tools and sustainability programs is highly desirable.