Sr. Manager, Workplace Occupancy Planning

About the Role

The Workplace Experience [WE] team is dedicated to supporting our North America Corporate Offices across Gap Inc. and its iconic house of brands. Our mission is to transform and enable a high-performance workplace that not only meets employee needs and leadership goals but also serves as a catalyst for our culture. [WE] is seeking a highly skilled and strategic Sr Manager of Workplace Occupancy Planning, who will take on a pivotal leadership role within our Workplace Experience team. You will be critical in optimizing the utilization of our real estate portfolio, ensuring our physical spaces align with business needs, drive efficiency, and enhance the employee experience across our corporate offices and operational sites. You will be instrumental in creating and implementing space planning that elevate the work environment, driving employee productivity, satisfaction, and overall operational excellence. This role serves as a critical bridge between strategy and execution.

What You'll Do

• Develop, lead, and implement a comprehensive global occupancy planning strategy that is seamlessly aligned with the organization's overarching vision, business goals, and cultural objectives.
• Champion high-impact initiatives focused on maximizing space utilization, significantly enhancing the employee experience, and driving tangible operational efficiencies across the portfolio.
• Establish Standards: Develop and govern global occupancy standards and guidelines, ensuring they are flexible and adaptable to meet diverse local needs and regulatory requirements.
• Direct the process of collecting, verifying, and advanced analysis of complex headcount and space data to inform strategic occupancy decisions and support ongoing portfolio optimization efforts.
• Proactively establish, monitor, and continually assess the capacity of all workspaces to ensure current and future organizational demands can be met.
• Prepare detailed space forecasts and critically evaluate emerging space planning trends in relation to general business conditions to inform proactive planning.
• Maintain a high level of data integrity by owning the review, validation (including managing space walks), and maintenance of all occupancy metrics within the system of record.
• Serve as the principal conduit and trusted advisor between high-profile Business/Brand leaders and the Workplace Experience team, ensuring clear communication and strategic partnership.
• Synthesize complex data and analytical findings into clear, actionable recommendations, leading the process to drive alignment and consensus among diverse stakeholders.
• Review detailed space requirements and present conceptual plans, comprehensive recommendations, and compelling visual materials (e.g., stack plans, block plans) to high-profile stakeholders and Steering Committees.
• Conduct in-depth interviews and discussions with stakeholders to thoroughly gather, coordinate, and synthesize move project requirements, including functional, operational, and cultural considerations.
• Oversee and execute essential planning deliverables, including the creation of detailed block/stack plans, project charters, and precise move lists.
• Lead collaborative efforts with Project Management and Strategy peers to integrate occupancy plans with move sequencing, relocation execution, and construction services.
• Conduct thorough evaluations of work areas impacted by move plans to ensure absolute accuracy of office availability, both at the current and destination locations.
• Facilitate post-occupancy reviews and support to validate that all project deliverables were successfully executed, and stakeholder expectations were met.
• Develop, implement, and lead Change Management strategies specifically focused on introducing new ways of working and ensuring smooth adoption of change by business management teams.
• Apply expertise in standard principles and techniques to resolve complex or non-routine problems and continuously improve standardized procedures and practices to achieve objectives and meet demanding deadlines.

Who You Are

• Subject matter expertise and in-depth industry knowledge in assessing and implementing space solutions
• Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of building solutions led by workflow, job function, and demand.
• Be extremely resourceful, a self-starter, and lead with curiosity.
• Exhibit strong communication and negotiation skills to guide, influence, and convince others.
• Adapt communication techniques for audiences at multiple internal levels and external agencies.
• Create solutions and recommendations that are intentional, responsible, and with long-term goals in mind with the ability to assess risk, even in ambiguity.
• Full understanding of space planning and contextualizing it for outside audiences.
• Ability to create high-level and easy-to-understand block plans to help inform strategy and communicate ideas.
• Know how to drive insights through workplace qualitative and quantitative data
• Experience in facilitating sessions with key leaders and influencers to obtain workstyle knowledge
• 7-10 years of Workplace Strategy experience in furniture, Architecture, space, programming, and insights.
• Experience with change management and product companies is a plus.
• Eager to continually learn and stay up to speed with workplace trends, technology, and evolution.