How will this role impact First Command?

The Director, Real Estate & Facilities provides leadership for First Command’s real estate portfolio, corporate campus, physical workplace environment, facilities and grounds operations, physical security, emergency preparedness, and capital improvement program. The role develops and executes strategies that align space, facilities, and desired employee experience with business objectives; advises senior leadership on real estate, occupancy and space planning, risk, capital, and facilities related service-delivery decisions; ensuring that facilities, projects, leases, vendors, and workplace programs within the scope of this role are governed and documented effectively, operated responsibly, and positively impact the people experience at First Command.

What will the employee do in this role?

• Develop and lead the enterprise real estate, facilities, workspace, and campus strategy, including long-range space planning, occupancy planning, capacity modeling, and portfolio recommendations.
• Advise executive and senior leaders on workspace strategy, employee experience, capital priorities, facility risk, lease matters, and operational impacts of business decisions.
• Lead workplace modernization, renovations, construction, furniture programs, phased moves, temporary-space planning, and return-to-workplace initiatives from concept through closeout.
• Act as a business owner within applicable project governance, including scope definition, budgets, schedules, procurement, change control, inspections, punch lists, approvals, documentation retention, warranties, and project closeout.
• Direct real estate activities including market evaluation, broker coordination, lease negotiation and administration, tenant strategy, occupancy reporting, landlord obligations, and assignment or amendment activity.
• Establish and communicate standards for space, furniture, signage, wayfinding, conference rooms, shared workspaces, campus appearance, amenities, and the consistent employee and visitor experience.
• Provide strategic oversight and continual evaluation of physical security, access control, surveillance, alarms, vendor access, parking controls, investigations support, and related policies, contracts, systems, and audit responses.
• Lead emergency preparedness, evacuation planning, severe-weather readiness, crisis-management support, business continuity coordination, training, drills, and communication protocols.
• Develop and administer operating and capital budgets, forecasts, expenditure approvals, financial controls, project cost tracking, invoice reconciliation, and management reporting.
• Establish and maintain formal sourcing, RFP, vendor evaluation, contract, service-level, insurance, lien-waiver, and performance-management practices for facilities suppliers and contractors.
• Ensure compliance with applicable building, life-safety, accessibility, environmental, security, records, procurement, and company policy requirements; coordinate remediation of audit and control observations.
• Lead and develop Real Estate & Facilities managers and teams; clarify accountability, build succession capability, assess staffing needs, and support performance, compensation, and development decisions.
• Build productive partnerships across departments and functions, tenants, brokers, architects, engineers, contractors, and public agencies (such as city and county emergency management officials).
• Keep leadership and teams informed regarding significant property-specific issues and facilities management developments.
• Monitor industry practices, technology, market conditions, and workplace trends and translate relevant developments into practical recommendations for First Command.
• Accountable for development and administration of the department’s operating and capital budgets, project budgets, forecasts, expenditure approvals, cost controls, and financial reporting. Specific dollar authority is governed by current company approval limits.

Supervisory Responsibility

• Provides direct leadership to Real Estate & Facilities managers and functional teams (including mail room, imaging, and supply), and indirect oversight of contractors, consultants, service providers, and contingent workers. Establishes priorities, delegates authority, coaches leaders, and remains accountable for department performance and succession readiness.

Skills & Qualifications

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in business, real estate, facilities management, architecture, engineering, construction management, or a related field is preferred.
• Prior experience successfully leading workplace transformation, capital projects, and adaptable workplace programs that support employee experience, safety, and business needs is preferred.

Work Experience

• 10 or more years of progressive corporate real estate, facilities, construction, workplace, or property-management experience, including leadership of a complex facilities function and cross-functional capital initiatives.

Certifications              

• One or more recognized industry credentials such as IFMA Certified Facility Manager (CFM), BOMI Real Property Administrator (RPA) or Facilities Management Administrator (FMA), CoreNet Master of Corporate Real Estate (MCR), or a recognized project-management credential is preferred.

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Preparedness to work flexible indoor and outdoor hours and respond to urgent facility, security, weather, or life-safety matters outside normal business hours (on call 24/7 for emergency issues).
• Due to the nature and essential functions of this role, this individual must be able to work on-site daily, regardless of the broader enterprise hybrid work environment.
• Leads and acts with First Command’s core values of courage, love, and effectiveness.
• Ability to assess, synthesize information, and make well-informed decisions.
• Strong collaborator who influences effectively regardless of positional authority.
• Communicates with clarity, confidence and credibility.
• Holistic thinker, understands how contributions fit into the big picture and people/culture strategy.
• Consummate professional who maintains composure while balancing complex, ambiguous, high-visibility, and confidential matters.
• Strong servant leadership, financial judgment, negotiation, contract management.
• Possesses analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Able to develop people and maintain accountable teams.
• Creates and maintains productive partnerships across organizational boundaries.

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