Global Head of Properties
hace 2 días
Madrid
Global Head of Properties Sector: International Private K–12 Education | Private Equity–Backed Location: Madrid / Europe Reports to: Group CEO We are working exclusively with a fast-growing, private equity–backed education group that offers a truly rare opportunity to join a high-performing international platform. The Group operates a portfolio of 30+ premium, fee-paying schools across Europe, Latin America, and North America and is ambitious with their buy-and-build growth strategy. As the organisation continues to scale, it is strengthening its in-house capability and is now seeking an experienced Global Group Head of Properties to lead the strategy, development, and optimization of their physical infrastructure across all regions. This role is critical to enabling the group’s growth ambition by ensuring that campus expansion, infrastructure quality, maintenance, Health & Safety, and capital investment (CAPEX) are fully aligned with their educational vision and operational standards. The Role Reporting to the Group CEO, the Global Head of Properties will define and implement a global property and facilities strategy, overseeing capital projects, maintenance frameworks, safety standards, and real estate decisions across Europe, LatAM and US/Canada Regions. The role acts as the key link between regional CEOs, Head of Projects, properties, finance, and global leadership to ensure that every campus delivers a consistent, high-quality, safe, and scalable environment for learning. While day-to-day facilities operations remain at the school level, this role drives the operating model, governance, cost discipline (CAPEX), and long-term planning across the group. Key responsibilities; Global Property Strategy & Planning • Define and lead the global property and facilities strategy aligned with the groups growth and expansion plans., • Develop long-term campus master plans, ensuring scalability and consistency across regions., • Establish global standards for campus design, infrastructure, maintenance, and Health & Safety., • Act as the key advisor to the Executive Team on real estate, infrastructure, and investment decisions. Capital Projects & Expansion (CAPEX) • Large projects will be the responsibility of the Head of Projects (direct report)., • Oversee the planning and execution of developments, expansions, and refurbishments, together with the Head of Projects., • Ensure projects are delivered on time, within budget, and aligned with quality standards., • Define and manage CAPEX governance, prioritization, and ROI tracking in partnership with Finance and Head of Projects. Maintenance, Health & Safety & Cost Management • Define and implement global frameworks for maintenance, facilities management, and Health & Safety., • Establish preventive maintenance models and asset lifecycle strategies., • Ensure compliance with international safety standards., • Drive optimization and control of OPEX related to maintenance, facilities, and safety, ensuring cost efficiency without compromising quality or student experience., • Create visibility and governance over ongoing facilities costs vs. long-term investment needs. Standardization, Scale & Value Creation • Define and deploy a global property operating model, setting the standards for design, infrastructure, maintenance, and vendor ecosystems across all regions., • Establish scalable frameworks that enable the replication of high-quality campuses across geographies, balancing consistency with local adaptability., • Lead a global approach to capital allocation and value engineering, ensuring optimal trade-offs between quality, speed, and cost across CAPEX and OPEX., • Build and institutionalize a data-driven property function, with full visibility on asset performance, lifecycle costs, and investment efficiency to support strategic decision-making. Facilities Governance & Compliance • Define and implement global policies for health & safety, facilities management, and compliance., • Ensure adherence to local regulations and international standards across all campuses., • Develop governance frameworks to ensure consistent execution and accountability at school level. Stakeholder Management & Alignment • Act as the main liaison between regional teams, school leadership, Head of Property and global executives on all property-related matters., • Collaborate closely with Education, HR and Finance to ensure infrastructure supports the educational model., • Provide regular updates to the Executive Team on projects, risks, investments, and cost performance. Person Specification The Group Head of Properties will most likely be based in Europe (ideally Madrid or with good transport links to Madrid) and will be required to travel extensively across the groups property portfolio. Knowledge and Experience • Proven experience in global property, real estate, or infrastructure leadership roles, ideally within multi-site, international organizations., • Strong track record managing large-scale capital projects (CAPEX), including new developments, expansions, and refurbishments., • Experience overseeing facilities operations (OPEX), including maintenance, asset lifecycle management, and cost control., • Solid understanding of Health & Safety frameworks., • Experience defining and implementing global standards and operating models across multiple regions., • Exposure to M&A, site selection, and due diligence processes is highly desirable., • Experience in education or similarly complex, multi-location environments is a plus. Skills and Competencies • Strong strategic thinking with the ability to translate vision into scalable execution models., • Ability to balance quality, speed, and cost in complex investment and operational decisions., • Advanced capability in financial planning and analysis, particularly in CAPEX prioritization and OPEX optimization., • Strong project and program management skills, with the ability to oversee multiple initiatives simultaneously., • Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills, particularly at Executive and Board level., • Ability to lead standardization and transformation initiatives across geographies and functions., • High level of data-driven decision-making, leveraging insights to improve asset performance and investment outcomes. Personal Qualities, Style and Values • Operates with a global mindset, able to balance consistency with local realities., • Combines strategic clarity with execution discipline — delivers, not just defines., • Pragmatic and solutions-oriented, with strong commercial judgment., • Brings a high level of ownership and accountability, particularly in high-impact investment decisions., • Builds trust and credibility with senior stakeholders through clarity, rigor, and sound judgment., • Comfortable operating in complex, fast-growing environments with evolving priorities. Languages & Travel • Fluent English is essential, • Conversational Spanish is strongly preferred, other European languages are beneficial, • Location: Ideally Madrid or with good transport links., • The role involves significant international travel to the Groups portfolio of properties. Why Join ? This is a rare chance to join a private equity–backed education platform at a defining stage of its growth. Sitting at the heart of the expansion strategy, the role offers significant responsibility, close partnership with senior leadership and exceptional, performance-driven rewards. Our client is a confidential, private equity–backed international education group. Further details will be shared with shortlisted candidates.