Head, Portfolio Management (47353) chez British Council

We support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide. For 90 years we have shaped brighter futures through education, arts, culture, language, and creativity.

Working with people in over 200 countries and territories, we are on the ground in more than 100 countries.

We connect. We inspire.

Head Portfolio Management (Global Estates)

Location: London, UK

Contract Type: Indifinite Contract

Pay Grade: SMPL

Closing date: 13th November 2025 at 21:59 UK Time 

Requirements: You must have the legal right to work in the UK at the time of application.  We are unable to support with visa sponsorship and relocation.

Role Context - About The Team:

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We create friendly knowledge and understanding between the people of the UK and other countries. We do this by making a positive contribution to the UK and the countries we work with – changing lives by creating opportunities, building connections and engendering trust.

We work with over 100 countries across the world in the fields of arts and culture, English language, education and civil society. Each year we reach over 20 million people face-to-face and more than 500 million people online, via broadcasts and publications. Founded in 1934, we are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter and a UK public body.

The role of the Global Estates function is to ensure that the British Council estate properly projects the British Council brand and values, works hard for the business and provides a modern, welcoming and functional place in which to work and do business. 

This role is a member of the GE Senior Leadership team, helping the Director GE provide specialist commercial real estate management of property transactions across the global estate.

The role works across the specialist teams within the Global Estates function (Capital Projects, Global FM).  The estate is British Council’s second-highest spend category, spending over £17m p.a. in rent alone. 

The portfolio is made up of a range of leased, licenced, freehold, co-located and partnership premises, currently with over 200 property holdings. 

A number of the current British Council wide transformation programmes have property transaction implications in order to implement new operating models and achieve financial benefits.

An experienced and driven property transactions specialist is required to identify commercial opportunities and lead property transactions across the Global Portfolio, both directly themself and by leading a team to deliver these activities. This is a challenging role that requires commercial astuteness, excellent negotiation skills, tenacity and the ability to navigate through complexity (from cultural or climatic aspects, to legal and compliance and organisational matrix matters) to ensure that tangible outcomes are capable of being defined and delivered. 

Most of the property transactions occur overseas and are supported or undertaken by our global professional services partner, so the challenge is to achieve commercial results through others, remotely, whilst keeping internal British Council clients/stakeholders bought in to the changes. Some transactions are be negotiated directly by the Portfolio Management team, supported by market information provided by GE’s partner.

Role Purpose - The Job:

The Head, Portfolio Management, Global Estates (GE) leads on the development and implementation of all property transactions relating to the British Council global portfolio of properties.  This includes undertaking property acquisition, sales and/or leaseback, leading negotiations (or oversee negotiation where appropriate) with landlords regarding leases at inception or renewal and to manage the ongoing relationship with landlords and managing agents throughout the lease.

The role will also contribute to the development and implementation of real estate strategies for all global properties through identifying and realizing commercial opportunities to drive forward on value and improvements to the efficiency and effectiveness of the global estate.

The role will oversee estate projects as work priorities and resources require, particularly those leading from a property transaction. These estates projects may include supporting the business during the bid process for new business, as well as the implementation of transaction led multi-site initiatives.

The role will strategically partner the business, leading and aligning GE property transactions with the business strategy through building and leveraging the senior leadership network within British Council, the wider Government departments and our professional services partner.

Main Accountabilities:

Leadership & Management

• Actively contribute to Global Estates’ leadership team.
• Provide professional leadership to the global network managing estates matters across 100+ countries helping to ensure the British Council global estate remains legally compliant and fit for purpose.
• Provide direct and indirect leadership, management and support to the globally dispersed GE team.
• Foster a cohesive team environment and assure the effective development and implementation of GE strategies, plans and changes across a matrix managed organization; regionally and globally.
• Drive a culture of talent development for team members through proper goal setting, identification of development opportunities and a career growth focus.
• Participate in the review / approval process for business cases for GE capital projects, supporting the prioritisation of funding relating to the global property portfolio.

Transaction Management

• Execution of real estate solutions, working with our global estate professional services partners and liaising with internal stakeholders (and other members of the GE team).
• Responsibility for instructing and leading property transactions including renewals, relocations and optimisations, gaining the buy in of all key stakeholders and clients, driving forward on value and efficiency and achieving business objectives. This includes the development and review of associated business cases ready for seeking approval.
• Responsibility for advance planning and management of all lease events (rent reviews, break options, licences, licence for alterations, expiries, subleasing and re-gears) to ensure that the organisation is positioned to achieve maximum flexibility on competitive terms.
• Undertake property acquisition, negotiate (or oversee negotiation where appropriate) with landlords regarding leases at inception or renewal and in conjunction with the appointed global partner, to manage the ongoing relationship with landlords and managing agents throughout the lease.
• Manage sale and closure of properties including leaseback or relocation and dilapidations negotiations, as well as any sub-leasing activities.
• Manage sale and leaseback of properties, if needed.
• Manage both tenant and landlord lease issues across the portfolio.

