Regional Workplace Strategy & Design Lead APAC, Vice President

Morgan Stanley; Hong Kong; On-site; HKD 1,800,000 - 2,400,000; Full time

Job summary

Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong seeks a Regional Workplace Strategy & Design Lead APAC to align workplace strategies with local needs and act as design authority across Asia.

You will guide governance, manage external partners, and translate global standards into regionally appropriate designs for multi-country portfolios, while engaging senior stakeholders.

The role requires 15+ years in workplace architecture, strong leadership, and a track record across Asia/India markets.

Qualifications

• 15+ years’ experience in workplace architecture and/or interior design within commercial real estate environments.
• Experience leading multi-country office portfolios in Asia.
• Proven ability to manage landlords, base-building interfaces, and high-density office fit-outs.

Responsibilities

• Lead regional workplace strategy integration and governance.
• Oversee design partners and ensure buildability and compliance.
• Coordinate with stakeholders and manage design approvals through construction.
• Drive knowledge sharing and regional design standards.

Skills

Leadership

Stakeholder management

Workplace architecture

Interior design

Regulatory experience

Education

Professional degree in Architecture

Interior Architecture / Design

Job description

We’re seeking someone to join our team as a Real Estate Solutions (RES) team

The Regional Workplace Strategy & Design Lead APAC is the senior regional role and will be responsible to align workplace strategies with local requirement and act as design authority for Asia. The role will be accountable for the strategic direction, governance, stakeholder alignment, and delivery quality of workplace architecture and interior design across a complex, multi-country commercial real estate portfolio. The role serves as a trusted advisor to senior business and Corporate Services leadership, translating workplace strategy into compelling design solutions while managing stakeholder expectations and driving informed decision-making.

The position requires deep experience working at scale in regulated corporate real estate environments, with proven ability to manage landlord interfaces, base-building coordination, and outsourced design partners across diverse regulatory and cultural contexts.

In the Corporate Services division, we empower our businesses by creating collaborative workplace solutions and commercial services that enhance the employee and client experience, while optimizing the value of our sourcing and third-party lifecycle to enable the Firm to do-and-win business.

Since 1935, Morgan Stanley is known as a global leader in financial services, always evolving and innovating to better serve our clients and our communities in more than 40 countries around the world.

What you’ll do in the role:

Workplace Strategy Integration

• Be responsible for regional workplace effectiveness, driving the workplace strategy to optimize real estate assets in APAC and India regions.
• Inform and assist with development of long-term strategies with the Regional Real Estate Portfolio Strategy lead.
• Coordinate with all aspects of program delivery including multi-year regional workplace location strategy development, workplace product and tier alignment to client needs, space requirements, space planning, project management support and workplace experience strategy development.

Regional Design Leadership & Governance

• Serve as the senior design advisor to business and Corporate Services leadership, presenting workplace strategies, design recommendations, and project outcomes to executive stakeholders and governance forums.

• Lead stakeholder engagement across business units and functional partners, proactively managing expectations, aligning competing priorities, and building consensus on design solutions and project objectives. Ensure seamless coordination between tenant fit-out and base-building systems (MEP, life safety, IT infrastructure).

• Translate global workplace strategy and standards into regionally appropriate design solutions across Asia and India.

• Establish and enforce design governance, review protocols, and approval frameworks from test fit through construction and handover.
• Act as senior architectural design interface with landlords, developers, and asset managers across Asia and India.

Consultant & Partner Oversight

• Lead and oversee external architects, interior designers, and workplace consultants, including global principal firms and regional partners
• Define scope, performance expectations, and success metrics for outsourced design resources.
• Provide senior-level challenge to consultant proposals to ensure buildability, cost control, and technical compliance
• oversee the integration of design requirements of internal stakeholders. i.e. EGWS, Multimedia and others that PjM does not properly incorporate

Delivery Support & Risk Management

• Partner with Capital Projects and Construction teams to resolve design, documentation, and site issues that impact cost, schedule, or quality.
• Lead design input into value engineering, procurement strategy, and supply-chain risk mitigation, particularly in emerging markets.
• Accountable to ensure design intent is maintained through construction, commissioning, and Day-1 readiness.

Continuous Improvement & Knowledge Sharing

• Sponsor post-occupancy evaluations, lessons-learned reviews, and design performance reporting across the region.
• Feed regional insights back into global workplace standards and strategy evolution.

What you’ll bring to the role:

• Min. 15 years’ experience in workplace architecture and/or interior design within commercial real estate environments.
• Demonstrated leadership on large-scale, multi-country office portfolios in Asia, including India.
• Proven track record managing landlord approvals, base-building interfaces, and high-density office fit-outs.
• Professional degree in Architecture or Interior Architecture / Design.
• Expert understanding of workplace planning, interior architecture, and corporate design standards.
• Strong technical literacy across MEP coordination, life safety, and construction documentation.
• Strong design acumen of interiors and ability to make design decisions to uphold design quality, consistency and high performance.
• Ability to operate at Director level, influencing senior stakeholders across regions and partner with other functional leaders within Corporate Services.
• Comfortable leading in matrixed, outsourced delivery models common in Asia and India.
• Strategic, commercially astute, and outcomes-driven.
• Comfortable making decisions in ambiguous, fast-moving environments.
• Culturally fluent, with experience navigating Asia-Pacific regulatory and business contexts.
• Detail-oriented while maintaining portfolio-level oversight.
• Effective communication skills and comfortable operating within a global organization where major decisions are made in New York

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM MORGAN STANLEY:

At Morgan Stanley, we raise, manage and allocate capital for our clients – helping them reach their goals. We do it in a way that’s differentiated – and we’ve done that for 90 years. Our values - putting clients first, doing the right thing, leading with exceptional ideas, committing to diversity and inclusion, and giving back - aren’t just beliefs, they guide the decisions we make every day to do what's best for our clients, communities and more than 80,000 employees in 1,200 offices across 42 countries. At Morgan Stanley, you’ll find an opportunity to work alongside the best and the brightest, in an environment where you are supported and empowered. Our teams are relentless collaborators and creative thinkers, fueled by their diverse backgrounds and experiences. We are proud to support our employees and their families at every point along their work-life journey, offering some of the most attractive and comprehensive employee benefits and perks in the industry. There’s also ample opportunity to move about the business for those who show passion and grit in their work.

To learn more about our offices across the globe, please copy and paste https://www.morganstanley.com/about-us/global-offices into your browser.

Morgan Stanley is an equal opportunity employer committed to building and maintaining a workforce that is diverse in experience and background. Our recruiting efforts reflect our strong commitment to a culture of inclusion, where individuals are hired, developed, and advanced based on their skills and talents.

Our workforce reflects a broad cross-section of the global communities in which we operate, bringing a variety of backgrounds, talents, perspectives, and experiences.

For more information, please visit: https://www.morganstanley.com/people-opportunities/eeo.