Global Head of Real Estate and Workplace

Deepgram•Remote, CA

8d•$169,400 - $211,700

About The Position

Deepgram is seeking a Global Head of Real Estate and Workplace to take full ownership of the company's physical spaces, from site selection to operational offices. This role involves finding potential real estate, negotiating and managing leases, overseeing buildout projects, establishing facilities operations, and creating a repeatable playbook for opening and running Deepgram locations. The position is a player-coach role, requiring hands-on involvement in building the function and eventually hiring and leading a small team. The company is expanding its geographic footprint with multiple workspaces and event spaces across the U.S. and internationally, which serve dual purposes as employee workspaces and public event venues. This role will consolidate the current fragmented responsibilities for real estate decisions, office openings, construction, and facilities operations under one experienced owner.

Requirements

10+ years in workplace, real estate, facilities, or capital projects.
End-to-end ownership of at least one office buildout.
Ability to travel frequently to multiple offices and locations.
Direct experience negotiating or managing commercial leases.
Experience working with brokers, landlords, and Legal.
Strong construction and vendor project management skills.
Ability to hold architects, CMs, and GCs to scope, budget, and schedule.
Working knowledge of permitting, building codes, accessibility, and workplace safety.
Experience delivering or operating space used for public events, customer-facing programming, or brand moments.
Budget ownership for capital and operating spend, with sound commercial judgment.
Comfort operating with ambiguity in a fast-moving, scaling company.
Experience operating across multiple cities or a distributed, remote-first company.
Experience supporting spaces used for customer-facing events or brand moments.
Experience leasing or building in international markets, particularly EMEA or APAC.
Familiarity with lease administration, space management, or IWMS platforms.
Experience hiring and managing a small ops or facilities team.

Nice To Haves

An eye for how physical space shapes culture, and genuine care for a consistent experience across every location.

Responsibilities

Convert the CEO and executive team’s vision into a documented program for each site.
Gather requirements across Engineering, Sales, Marketing, Developer Relations, People, IT, Security, and Finance to determine how each space will be used and what it needs to solve for.
Reconcile competing requests into a single prioritized brief, secure executive approval, and own that brief as the source of truth for architects, general contractors, and all subsequent change decisions.
Manage occupancy forecasting and space programming against the company headcount plan, in partnership with Finance and People.
Provide recommendations on the size, timing, and location of new and expanded space, grounded in utilization data.
Balance event capacity, collaboration space, and focus work at each site, documenting and revisiting these tradeoffs as headcount changes.
Manage site selection, tours, and location recommendations for new and expanded spaces.
Negotiate and manage lease renewals, partnering with Finance and Legal on LOIs, term sheets, insurance needs, and commercial terms.
Analyze lease versus license, coworking, and short-term venue alternatives.
Oversee international site selection and leasing, including engagement of local counsel and brokers, country-specific code and accessibility standards, and coordination with Finance, People, and Legal.
Partner with Accounting on lease classification and ASC 842 treatment.
Manage landlord and broker relationships, and ownership of all real estate documentation and key dates.
Manage end-to-end office buildouts, from design intent through permitting, construction, and move-in.
Coordinate architects, general contractors, designers, and trades, holding scope, budget, and timeline.
Design and deliver assembly and event space, including occupancy classification and egress, load-in and rigging, AV and streaming infrastructure, acoustics, power and network capacity for large gatherings, and commercial or catered food service.
Ensure permitting, code, accessibility, and safety compliance across every project.
Manage day-to-day operations across all offices: supplies, maintenance, security and access, signage, and the overall office experience.
Develop the staffing model (when necessary) for onsite support, including office managers and hourly staff, and the systems that keep each space running.
Establish a consistent operating standard and playbooks so every location runs the same way.
Manage space and desk management, access control, and visitor management systems.
Build and lead a small workplace team as the function scales.
Manage the workplace and real estate budget, capital projects, and operating costs.
Oversee vendor sourcing, contracts, and performance management.
Get all active office projects under a single plan, budget, and timeline within the first 12 months.
Establish the facilities operating standard and onsite staffing model for existing locations within the first 12 months.
Build the real estate and workplace playbook for repeatable office openings within the first 12 months.
Hire the first members of the workplace team within the first 12 months.