Regional Workplace Operations Director – Europe & APAC

Arcadis; Arnhem; On-site; EUR 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Arcadis is seeking a Regional Workplace Operations Director for Europe and APAC to translate the global Workplace strategy into regional operating plans, standards and measurable outcomes. You will lead regional teams and service partners to ensure safe, compliant and cost-effective delivery with a best-in-class user experience across multiple countries.

The role requires strong contract governance, financial control and data-driven reporting, balancing global consistency with local

Qualifications

• Substantial senior leadership experience in Workplace Operations, Corporate Real Estate, or comparable service-led environment.
• Proven leadership of senior managers across multiple countries, cultures and time zones.
• Experience governing strategic outsourced partnerships and complex IFM contracts with commercial strategy and change control.
• Strong commercial and financial leadership with accountability for regional budgets and forecasts.
• Fluent English, able to travel across Europe and APAC.

Responsibilities

• Set regional Workplace Operations strategy, priorities and governance for Europe and APAC.
• Lead and align regional and country teams, defining accountability and performance expectations.
• Govern local exceptions with documented approvals, funding, ownership and review.
• Serve as senior escalation point for operational, contractual, financial and stakeholder issues.
• Drive organizational change to transition local practices into a coherent regional operating model.
• Oversee service delivery and compliance with Workplace standards and regulatory requirements.
• Maintain governance of regional contracts, budgets and supplier relationships, including reviews and reporting.
• Lead cost management, invoicing, procurement alignment and financial assurance.
• Provide data-driven performance insights and continuous improvement actions.
• Ensure integration of new locations and readiness into business as usual.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic planning

Contract governance

Financial management

Stakeholder management

Education

Advanced degree or professional accreditation in workplace, facilities management, real estate, procurement, finance or contract management

Tools

IFM contracts

Job description

Arcadis is the world's leading company delivering sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets. We are more than 34,000 people, in over 30 countries, dedicated to improving quality of life. Everyone has an important role to play. With the power of many curious minds, together we can solve the world’s most complex challenges and deliver more impact together.

Role description

The Regional Workplace Operations Director - Europe and APAC is accountable for the safe, compliant, consistent and commercially effective delivery of Workplace Operations across a diverse multi-country portfolio. The role translates the Global Workplace strategy and Workplace Promise into regional operating plans, service standards and measurable outcomes. It leads regional teams and service partners, including ISS and retained or specialist suppliers, and ensures that workplaces deliver a best-in-class user experience while meeting business, financial, sustainability, security, health and safety, and regulatory requirements. Strong contract management is central to the role. The Director owns regional contract governance, supplier performance, financial control, data quality, change control and escalation, while ensuring Arcadis fulfils its client-retained obligations. The role establishes clear interfaces with enabling functions and country leadership, creates transparent regional reporting and drives continuous improvement, innovation and standardization across Europe and APAC. Operating in a complex matrix, the role balances global consistency with legitimate local legal, cultural and operational requirements and provides senior leaders with clear, decision-ready insight into service, cost, risk, compliance and workplace experience.

Role accountabilities

Regional leadership and operating-model governance

• Set the regional Workplace Operations strategy, priorities, operating plan and governance model for Europe and APAC in alignment with the Global Workplace strategy.
• Lead, coach and align regional and country teams, establishing clear accountabilities, decision rights, objectives and performance expectations.
• Embed consistent regional processes, standards and controls while governing justified local exceptions through documented approval, funding, ownership and review.
• Act as the senior escalation point for material operational, contractual, financial and stakeholder issues, driving timely resolution and clear communication.
• Lead organizational and behavioral change required to transition local practices into a coherent regional operating model.

Workplace experience, service delivery and compliance

• Ensure consistent delivery of the Workplace Promise, user-experience standards and property service standards across the portfolio.
• Oversee day-to-day operational performance, service continuity, workplace readiness and the integration of new, relocated, refurbished or acquired locations into business as usual.
• Ensure services comply with applicable legal, regulatory, health and safety, security, sustainability and corporate requirements.
• Use employee feedback, service-request data, workplace audits and business insight to identify recurring issues and prioritize preventative action.

ISS and supplier contract governance

• Own regional governance of ISS and other Workplace Operations contracts, ensuring delivery follows the agreed governance structure, budget provisions, Master and Local Service Agreements and Arcadis client obligations.
• Chair or sponsor operational, monthly, quarterly and executive supplier reviews, ensuring actions, risks, decisions and escalations are recorded and closed.
• Maintain clear service scope, contract baselines, accountability matrices and local variations, distinguishing outsourced, retained, excluded and locally funded activities.
• Ensure service levels, KPIs, client dependencies, performance evidence, corrective actions, service credits and contractual remedies are applied consistently.
• Enforce disciplined change control so that scope, resource, supplier or commercial changes are assessed, costed, approved and documented before implementation.
• Build transparent, constructive and appropriately demanding supplier relationships that promote accountability, innovation, value creation and continuous improvement.

Financial management and commercial assurance

• Own regional Workplace Operations budgets, forecasts, approvals, accruals and variance management, including OPEX and remedial CAPEX.
• Ensure costs are transparent by country, location, service and cost type, including fixed, variable, pass-through, indexation and discretionary expenditure.
• Lead invoice validation, supplier proposal review and commercial assurance with Finance and Procurement, confirming alignment with approved scope and budget.
• Identify cost leakage, duplicate responsibilities, uncontrolled local buying and savings opportunities, and implement corrective or value-improvement plans.
• Provide concise executive financial narratives explaining variances, approvals, risks, commitments and required decisions.

