Senior Occupancy Planner

JLL; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 75,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

JLL in Houston, TX is seeking a Senior Occupancy Planner to join the Occupancy Planning and Management team. This onsite role focuses on space data, planning deliverables, and supporting the client’s workplace strategy across the Americas.

You will work with CAFM/IWMS systems, AutoCAD, Excel, and PowerPoint to analyze utilization, create stack and block plans, and coordinate moves. A diploma in real estate or related field plus 4+ years of occupancy planning experience are preferred.

Qualifications

• Experience in occupancy or space planning for corporate clients.
• Strong familiarity with space utilization methods and floor plans.

Responsibilities

• Gather space requirements and develop space programs aligned with workplace strategy.
• Deliver stacking plans, allocation plans, adjacency diagrams, migration plans and move sequencing.
• Maintain space layouts and produce test-fits using graphic tools.

Skills

Office space planning

CAFM/IWMS

AutoCAD

Excel

PowerPoint

Strong communication

Data analysis

Hybrid working understanding

Stakeholder management

Education

Diploma in real estate or related field

Tools

CAFM/IWMS system

AutoCAD

Job description

We are looking for an Senior Occupancy Planner to join our Occupancy Planning and Management team. This role is onsite 3 days per week in Houston, TX.

Role Purpose

The Occupancy Planner is on the front line of solving today’s dynamic workplace challenges with hybrid and remote working strategies. Using the latest software and business intelligence tools, you will ensure all properties are optimized under the client’s workplace strategy. Join us and our client in creating inspirational, sustainable workplace experiences for our people and community.

What This Job Involves

As the Occupancy Planner, you will solve the client’s occupancy and space issues within the framework of corporate workplace programs, metrics, and strategy. This includes responsibility for tracking, analyzing, and updating space data to assist in the development of scenarios and options for our client's real estate portfolio across the Americas. Day-to-day planning deliverables would include space requirement programming for projects; stack plans, block plans, and test fits; responding to incremental space requests; and updating space layouts. Space Data deliverables would include tracking and managing utilization data and trends, data analysis in Excel, and producing visual charts & graphics in PowerPoint.

Planning Activities:

• You will gather the customer’s space requirements/scope through asking the right questions and active listening to understand the underlying business needs.
• You will proactively develop space programs and present solutions that align with the workplace strategy and meet the business requirements for all participating teams.
• Deliverables may include stacking plans, allocation plans, adjacency diagrams, migration plans and move sequencing, as well as block plans to convey future use of space and/or layouts, using graphic tools (Adobe, SketchUp, AutoCAD).
• Projects vary from incremental furniture changes to densification and restacking, to full renovation or new builds.
• You will be responsible for seeing incremental space requests and churn moves through to completion.
• On larger projects, you will work with the real estate team to support implementation of major projects, including tracking occupancy and allocations, and phased moves.

Fostering relationships:

You’ll foster critical relationships between various individuals and organizations, and ensure coordination and collaboration among various business units, especially regional facility operations, transactions, and project management functions. You’ll interact with business leaders and the client’s internal CRE team up to the senior manager level.

Data & Reporting:

You will become familiar with space utilization methods and the presentation of utilization data and identify trends and opportunities in the portfolio. You’ll work closely with local site teams across the client’s portfolio to gather and validate occupancy data related to people and space to be used in the measurement of space utilization and office efficiency.

Managing spaces:

You will work regularly in CAFM/IWMS system to maintain space types, business org allocations, neighborhoods, and other records. AutoCAD experience is required in order to maintain office floorplan layouts and produce furniture / layout test-fits for client projects. You will also support office reservation systems and perform administrative updates when space layouts change.

Interested? An ideal candidate will have many of the following qualifications (knowledge, skills, experience):

• Workplace Principles: A working knowledge of office design principles; literacy in reading and interpreting floor plans; occupancy utilization; and workplace trends such as the mobile workplace. You understand hybrid working, sharing ratios, collaboration space, and the components of office space (desking, meeting, amenity, support, and specialized spaces).
• Utilization: Knowledge of tools and methods for measuring workplace utilization, and ability to interpret utilization data and identify opportunities to optimize the portfolio.
• Creative thinker & problem solver: You can see the small moving parts that make up the big picture, develop multiple ways to solve a problem, and approach old problems with new ideas.
• Data and analytic skills: You have critical thinking skill sets and can tell a story through data. You will be successful on the job if you have advanced skills in Microsoft Excel (pivot table, V-lookup, charts, formulas) and Microsoft PowerPoint (graphics, layouts, storytelling). You are attentive to detail and accuracy - particularly numbers and trends. The ability to consolidate data and floor plans into PowerPoint presentations for clients will be highly valuable for the job.
• Familiarity with workplace reservation tools and utilization technologies highly desired.
• Real Estate: A working knowledge of corporate real estate process including transactions, leasing, lease options, and their impact on occupancy scenarios will be helpful.
• Excellent communication skills are important – both written and spoken. An individual with strong interpersonal skills, able to understand complex ideas and communicate them to others, and an ability to interact with senior-level external and internal clients will be successful in the role.
• Diploma level qualification or higher in the real estate industry, architecture, related field or equivalent professional experience.
• 4 or more years work experience in occupancy or space planning for corporate clients; or interior office planning, furniture planning/management, move/project management, or related Facilities function in a corporate real estate role.