Job Description:

Associate Director Workplace Portfolio Separation & Stranded Cost Management

Experience: Avg. 15 Years

Location: Bangalore, India (4 + 1 Office working vs WFH)

Function: Corporate Real Estate, Workplace, Workplace Strategy, M&A Integration / Separation

Role Overview:

The Associate Director Workplace Portfolio Separation & Stranded Cost Management will lead the workplace and real estate workstream for a large-scale separation, carve-out, or transformation program. The role is responsible for establishing a global workplace portfolio baseline, identifying stranded cost exposure, supporting contract negotiations, and driving actions that minimize post-separation costs while protecting business value.

The individual will act as the central coordination point between global workplace teams, market leads, finance, procurement, travel, fleet, legal, and executive stakeholders to ensure successful separation planning and execution.

Key Responsibilities:

Portfolio Separation Leadership:

- Lead and coordinate the workplace separation program across global and regional office portfolios.

- Develop and maintain the separation roadmap, milestones, dependencies, risks, and mitigation plans.

- Drive decisions on office retention, exits, transfers, subleases, and workplace service arrangements.

- Support stay-vs-go portfolio strategies based on business requirements and separation timelines.

Stranded Cost Identification & Mitigation:

- Build and maintain a global stranded cost baseline across Workplace, Travel, and Fleet.

- Identify, quantify, track, and report stranded cost exposure resulting from separation activities.

- Develop mitigation strategies to reduce cost exposure and improve portfolio efficiency.

- Partner with Finance to validate assumptions, forecasts, and savings opportunities.

Workplace Portfolio Management:

- Establish and maintain a single source of truth for the Client Office Portfolio.

- Analyze office utilization, occupancy, capacity, lease commitments, and workplace services.

- Assess office footprint changes, including portfolio expansion, consolidation, downsizing, and closure activities.

- Provide portfolio insights and recommendations to support strategic decision-making.

Contract & Commercial Management:

- Support negotiations with landlords, workplace service providers, and external vendors.

- Review contractual obligations, lease commitments, termination clauses, and TSA dependencies.

- Evaluate commercial implications of stay/go decisions and separation scenarios.

- Work closely with Procurement and Legal teams to ensure favorable commercial outcomes.

TSA & Executive Decision Support:

- Support Transitional Services Agreement (TSA) costing and operational planning.

- Develop business cases, financial models, and scenario analyses for executive review.

- Prepare portfolio reports, dashboards, presentations, and recommendations for leadership teams.

- Provide insights on separation risks, opportunities, and financial impacts.

Stakeholder Management & Coordination:

- Serve as the primary liaison between global workplace teams and market stakeholders.

- Facilitate workshops, governance meetings, and decision forums with market leads.

- Ensure consistent communication, alignment, and execution across regions.

- Manage relationships with senior business leaders, Finance, HR, Procurement, Legal, and external partners.

Governance & Program Management:

- Establish governance frameworks, controls, reporting standards, and decision-making processes.

- Monitor delivery progress against milestones and key performance indicators.

- Identify and escalate risks, issues, and dependencies in a timely manner.

- Drive continuous improvement in workplace data quality, reporting, and portfolio governance.

Data Management & Reporting:

- Ensure accuracy and integrity of workplace portfolio data.

- Maintain dashboards and reporting mechanisms for leadership and governance reviews.

- Develop portfolio analytics related to occupancy, costs, utilization, contracts, and stranded costs.

- Support data-driven decision-making through actionable insights.

Required Qualifications:

- Bachelor's/Masters degree in Business Management, Real Estate, Finance, Engineering, Architecture, Facilities Management, or related discipline.

- 14-15 years of experience in Corporate Real Estate, M&A Merger / Separation programs, Workplace Strategy, Workplace Operations, Facilities Management, Portfolio Management, & Consulting.

- Experience supporting large-scale divestiture, transformation, integration, or merger initiatives.

- Strong understanding of workplace portfolios, lease management, contract negotiations, and workplace operations.

- Experience with financial analysis, budgeting, TSA costing, and Stranded cost management.

- Proficiency in Excel, Power BI, Tableau, Smartsheet, or similar analytical tools.

Preferred Qualifications:

- Experience managing global workplace portfolios across multiple geographies.

- Knowledge of corporate real estate transactions and workplace strategy.

- PMP, PRINCE2, Six Sigma, RICS, IFMA, or CoreNet certifications preferred.

- Experience working in matrix organizations and complex stakeholder environments.

Key Competencies:

- Strategic Portfolio Planning

- M&A Separation / Carve-Out Management

- Stranded Cost Analysis

- Contract Negotiation

- Financial Modeling and Scenario Analysis

- Executive Communication

- Stakeholder Management

- Program & Project Management

- Governance and Risk Management

- Data Analytics and Reporting

- Change Management

- Cross-Functional Leadership

Success Measures:

- Reduction in stranded cost exposure.

- Timely delivery of separation milestones.

- Accuracy of portfolio data and reporting.

- Successful execution of stay/go site decisions.

- TSA cost optimization.

- Stakeholder satisfaction and governance effectiveness.

- Achievement of post-separation portfolio and cost targets.