Workplace Lead

About the role

Destinus, a defence and aerospace company developing unmanned aerial vehicles, is looking for a Workplace Lead based in Madrid. You will lead the corporate office environments and the Office Manager community across Europe, owning the strategy, standards and day-to-day delivery of the office portfolio across several countries. This role covers corporate workplaces, not the production and manufacturing facilities function.

You will lead a team of 8 Office Managers, set consistent standards across the company and act as the single point of accountability for office leases, vendors, employee experience, events and administrative support. You will partner with HR, IT, Security, Finance and senior leadership so each site operates smoothly and scales as the company grows.

Key responsibilities

• Define and own the workplace strategy for the office portfolio, aligned with growth plans, hybrid working policies and budget.
• Establish service standards, processes and KPIs across sites, covering services, vendor management, space use and employee experience.
• Develop and maintain workplace playbooks, SLAs and escalation procedures for all Office Managers.
• Lead, coach and develop the Office Manager team, run regular 1:1s and conduct performance reviews.
• Build a connected Office Manager community and recruit and onboard new managers as sites open or grow.
• Ensure each site delivers a professional environment, including reception, mail and shipping, catering, cleaning, meeting rooms and visitor management.
• Oversee vendor selection, contract negotiation and performance management, consolidating suppliers where it adds value.
• Maintain workplace technology and tools such as desk and meeting room booking, visitor management, ticketing and access control, with IT and Security.
• Partner with leadership on lease management, renewals, expansions, relocations and new sites.
• Manage office fit-outs, refurbishments and moves from briefing through design, build and handover.
• Partner with HR on onboarding logistics, town halls and internal events.
• Ensure compliance with local health and safety, fire, accessibility and employment-related premises regulations, and coordinate with H&S leads, landlords and authorities.
• Support business continuity and crisis management, and partner with IT, Security and Finance on connectivity, budgets and procurement.

Required profile

• 8+ years in workplace, office operations, corporate real estate or facilities, with at least 3 years leading multi-site teams across European countries.
• Proven track record managing distributed Office Manager or Workplace teams and building consistent service standards.
• Experience managing significant operational budgets and complex vendor portfolios, with strong negotiation skills.
• Hands-on experience with office openings, fit-outs, relocations or major refurbishments in a European context.
• Fluent business English; a European language such as German, French, Italian or Spanish is a strong plus.
• Willingness and ability to travel regularly to European sites.
• High integrity, resilience under pressure and comfort moving between strategy and hands-on execution.

Required skills

• Solid understanding of health, safety and premises compliance across multiple European jurisdictions.
• Excellent stakeholder management with senior leaders, landlords, vendors and employees.
• Plus: familiarity with workplace technology platforms (desk booking, IWMS, visitor management, ticketing), IFMA/BIFM/IWFM certification, and experience implementing sustainability or ESG initiatives.