Head of Design and Construction - Executive Director

Shape how people work, collaborate, and serve clients—through spaces that truly perform. Join us at the world’s leading bank as we expand our Corporate Investment Bank, Asset and Wealth Management, and Chase businesses across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In this senior leadership role, you will lead real estate investment delivery—creating exceptional workplace experiences for our people and purpose-built client centers.
You will work across strategy, transactions, finance, procurement, and delivery partners to bring complex projects from concept to handover—on time, on budget, and with strong governance.

Job summary

As a Head of Design and Construction in Global Real Estate, you lead the firm’s real estate investment delivery, creating exceptional workplace experiences for our people and purpose-built client centers.
You will manage and develop a high-performing Design and Construction team and partner closely with internal stakeholders and vendor partners to deliver projects on time and within budget.
We’ll rely on you to align delivery to workplace guidelines, company standards, and regulatory policies—while strengthening controls, managing risk, and supporting business outcomes.

Job responsibilities

- Lead and develop a high-performing Design and Construction team, supporting talent acquisition, training, and retention.

- Optimize resourcing to meet business priorities and the delivery pipeline.

- Collaborate with strategy, transactions, and finance partners to shape and execute the real estate strategic plan.

- Oversee technical due diligence and capital estimates to support site selection and funding decisions.

- Define project delivery strategies aligned to workplace and industry best practices.

- Maintain strong market connectivity to identify trends and innovations that improve delivery outcomes.

- Partner with stakeholders to translate business requirements into practical, high-quality design and planning solutions.

- Develop execution plans and programs to optimize schedule, budget, outcomes, and risk management.

- Lead procurement approaches, including request-for-proposal activity and ongoing vendor relationship management.

- Deliver end-to-end execution with robust change management, accurate project data, and strong process controls.

- Ensure effective handover to facilities management and support clear workplace communications.

Required qualifications, capabilities, and skills

- Deep knowledge of the construction industry and delivery of large-scale projects.

- Experience partnering with consultants, construction managers, subcontractors, and vendors across varied contract types.

- Experience navigating permitting and incentives processes as part of project delivery.

- Proven track record managing simultaneous capital projects, including projects from $50,000 to over $100MM.

- Ability to balance budget requirements with quality and timely delivery.

- Strong communication, influencing, presentation, and negotiation skills.

- Strong capability in preparing written project correspondence for executive leadership.

- Knowledge of business processes and procedures, applications, workflow, and planning.

- Knowledge of business services and systems and implementing corporate policies.

Preferred qualifications, capabilities, and skills

- Extensive experience in real estate and/or project management including managing a high-volume portfolio of concurent capital projects.

- Bachelor’s or master’s degree (or equivalent), preferably in construction, engineering, architecture, or business.

- Strong time management skills and sound judgement to escalate issues when needed.

- Ability to motivate teams to deliver strong results.

- Strong financial skills and business acumen.

- Strong working knowledge of relevant applications, including artificial intelligence tools.