Director, Head of Community Impact

Cushman & Wakefield • New York, NY

15d • $153,000 - $180,000

About The Position

The Global Head of Social & Community Impact will design, lead, and continuously evolve a 3-year global strategy that leverages the company’s technical expertise, professional capabilities, and global footprint to strengthen communities around the world. This role will transform community impact from a collection of well-intended, localized efforts into a cohesive, enterprise-wide platform that delivers measurable value for communities, employees, clients, and the business. By aligning employee volunteerism, pro bono engagement, charitable giving, and fundraising under a new global operating model, this leader will ensure that the full scale of the company’s talent and reach is mobilized to address community needs in a way that is strategic, consistent, and outcomes driven. The role will unify and elevate existing initiatives across regions and business lines, ensuring all efforts align to the new strategy, governance framework, and brand narrative. At its core, this role positions social and community impact as a business-relevant growth lever strengthening trust with clients and communities, reinforcing the firm’s license to operate globally, and enabling employees to apply their skills in service of meaningful, scalable impact.

Requirements

• 10+ years’ experience leading global CSR, community impact, employee engagement, or social value strategies in complex, multinational organizations.
• Proven experience designing and executing multi-year enterprise strategies and operating models.
• Deep experience scaling platforms such as Benevity (or equivalent) globally.
• Strong change-management and cross-functional leadership capabilities.
• Demonstrated ability to connect social impact to business performance and growth.
• Experience operating across regulatory and cultural environments globally.
• Enterprise-level thinker with strong commercial acumen.
• Skilled at aligning decentralized teams behind a single strategic vision.
• Confident influencer across C-suite, regions, and functions.
• Data-driven, outcome-oriented, and execution-focused.
• Purpose-led leader who can translate values into scalable action.

Responsibilities

• Strategy & Operating Model Develop a 3-year global community impact strategy aligned to the firm’s growth objectives, market expansion, and client value proposition.
• Define and implement a global operating model that standardizes governance, roles, decision rights, funding, and reporting.
• Ensure all existing country, regional, and business-led initiatives are aligned to the new strategy and operating model, while respecting strong local practices.
• Establish clear success metrics linking community impact to employee engagement, brand strength, client trust, and revenue growth.
• Implementation & Delivery Lead and manage a network of Community Impact Ambassadors to deliver grassroots engagement that connects directly to business priorities.
• Enhance employee engagement through volunteer programs and giving campaigns that also strengthen local community relationships and brand visibility.
• Optimize the use of the Benevity social impact platform globally to maximize employee engagement, streamline program management, and generate data-driven insights that demonstrate both community impact and business value.
• Support local business units by integrating community impact programs into client engagement strategies, ensuring initiatives resonate with clients and communities.
• Change Leadership & Cross-Functional Governance Lead a cross-functional global working group (HR, Communications, Legal, Risk, Finance, Business Leaders) to drive adoption of the new strategy and operating model.
• Act as the central point of coordination to resolve friction, remove barriers, and accelerate execution.
• Embed accountability through clear milestones, dashboards, and leadership updates.
• Volunteering & Pro Bono Policy Leadership Establish global policies and standards for employee volunteering and pro bono engagement.
• Define guardrails for eligibility, risk management, compliance, and impact measurement.
• Enable regions and businesses to deploy volunteering and pro bono initiatives that align with both community needs and business expertise.
• Position pro bono and skills-based volunteering as a value-creation lever for communities and clients.
• Benevity Scale & Platform Leadership Own the global scale, optimization, and governance of Benevity as the firm’s core platform for giving, volunteering, and fundraising.
• Drive global adoption and consistent usage across regions and business units.
• Lead and support a global network of Benevity administrators, providing training, playbooks, and ongoing enablement.
• Leverage Benevity data and analytics to deliver enterprise-wide reporting, insights, and ROI storytelling.
• Commercial Enablement & Growth Partner with client-facing and portfolio management teams to proactively embed social value creation into client pitches, proposals, and service delivery.
• Translate community impact programs into clear commercial proof points that support revenue growth, client retention, and market share.
• Ensure impact outcomes are visible, credible, and usable in RFPs and client conversations.
• Position community impact as a growth engine, demonstrating how initiatives: Strengthen client acquisition and retention.
• Differentiate the company in competitive bids and RFPs.
• Enhance employer brand and talent retention, supporting operational growth.
• Quantify and communicate the economic and reputational value created by the programs for both the business and communities.
• Governance & Measurement Establish KPIs and reporting frameworks to measure both community outcomes and contributions to business growth.
• Provide leadership with data-driven insights on how community impact programs enhance revenue opportunities, client loyalty, and employee engagement.
• Ensure compliance with local giving and volunteering regulations in local markets across our footprint.
• Partnerships & Stakeholder Engagement Build strategic partnerships with NGOs, nonprofit organizations, and community partners that align with business priorities and client interests.
• Collaborate with HR, Communications, and business leadership to integrate community impact into the employee experience and corporate culture.
• Represent the company as a thought leader in community and social impact, showcasing how programs fuel business growth and community value.
• Branding, Marketing & Engagement Partner with Communications and Marketing to develop and launch a global branding and marketing campaign that clearly articulates the firm’s community impact strategy, purpose, and value.
• Partner with Communications and Marketing to position community impact as a core pillar of employer brand and client differentiation.
• Create compelling internal and external narratives that reinforce participation, pride, and business relevance.

Benefits

• Cushman & Wakefield also provides eligible employees with an opportunity to enroll in a variety of benefit programs, generally including health, vision, and dental insurance, flexible spending accounts, health savings accounts, retirement savings plans, life, and disability insurance programs, and paid and unpaid time away from work.
• In addition to a comprehensive benefits package, Cushman and Wakefield provide eligible employees with competitive pay, which may vary depending on eligibility factors such as geographic location, date of hire, total hours worked, job type, business line, and applicability of collective bargaining agreements.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: No Education Listed