Real Estate Manager - India & Nepal

Job Title: Real Estate Manager for India & Nepal

Service Lines: Real Estate Strategy and Transactions

Location: Mumbai, India (non-negotiable)

Req ID: R-1176572

PURPOSE OF THE ROLE

Responsibilities

The role will be responsible to manage Unilever’s real estate portfolio in India + Nepal (and any relevant geography that the business needs to engage in). Our real estate portfolio includes Offices, Supply Chain – land, factories and warehouses, and other asset classes. This role is part of the Global Real Estate team and would report into the RE Lead for India and Nepal. We are looking for a team player with owner’s mindset, who is self-driven, and who is excited by new challenges. Scope includes:

• Office, Residential, Land, Supply Chain, R&D, Retail and others. Managing Logistics and supply chain functions would be the key aspect of this role.
• Owned, leased and 3P managed sites are within the scope of this role.
• Transactions, including but not limited to, acquisitions (buy, lease, built-to-suit), divestments (sale, lease exits), and other portfolio related activities (such as, renewals, rental etc.).
• Role is supported by an established 3P global supplier though transactions may be delivered without the 3P support.
• Ensure that Unilever’s governance and policies are adhered to.
  
  

What Will Your Main Responsibilities Be

• Understand business units’ plans, space demands and real estate market trends and provide thought leadership in strategy sessions with business units to drive the best solutions considering all relevant occupancy scenarios.
• Proactively manage occupancy costs by understanding business units’ demands, market trends, hybrid ways of working, and space planning requirements to implement the best occupancy strategies and commercial options for the business (including sale/lease backs, adjustments of rent to market, etc.
• Lead the Supply Chain and Logistics real estate agenda, including warehouse strategy, lease renewals, benchmarking, consolidation opportunities, and Built‑to‑Suit evaluations, in line with global RE and SC strategies.
• Evaluate the optimal balance of leased and owned facilities through financial analyses of alternative lease and ownership strategies, based on agreed assumptions and accounting criteria.
• Quantify real estate decisions through robust financial analysis including ROI, payback period, cost avoidance, and P&L impact to support Business Unit and leadership decisions.
• Own portfolio governance for India + Nepal, including oversight of lease data accuracy, critical dates (renewals, expiries), and readiness for audits and internal reviews.
• Prepare comprehensive business cases that will be utilized to obtain consensus and approval from Business Units and Senior Management.
• Drive freehold divestments and acquisitions and any business activities (such as, M&A, separation).
• As required, step-in to manage other aspects of the real estate portfolio.
  
  

Experiences & Qualifications

Necessary Experience & Qualifications

• Relevant Degree or equivalent experience in real estate transactions career.
• Excellent analytical and communication skills (oral and written), advanced Excel skills, presentation packages (PowerPoint), interrogating databases (systems and web-based systems). Detail oriented and be able to look at the big picture and understand the business plans and trends.
• Experience in the engagement of key, senior level stakeholders, along with proven ability to influence and manage relationships with those stakeholders.
• Demonstrated experience delivering step‑change outcomes in cost, footprint optimisation, or portfolio transformation within a complex, matrixed organisation.
• Strong understanding of governance frameworks, approval authorities, and compliance requirements in large multinational environments
• Be able to have a high-level view and roll-up the sleeves to do the transactions themselves.
• Significant experience in taking divergent pieces of information, crafting clear, concise business plans and recommendations, and then land these recommendations to the business stakeholders.
• Strong financial acumen required to review strategic plans and scenarios.
• The ability to work a-synchronically with diverse groups.
  
  

Preferred Experience & Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience.
• Experience driving change through a matrixed, complex organization.
• Experience leading cross functional teams charged with creating and implementing operational methods that are vastly different from current methods.
• Storyteller who is confident with leading presentations and landing a narrative with facts backing the information.
• Agile advocate who has embraced agile project delivery and agile working.
• Fluent spoken and written English.
  
  

Skills

• Real Estate (RE) industry knowledge including the following:
• Best practices;
• Contracting methods;
• Service Level Agreement methodologies;
• Strengths and weaknesses of third-party delivery models;
• Key global, and regional service providers, and strengths and weaknesses of those providers;
• Real Estate transactions.
• Previous experience managing a regional lease administration program.
• Previous experience with Office portfolio, Logistics and Industrial projects, including supporting on the strategy stage of the projects.
• Ability to manage suppliers, ensuring the Services delivered by Strategic Partners meet the cost and service level expectations and requirements of the Unilever business. Experience in developing Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) and managing them across geographic regions.
• Extensive experience in analysing the “current situation” to develop strategies to drive efficiencies.
• Deep thinker who keeps on top of trends, new ways of working and industry research.
• Energetic, action and people oriented. A team player who works for the success of the business and the wider team is a critical element of this team’s culture.
• Strong Analytical and Organizational capabilities
• Ability to translate market intelligence and portfolio data into clear executive recommendations.
• Strong programme oversight capability across multiple concurrent transactions and asset classes.
• Effective communication and presenting skills
• Able to lead projects and manage project through prioritization and time management.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration & process improvement.
  

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