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Business Unit Director

AT CBRE
CBRE

Business Unit Director

Milwaukee, WI

Global Workplace Solutions (GWS) - Local is a hard services-led, tailored facility management solution. We self-perform hard services while partnering with best-in-class soft service providers to offer custom facility and project management solutions to our clients. We focus on empowering our team with a high-level of downstream accountability resulting in an agile and efficient service delivery.

In addition to our core facility and project management capabilities, our platform offers direct access to our Best-in-Class services including ESG, Security Consulting, Workplace Strategy, and Workplace Experience.

About the role:

The Business Unit Director (BUD) provides leadership, management, and development of a Business Unit (BU), ensuring financial and operational commitments are met and exceeded, while continually developing the customer base. This includes service delivery, customer relationship management, P&L ownership, QHSE and regulatory compliance, people and talent management, operations management, and business development.

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The BUD is responsible for day-2-day operational management as well as strategic leadership and development of the BU. This includes driving rapid, sustainable, and profitable growth from both the existing customer base with extra works and projects, and from new business, with a leading role in sales and solution development.

What you'll do:

General/Operations:

  • Drive a safety-first culture, promoting proactive behaviors to reduce harm and improve the well-being of our People.
  • Formulate business and sales plans in response to anticipated economic, technological and market trends.
  • Drive the sustainable and profitable growth of the BU.
  • Represent CBRE GWS in a professional and credible manner to all stakeholders, including the public.
  • Be responsive to customers, meeting in person where possible to develop long term relationships.
  • Monitor and improve Client satisfaction, at a minimum capturing NPS and CSAT data from across the Business Unit quarterly, monthly where possible.
  • Understand and anticipate customer requirements, through engagement and the sharing of best practice and thought leadership.
  • Ensure an appropriate customer reporting regime exists at account level and attend quarterly and annual meetings to drive the strategic development of accounts with customers.
  • Ensure appropriate governance and controls exist to deliver high quality, safe, and compliant operational outcomes.
  • Ensure robust Account Reviews are prepared and presented to the BUD monthly by Account Leads, with relevant input from AGMs and support staff. Coach and guide improvement, ensuring the detail receives the appropriate check and challenge.
  • Prepare and deliver a monthly Business Unit Review (BUR) ensuring there are no surprises, no untruths, and sufficient challenge of presented data has taken place to validate the content.
  • Ensure appropriate resources are in place to deliver business objectives and meet growth expectations, including talent management and forward planning.
  • Build a robust succession plan for the BU, using management development programs and local development activities to ensure ready and able candidates are always available.
  • Drive continuous improvement and innovation across your business, promoting the use of company tools and sharing best practice throughout.
  • Ensure mobilizations/transitions are sufficiently resourced and executed to meet both CBRE and customer expectations, with sign off at exec level.
  • Support People Engagement and account DE&I objectives; promote and maintain CBRE culture throughout business.
  • Other duties may be assigned.

People:

  • Provide leadership, guidance, coaching and direct support, where required, to deliver business outcomes, and drive high levels of employee engagement.
  • Ensure the team has both the competence and motivation to execute their role and reach their full potential. This includes the completion of mandatory training, suitable induction, and job specific learning.
  • Promote a culture of cooperation and teamwork, ensuring staff are recognized and rewarded as appropriate - through local mechanisms, bonus scorecards (where applicable), Exceptional Awards, and social activities/events.
  • No member of direct team to have ambiguity over scorecard targets, objectives, continual achievement against these targets or their perceived general performance.
  • Train, develop, induct and mentor direct reports, building a culture of continual development.
  • Ensure all staff are appraised annually, and all managers are formally trained in the CBRE appraisal process.
  • All team members should have relevant and specific development plans in place, using the appropriate company tools and training catalogue.
  • Visible and accessible to the team.

Sales:

  • Drive growth through appropriate strategic direction and planning.
  • Ensure all pipeline activity is accurately detailed and forecast, for Projects and new business opportunities.
  • Motivate and guide Business Development team to sufficiently cultivate new leads to meet growth targets and expectations.
  • Accountable for successful tender/bid development within the BU, including sales and operational resourcing, sign offs, document and commercial reviews, and presentation/pitch standards.

