Latam Real Estate Manager

Unilever is currently hiring for a Latam Real Estate Manager

ABOUT UNILEVER

With 3.4 billion people in over 190 countries using our products every day, Unilever is a business that makes a real impact on the world. Work on brands that are loved and improve the lives of our consumers and the communities around us. We are driven by our purpose: to make sustainable living commonplace, and it is our belief that doing business the right way drives superior performance. At the heart of what we do is our people – we believe that when our people work with purpose, we will create a better business and a better world.

At Unilever, your career will be a unique journey, grounded in our inclusive, collaborative, and flexible working environment. We don’t believe in the ‘one size fits all’ approach and instead we will equip you with the tools you need to shape your own future.

JOB PURPOSE

The role is responsible for managing Unilever’s real estate portfolio across Latin America, including Mexico and any other relevant business geographies. This portfolio covers offices, supply chain properties such as land, factories, and warehouses, as well as other asset classes. The position is part of the Global Workplace team and reports to the Real Estate Lead for India and LATAM. As a senior role within Unilever, it is central to enabling responsive business strategies, minimizing costs, and maximizing portfolio value while balancing risk.

We are seeking a collaborative team player with an owner’s mindset and strong leadership qualities, someone who is self-driven and thrives on new challenges.

Scope includes:

• Office, residential, land, supply chain, R&D, retail, and other asset types.
• Owned, leased, and third-party managed sites.
• Transactions, including but not limited to acquisitions (purchase, lease, built-to-suit), divestments (sale, lease exits), and other portfolio-related activities (renewals, rental negotiations).
• The role is supported by an established global 3P supplier, though transactions may be completed independently.
• It is essential to ensure compliance with Unilever’s governance and policies.

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/leasebacks, adjustments of rent to market, etc.).
• Drive the Logistics Real Estate strategy aligned with the global guidelines and governance in place and drive wider support for the Supply Chain real estate portfolio.
• 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.
• Prepare comprehensive business cases to obtain consensus and approval from Business Units and Senior Management.
• Drive freehold divestments, acquisitions, and other business activities such as M&A and separations.
• Step in to managing other aspects of the real estate portfolio as required.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO SUCCEED

Experiences & Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degreed completed.
• Fluent in spoken and written English, Portuguese, and Spanish.
• Experienced in Real Estate transactions.
• Relevant knowledge and understanding of the Real Estate industry, including best practices, contracting methods, SLA methodologies, and the strengths and weaknesses of 3P delivery models.
• Familiar with key global and regional service providers and their strengths and weaknesses.
• Previous experience managing a regional lease administration program and leading a strategic real estate portfolio planning program. With ability to align corporate real estate objectives with business goals.
• Experience with office portfolios, logistics, and industrial projects, including strategic project support.
• Skilled in managing suppliers to ensure that services delivered by strategic partners meet both cost and service level expectations and requirements.
• Skilled in leading cross-functional teams to create and implement innovative operational methods.
• Advanced Excel skills, presentation packages (PowerPoint), interrogating databases (systems and web-based systems).
• Strong financial acumen for reviewing strategic plans and scenarios.
• Experienced in developing and managing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) across geographic regions.

Skills

• Excellent analytical and communication skills (oral and written),
• Detail-oriented with the ability to see the big picture and understand business plans and trends.
• A deep thinker who keeps on top of trends, new ways of working and industry research.
• Energetic, action-oriented, and people-focused. A team player who contributes to the success of the business and the wider team, which is a critical element of this team's culture.
• Strong Analytical and Organizational capabilities
• Able to lead projects and manage them through prioritization and time management.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration & process improvement.
• A confident storyteller who excels at leading presentations and delivering narratives supported by solid facts and information.

Leadership

• You are an inclusive motivator of people. Your team deliver with real passion, growing and learning from each other whilst delivering quick wins.
• You are still responsible for your own results and as a manager, you also need to motivate others to deliver with passion, creating an inclusive and engaging climate around you. You can balance challenge with support and coaching. You understand the wider business context and you are emotionally intelligent enough to motivate people to deliver what is needed.

Unilever embraces diversity and encourages applicants from all walks of life! This means giving full and fair consideration to all applicants and continuing development of all employees regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity. 

Unilever is an organisation committed to equity, inclusion and diversity to drive our business results and create a better future, every day, for our diverse employees, global consumers, partners, and communities. We believe a diverse workforce allows us to match our growth ambitions and drive inclusion across the business. At Unilever we are interested in every individual bringing their ‘Whole Self’ to work and this includes you! Thus if you require any support or access requirements, we encourage you to advise us at the time of your application so that we can support you through your recruitment journey.