Real Estate and Workplace Services Planning and Delivery Manager

Unum•Portland, ME

About The Position

When you join the team at Unum, you become part of an organization committed to helping you thrive. Here, we work to provide the employee benefits and service solutions that enable employees at our client companies to thrive throughout life’s moments. And this starts with ensuring that every one of our team members enjoys opportunities to succeed both professionally and personally. To enable this, we provide: Award-winning culture Inclusion and diversity as a priority Performance Based Incentive Plans Competitive benefits package that includes: Health, Vision, Dental, Short & Long-Term Disability Generous PTO (including paid time to volunteer!) Up to 9.5% 401(k) employer contribution Mental health support Career advancement opportunities Student loan repayment options Tuition reimbursement Flexible work environments All the benefits listed above are subject to the terms of their individual Plans. And that’s just the beginning… With 10,000 employees helping more than 39 million people worldwide, every role at Unum is meaningful and impacts the lives of our customers. Whether you’re directly supporting a growing family, or developing online tools to help navigate a difficult loss, customers are counting on the combined talents of our entire team. Help us help others, and join Team Unum today! General Summary: The Real Estate & Workplace Services Planning and Delivery Lead is responsible for translating business needs into effective, efficient, and high performing workplace and real estate solutions and leading those solutions through successful implementation. This role blends strategic facilities and workplace planning, space and layout design, and hands-on project delivery across corporate offices and other facilities. The ideal candidate acts as a program manager, bringing a strong analytical mindset to optimize space utilization, workflow, cost, and employee experience, while also overseeing project execution from concept through close out. This position works within the Corporate Real Estate team and partners closely with IT, Security, Finance, HR, and external vendors to ensure projects are delivered safely, on time, within budget, and aligned with organizational standards.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience
5+ years of experience in facilities planning, workplace strategy, space planning, project management, or related roles.
Experience managing multiple concurrent projects across different corporate or commercial locations
Comfort with ambiguity, and a desire to build structure, governance, and scalability into the role
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to translate data into practical planning and delivery decisions.
Working knowledge of building systems, workplace design principles, and project delivery methodologies.
Excellent communication, collaboration, and stakeholder management skills.
High degree of autonomy and ownership; proactively identifies issues, takes initiative, and drives solutions forward in complex, cross functional environments

Nice To Haves

Industrial engineering background with experience in space optimization, process improvement, or capacity modeling.
Experience with hybrid workplace strategies, change management, and employee experience initiatives.
Familiarity with CAD, space planning tools, or IWMS platforms.
Professional certifications (PMP, Lean/Six Sigma, FM, or similar) are a plus.

Responsibilities

Real Estate & Workplace Planning Lead space planning, workplace layout, and test‑fit development for new, renovated, and reconfigured facilities.
Analyze space utilization, adjacencies, workflow, and capacity to support business growth, hybrid work strategies, and operational efficiency.
Apply industrial engineering principles to improve space efficiency, standardization, and process flow within facilities.
Develop planning scenarios, stack plans, and occupancy strategies that balance employee experience, cost, flexibility, and risk.
Partner with business leaders to translate functional requirements into clear space and facility solutions.
Project Delivery & Implementation Manage end‑to-end delivery of concurrent facilities, workplace, and capital improvement projects—from concept, budgeting, and design through construction, move‑in, and close‑out.
Develop and manage project scopes, schedules, budgets, risk plans, and change control processes.
Coordinate design, engineering, furniture, and construction partners to ensure solutions meet functional, technical, and aesthetic requirements.
Ensure compliance with building codes, safety standards, accessibility requirements, and corporate design and workplace standards.
Oversee project documentation, approvals, vendor performance, and financial tracking.
Continuous Improvement & Optimization Identify opportunities to improve planning, delivery processes, standards, and tools across the facilities and workplace portfolio.
Use data and metrics (utilization, cost, schedule, quality, experience) to inform decisions and drive better outcomes.
Support development and evolution of workplace standards, planning guidelines, and project delivery best practices.
Stakeholder & Vendor Management Serve as a trusted partner to internal stakeholders, balancing competing priorities and expectations.
Lead cross‑functional collaboration across Real Estate, Workplace Services, IT, Security, Finance, Legal, and HR.
Manage external partners including architects, engineers, contractors, furniture vendors, and space planners.

Benefits

Award-winning culture
Inclusion and diversity as a priority
Performance Based Incentive Plans
Competitive benefits package that includes: Health, Vision, Dental, Short & Long-Term Disability
Generous PTO (including paid time to volunteer!)
Up to 9.5% 401(k) employer contribution
Mental health support
Career advancement opportunities
Student loan repayment options
Tuition reimbursement
Flexible work environments