Senior Manager - Real Estate Strategy and Planning

Cigna Group•Chicago, IL

About The Position

The Cigna Group is seeking an experienced transformational leader for its Global Workplace Programs (GWP) team. The Senior Manager will align the workplace portfolio, workforce requirements, technology, and business priorities to improve employee experience, portfolio performance, and real estate efficiency. The role leads workplace and occupancy strategies, including space planning, utilization analytics, workplace solutions, and change leadership. Working across GWP, Human Resources, Enterprise Technology, Finance, and business leadership, the Senior Manager translates enterprise priorities into scalable workplace strategies, consistent standards, and actionable portfolio decisions across offices and other workplace environments. The role calls for strategic judgment, analytical problem-solving, broad functional knowledge, execution discipline, excellent communication, an enterprise mindset, and the emotional intelligence to build alignment and lead teams through complex change. The anticipated annual salary range is $125,800–$209,600, depending on relevant factors including experience and geographic location. The role is anticipated to be eligible for an annual bonus plan. Employees working at home occasionally or permanently must obtain internet service through a cable broadband or fiber optic provider with speeds of at least 10 Mbps download and 5 Mbps upload.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in business, real estate, architecture, planning, operations management, analytics, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
Demonstrated experience leading workplace strategy, occupancy planning, space planning, portfolio planning, or a closely related corporate real estate function.
Experience translating business and workforce requirements into long-range portfolio and workplace strategies.
Strong analytical capability and demonstrated success using data to solve complex problems, evaluate alternatives, and support executive decisions.
Proven ability to build trusted relationships and collaborate across business, HR, Technology, Finance, and real estate stakeholders.
Strong executive communication and presentation skills, with the ability to make complex concepts clear, concise, and actionable.
Ability to lead challenging conversations calmly, objectively, and with a solutions-oriented approach.
Strong organizational, prioritization, and time-management skills, with the ability to move between strategic direction and execution detail.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree in business, real estate, architecture, planning, organizational change, or a related discipline.
Experience leading enterprise-wide business integration, workplace transformation, portfolio optimization, or technology-enabled operating-model initiatives.
Experience with workplace and portfolio technology platforms, utilization analytics, scenario modeling, and performance reporting.
Demonstrated ability to lead and influence within a highly collaborative, multidisciplinary, and matrixed organization.
Results-oriented leadership style, with the ability to engage deeply in critical details while motivating teams and maintaining an enterprise perspective.
Broad understanding of corporate real estate, workplace experience, change leadership, design, project delivery, facilities operations, finance, and the interdependencies among these functions.
Exceptional written, verbal, and listening skills, with the ability to communicate effectively with technical and non-technical audiences.

Responsibilities

Develop and maintain a 5- to 10-year workplace and real estate portfolio strategy aligned with enterprise, workforce, talent, and financial priorities.
Collaborate on the global occupancy and space-planning capability, establishing consistent demand-planning processes, space standards, governance, and service-delivery expectations.
Evaluate portfolio, workforce, and utilization data to recommend optimal square footage, employee-to-desk ratios, collaboration capacity, adjacencies, workplace zoning, and site-level solutions.
Translate business growth, organizational change, workforce forecasts, and attendance expectations into actionable occupancy plans and real estate requirements.
Advise senior leaders on portfolio utilization, workplace investments, sequencing decisions, trade-offs, risks, and actions needed to align the physical footprint with enterprise strategy.
Facilitate cross-functional planning and prioritization across GWP functions, including portfolio strategy, transactions, design, workplace experience, facilities operations, capital project delivery, analytics, governance, and change leadership.
Establish enterprise workplace principles and standards that balance employee experience, business purpose, operational resilience, cost, and flexibility.
Build change leadership and stakeholder-engagement roadmaps to prepare leaders and employees for workplace, occupancy, and portfolio changes and support successful adoption.
Identify and implement leading practices, tools, benchmarks, and process improvements to strengthen workplace strategy and occupancy-management performance.
Measure outcomes using defined portfolio, utilization, employee experience, financial, and delivery metrics, and communicate progress to senior leadership.