Head of Strategic Occupancy Planning

About the Role:

As a leader in our Facilities and Real Estate organization, you will play a critical role in developing and executing strategic plans that optimize our global real estate portfolio and support our ever-growing business needs. You will focus on Strategic Master Planning, Workplace Strategy, Space Planning, Move Management, Space Programming and Allocation, Spatial Data Accuracy, and developing various move scenarios. As a “player-coach,” you will work side-by-side on projects with the team and engage with cross-disciplinary staff to conceive, design, and develop programs, policies, and processes to be used in our global playbook. 

This is an Individual Contributor role. This role is based in San Francisco, CA. We use a hybrid work model of 3 days in the office per week and offer relocation assistance to new employees.

In this role, you will own:

Strategic Planning:

• Analyze and evaluate current and future real estate needs, including space utilization, occupancy costs, and market trends.

• Align strategic plans with the company’s objectives to maximize efficiency and foster innovation and productivity.

• Define short-term and long-term strategies for space solutions, including the allocation of space in new or renovated offices.

Collaboration and Communication:

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to identify and prioritize business requirements and translate them into real estate solutions.

• Partner with business units to develop demand models for future space needs using data and assumptions.

• Build relationships with business partners to meet their allocation and adjacency needs, validating headcount projections and spatial programming requirements.

• Work regularly with executives on planning, providing quick turnarounds on move scenarios and strategic space planning.

• Present to executives and produce polished, board-level presentation decks.

Operational Management:

• Refine business requirements into occupancy and space plans.

• Develop workplace strategies to support collaboration, productivity, and company objectives.

• Negotiate space among user groups to maximize real estate use and improve collaboration and workflow.

• Establish templates and processes to standardize space requests.

• Manage moves, including creating block plans and seat assignments before execution.

• Create regular reports tracking team moves, individual moves, and new hire seat assignments.

Data Management and Analysis:

• Ensure spatial data accuracy and maintain data integrity in CAFM systems.

• Conduct diagramming, data analysis, and visualization to support space programming and presentation preparation.

• Utilize tools like MS Office, CAFM, Archibus, and data visualization tools like Tableau for reporting and analysis.

You might thrive in this role if you:

• Have proven experience in strategic occupancy planning, real estate management, or a related field in a fast-paced scaling company.

• Have managed large-scale space planning projects and engaged cross-functional teams effectively.

• Are skilled at presenting to executives, creating alignment and consensus with board-level presentation decks.

• Possess strong analytical skills for data analysis and visualization.

• Can identify and validate organizational requirements and workplace needs.

• Excel at building strong relationships to liaise effectively with business partners.

• Are capable of managing a portfolio of rapid growth and defining strategies for spatial and occupancy needs.

• Can interpret complex data into easy-to-understand solutions for executives and employees.

• Have expert proficiency in GSuite tools, Archibus, and Tableau.

About OpenAI

OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. We push the boundaries of the capabilities of AI systems and seek to safely deploy them to the world through our products. AI is an extremely powerful tool that must be created with safety and human needs at its core, and to achieve our mission, we must encompass and value the many different perspectives, voices, and experiences that form the full spectrum of humanity. 

We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability or any other legally protected status. 

For US Based Candidates: Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, and requests can be made via this link.

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