Real Estate & Business Administration Manager

at  WestJet

WHY WESTJET:

Every WestJet journey has the potential to enrich lives; a career with us is no exception.
WestJet arrived on the Canadian airline scene in 1996 and changed the industry for the better. We made air travel more affordable for Canadians and now we’re going global.

REQUIREMENTS:

• 5-8 years of direct experience in management and administration of a national and international portfolio of both owned and leased commercial, industrial, and office corporate real estate and facilities. Familiarity with aviation facilities, infrastructure and industry services are an asset.
• Must possess an undergraduate degree or diploma in business administration, real estate or a combination of experience and education from a relevant field.
• Professional accreditation (MCR, CFM, RPA, FMA) in corporate real estate, commercial real estate or facilities is an asset.
• Strong lease negotiation skills and attention to detail, knowledge of real estate law, regulations and best practices and advanced skills in portfolio planning, lease negotiations, contract management and administration are required.
• Possess core competencies in property, facilities, and workplace management professional practices.
• Exceptional financial and business acumen.
• Experience with category management, sourcing, and procurement best practices.
• Strong relationship and stakeholder engagement skills with internal stakeholders, senior leadership, legal, landlords, vendor/service providers, consultants, and various business teams.
• Highly analytical with the ability to understand complex issues by breaking down to their simplest components, conceptualize solutions, and clearly communicate to varying audiences.
• Strong problem-solving skills with demonstrated creative, innovative, and critical thinking.
• Ability to successfully prioritize and balance multiple initiatives with varying levels of complexity and competing priorities and timelines.
• Collaborative, consultive style with a strong customer-service mentality.
• Upbeat, motivated self-starter and independent worker that is collaborative and supportive of CRE team.
• Focused on being outcome-oriented and consistently meeting expectations, deadlines and maintaining a commitment to quality of work.
• Proficiency in MS Office product suite, and JDE.

HYBRID ROLE:

This is a hybrid position; you will be required to work at the WestJet Campus in Calgary approximately 3 days / week.
Candidates need to be located within Calgary Metropolitan Region.

Reporting to the Senior Manager, Corporate Real Estate, the Real Estate & Business Administration Manager is a key member of the Corporate Real Estate team and is responsible for two primary functions:

• Leading real estate portfolio management, transactions, negotiations, and administration across WestJet’s global network, ensuring optimal terms within budget and timelines and identifying opportunities for portfolio optimization and cost savings.Developing and stewarding the CRE team’s operating budget, administration, compliance with agreements, contract lifecycle management and reporting.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Highly skilled in real estate portfolio management of a leased and owned portfolio of commercial, industrial, office, and aviation real estate and facilities,
• Partner cross-functionally to assist in real estate business case development, review, management and negotiation of real estate leases and contracts including letters of intent, offers to lease, leases, lease amendments, lease renewals and maintenance of various leases and real estate contracts.
• Oversee lease administration, cost management, planning, reporting, ensuring compliance to internal processes and alignment with business requirements.
• Manage rent verification process including review and approval of rental payments and billings.
• Maintaining document tracking for all lease documentation.
• Assist with strategic and real estate portfolio planning.
• Develop budget planning and expenditure management, including operational and capital expenses, reports and monitoring financial performance through financial forecasts and variance analysis.
• Develop and nurture relationships and stakeholder relationships with internal business teams (legal, insurance, business continuity, OHS, environment, etc.), senior leadership, airport authorities, service provider/partners and landlords.
• Identify opportunities to continuously improve business processes and collaborative delivery of CRE business objectives and service levels.
• Sustains CRE sourcing strategies that are aligned to WestJet’s long-term strategy for CRE. This strategy will consist of world- class category plans built specifically for the CRE portfolio while also supporting our commercial strategy with Airports, and supplier-related agreements.
• Supports defining and monitoring supplier performance, sourcing, and procurement metrics and CRE KPIs to ensure increased asset utilization, cost optimization and continuous improvement.