Finance/Commercial:

  • Full responsibility for Profit & Loss including the development of business financial plans for revenue and profit delivery, management of WIP, debt, cost control, and growth - ensuring targets are met or exceeded.
  • Ensure business policies and processes are effectively communicated and implemented across BU.
  • Drive effective commercial and financial governance across the BU through accurate reporting, and appropriate checks and balances.
  • Review purchase orders to ensure financial, contractual, and commercial accuracies.
  • Take appropriate action, as indicated by variances, to ensure revenue, operating profit, working capital and bookings targets are met and improved upon, without compromising exceptional service or customer relationships

Procurement:

  • Drive procurement strategy for the BU, focusing on outcomes such as value, performance, compliance, and diversity, to meet business goals.
  • Drive the use of preferred suppliers and ensure suitable vendor management controls exist at Account level. Ensure robust, back-to-back, and performance focused, contracts are in place with vendors on Accounts in order to leverage maximum value.
  • Ensure fair treatment of suppliers, professional supplier management and arbitration of disputes.

Supervisory Responsibilities

  • Line management of BU team including operations, sales, and projects staff. Responsible for recruitment, selection, promotion, advancement, corrective action, and termination. Plans and monitors appropriate staffing levels and utilization of labor across BU. Prepares and delivers performance appraisal for staff. Mentors and coaches team members to further develop competencies. Leads by example and models behaviors that are consistent with the company's RISE values.

What you'll need

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

  • Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States without the need for visa sponsorship now or in the future.
  • Minimum of four years of related experience and/or training. Bachelor's degree with focus on business, technical or management areas.
  • Ability to comprehend, analyze, and interpret the most complex business documents.
  • Ability to respond effectively to the most sensitive issue
  • Ability to write reports, manuals, speeches and articles using distinctive style.
  • Ability to make effective and persuasive presentations on complex topics to employees, clients, top management and/or public groups
  • Ability to motivate and negotiate effectively with key employees, top management, and client groups to take desired action
  • Ability to comprehend, analyze, and interpret various types of business documents. Ability to solve problems involving several options in situations. Requires advanced analytical and quantitative skills
  • Requires advanced financial skills and knowledge to review complex financial reports prepared by others
  • Candidate should be able to prioritize key initiatives, develop business cases for budgets and reserve investments to align operational units towards common business development goals. Provides recommendations to executives that impact a line of business.
  • Technically savvy with solid experience in Microsoft Office (PowerPoint, Excel, Word) and Outlook. Advanced Excel skills preferred.
  • Decisions made with thorough understanding of procedures, company policies, and business practices to achieve general results and deadlines. Responsible for setting project, department and/or division deadlines. Errors in judgment may cause short-term impact to department.
  • Reports to the Division Managing Director
  • Manages Area General Managers, Account Directors, Head of Projects, and Business Development Manager Partners closely with Finance & Contract Support Manager, Business Operations Manager, Contract Supports, and Account Leaders
Why CBRE?

We lead by example, guided by the needs of the cities we inhabit, the communities we build, and the world we live in. The more perspectives we have, the more dimensions we're able to see. A culture of respect, integrity, service, and excellence shapes our approach to every opportunity.

Our competitive and comprehensive benefits program was designed to make sure you feel valued with benefits that support the mental, physical, emotional, and financial health of you and your family.

Maintain your career momentum with the best tools and training in the industry. You'll have everything you need to thrive in your role: challenging work, dedication to results, fast-paced assignments, and a culture of constant learning.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) are more than just values- they're a competitive advantage. By crafting a place where our employees are recognized for their contribution and given a chance to grow.

Equal Employment Opportunity: CBRE is an equal opportunity employer that values diversity. We have a long-standing commitment to providing equal employment opportunity to all qualified applicants regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, veteran status, political belief, or any other basis protected by applicable law.

Candidate Accommodations: CBRE values the differences of all current and prospective employees and recognizes how every employee contributes to our company's success. CBRE provides reasonable accommodations in job application procedures for individuals with disabilities. If you require assistance due to a disability in the application or recruitment process, please submit a request via email at recruitingaccommodations@cbre.com or via telephone at +1 866 225 3099 (U.S.) and +1 866 388 4346 (Canada).

NOTE: Some, but not all, of our positions may have an additional requirement to comply with COVID-19 health and safety protocols, including COVID-19 vaccination proof and/or rigorous testing. If you have questions about the requirement(s) for this position, please inform your Recruiter.

CBRE GWS

CBRE Global Workplace Solutions (GWS) works with clients to make real estate a meaningful contributor to organizational productivity and performance. Our account management model is at the heart of our client-centric approach to delivering integrated real estate solutions. Each client is entrusted with a dedicated leader and is supported by regional and global resources, leveraging the industry's most robust platform. CBRE GWS delivers consistent, measurably superior outcomes for our clients at every stage of the lifecycle, and across industries and geographies.

Find out more

Client-provided location(s): Milwaukee, WI, USA
Job ID: CBRE-172529
Employment Type: Full Time