Performance management, data and continuous improvement

• Establish a balanced regional performance framework covering service, cost, compliance, risk, user experience, sustainability and improvement delivery.
• Deliver reliable KPI, financial and operational reporting that enables governance, benchmarking, trend analysis and informed decision‑making.
• Own the quality and maintenance of regional portfolio, contract, asset, compliance and service-performance information required for effective operations.
• Lead root‑cause analysis, service recovery and improvement plans with clear ownership, milestones and measurable outcomes.
• Use digital systems and supplier platforms to improve real‑time visibility of cost, assets, planned maintenance, compliance, requests and performance.

Stakeholder, process and support‑team integration

• Maintain a regional stakeholder plan covering country, business, location and enabling‑function leadership.
• Align interfaces, processes, standards and responsibilities with Finance, Procurement, Technology, People, Legal, Risk, ESG, Health and Safety, Wellbeing and Security.
• Own Workplace Operations processes and supporting guidance, including documented procedures, role matrices, communications, FAQs and escalation routes.
• Oversee and support Global Shared Services and contract‑support teams, ensuring timely, accurate completion of operational and contract‑administration activities.
• Represent Europe and APAC in global governance and contribute regional insight, lessons learned and scalable improvements to the wider Workplace function.

Decision rights

• Owns: Regional operational performance, service delivery standards, supplier governance, operational budgets, contract data, performance reporting and regional escalation.
• Influences: Global Workplace strategy, contract design, sourcing decisions, portfolio priorities, workplace standards and investment plans.
• Vetoes or escalates: Unapproved scope or commercial changes, unsafe or non‑compliant practices, and service arrangements that conflict with Workplace strategy, contractual controls or approved budgets.

Qualifications & Experience

An accomplished senior workplace leader with the strategic judgement, commercial authority and cross‑cultural leadership capability to direct a complex multi‑country operation. The successful candidate will combine enterprise‑level thinking with strong operational discipline and will be credible with executive stakeholders, country leaders, functional partners and major service providers.

Essential Experience And Expertise

• Substantial senior leadership experience in Workplace Operations, Corporate Real Estate, Integrated Facilities Management or a comparable service‑led environment, with accountability for a large, geographically dispersed and operationally complex regional portfolio.
• Demonstrable responsibility for setting regional strategy, translating global priorities into executable operating plans and delivering measurable business, workplace and employee‑experience outcomes.
• Proven leadership of senior managers and multidisciplinary teams through direct, matrixed and outsourced reporting structures across multiple countries, cultures and time zones.
• Executive‑level experience governing strategic outsourced partnerships and complex IFM contracts, including commercial strategy, contract interpretation, service scope, performance regimes, client obligations, change control, escalation and contractual remedies.
• Strong commercial and financial leadership, with significant accountability for regional operating budgets, forecasts, investment priorities, business cases, cost optimization, risk management and financial assurance.
• A strong record of leading transformation, service mobilization, operating‑model redesign, supplier transition, portfolio integration or enterprise‑wide continuous‑improvement programs.
• Experience operating in a highly matrixed international organization and influencing executive committees, country leadership and enabling functions without relying solely on formal authority.
• Strong command of workplace governance, operational risk, regulatory compliance, health and safety, security, business continuity and sustainability requirements across varied jurisdictions.
• Evidence of using operational, financial, employee and portfolio data to shape strategy, challenge performance, prioritize investment and provide decision‑ready insight to senior leadership.
• A relevant degree or equivalent senior professional experience; an advanced qualification or recognized professional accreditation in workplace, facilities management, real estate, procurement, finance or contract management is desirable.
• Fluent written and spoken English, with the cultural agility and willingness to travel regularly across Europe and APAC.

Leadership Capabilities

• Enterprise perspective: Connects workplace decisions to business strategy, organizational performance and long‑term value rather than optimizing individual countries or services in isolation.
• Strategic judgement: Makes timely, evidence‑based decisions in ambiguous situations, balancing user experience, cost, risk, compliance and operational resilience.
• Executive influence: Builds credibility quickly, communicates with clarity and impact, and secures alignment across competing senior stakeholders.
• Commercial leadership: Understands value drivers, challenges constructively and holds internal teams and strategic suppliers accountable for outcomes.
• People leadership: Creates clarity, develops leadership capability, builds succession and fosters an inclusive, accountable and high‑performing regional culture.
• Transformation leadership: Mobilizes stakeholders around a clear direction, manages resistance and embeds sustainable changes in behaviors, governance and ways of working.
• Personal resilience and integrity: Remains composed through complex escalations, acts with courage and transparency, and role‑model(s) safety, inclusion, sustainability and ethical leadership.

Indicators of Success

• A clear and consistently executed regional strategy, with strong alignment between global standards and local delivery.
• Improved workplace experience, service reliability, compliance and operational resilience across Europe and APAC.
• Effective strategic‑supplier performance, contract compliance and measurable commercial value.
• High confidence in regional budgets, forecasts, data, governance and executive reporting.
• A capable, engaged and accountable regional leadership team with visible succession and development plans.

Why Arcadis?

We can only achieve our goals when everyone is empowered to be their best. We believe everyone's contribution matters. It’s why we are pioneering a skills‑based approach, where you can harness your unique experience and expertise to carve your career path and maximize the impact we can make together.

You’ll do meaningful work, and no matter what role, you’ll be helping to deliver sustainable solutions for a more prosperous planet. Make your mark, on your career, your colleagues, your clients, your life and the world around you.

Together, we can create a lasting legacy.

Join Arcadis. Create a Legacy.

Our Commitment to Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging

We want you to be able to bring your best self to work every day, which is why we take equality and inclusion seriously and hold ourselves to account for our actions. Our ambition is to be an employer of choice and provide a great place to work for all our people.