Strategy and Planning

• Lead and contribute to the development and implementation of real estate strategies that support and are aligned to the British Council’s overall strategy and direction.
• Contribute to the development and delivery of Global Estates’ annual planning cycle.
• Work with stakeholders/internal clients to develop contract bid strategies and advise/support contract mobilisation plans.
• Corporate Landlord – Contribute to the development and implementation of a new, more sustainable financial model for the management of the global property portfolio.

Business Partnering & stakeholder engagement

• Strategically partner the business, leading and influencing the formation of GE estates strategy and implementation of projects/initiatives through understanding the business strategy as well as wider opportunities.
• Build and maintain strong working relationships with strategic business units, the network and related corporate functions to ensure that the estate reflects business needs and takes account of inter-dependencies.
• Pro-actively share insights to challenge, influence and add value to decision making, optimizing opportunity whilst balancing risk.
• Develop global approaches for building GE estates strategy in order to strengthen GE reputation as a valued business partner.
• Advise on business decisions and projects with property related dependencies and implications (new offices, acquisitions, growth and cost saving strategies, etc.).
• Lead global relationship management activities and represent GE team as per GE lead matrix roles - including liaising and influencing local stakeholders, passing information to GE colleagues, organising regular reviews and surveys of GE services and the GE supply chain to enable better decisions, improved estate performance and achieve organizational objectives.

Partnership working

• Contribute to the professional management of the British Council’s multi-disciplinary global strategic specialist partner to deliver all aspects of occupational real estate management and project delivery.
• Work closely with other specialists in Global Estates, Finance, Global Information Systems, Human Resources, Procurement and others, to ensure that inter-dependencies between GE and other corporate functions are properly managed and that opportunities for improvements are identified.

Innovation and Continuous Improvement

• Lead change in their area of specialism/matrix across the global estate – create compelling vision, manage stakeholders, manage risks and dependencies, robust plan, embed changes, achieve benefits, etc.
• Set high standards and reflect best practice in the work of the team, ensuring that the GE team strives to achieve the right business outcomes.
• Develop innovative approaches to portfolio optimisation in order to support workplace strategy.
• Work with other members of the GE team to develop global standard business GE processes.

Technical and Subject Matter Expert

• Ensure that the global partner performs accurate lease administration in accordance with contractual requirements.
• Support the production of the UK estates budgeting and landlord relations, as required, and be prepared to support global estates budgeting as necessary and feasible.
• Provide insight and professional advice on GE matters and plans in order to build stakeholder/client and GE team awareness and enable better decision making, improved estate performance and achieve business objectives.
• Gather/share knowledge/trends from the global real estate sector to grow the professionalism of the GE team and identify opportunities for British Council benefit.
• Provide Real Estate expertise in relation to service delivery for assigned geographical region/property portfolio, delivering demonstrable improvements in value, performance and sustainability of the regional portfolio, working collaboratively with other GE functions/teams.
• Lead for the provision of UK statutory annual estates valuations for financial accounting purposes

Requirements Of The Role:

Minimum/essential

• Significant commercial track record relating to occupational management and client-side property transactions across multiple geographical markets globally.
• Experience in leading occupational property transactions, negotiating with landlords and brokers, globally.
• Knowledge of real estate service lines and experience of delivering multiple transactions at any time.
• Thorough understanding of the real estate and project management lifecycle and principles.
• Understanding of lease administration, lease audit, lease compliance and financial reporting from the landlord and tenant perspective.
• Strong vendor management and commercialism skills, particularly in relationship to alliances/partnerships with service providers.
• Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary estates team.
• Experience of managing service provision through both in-house staff and professional partners.
• Sound understanding of real estate legislation and leave events.
• Experience in meeting regular and as hoc reporting deadlines.

Desirable:

• Programme and Project Management experience, understanding of project governance and controls.
• Track record of delivering estate projects.
• Financial Management experience.
• Knowledge of the British Council Mission and Brand.

A connected and trusted UK in a more connected and trusted world.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Statement

We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and welcome applications from all sections of the community as we believe that a diverse workforce gives added depth to our work. The British Council is a Disability Confident Employer. The Disability Confident scheme helps challenge attitudes, increase understanding of disability and ensure staff are drawn from the widest possible pool of talent. We guarantee an interview for disabled applicants who meet the minimum role requirements. We welcome discussions about specific requirements or adjustments to enable participation and engagement in our work and activities.

Safeguarding Statement

The British Council is committed to safeguarding children, young people and adults who we work with. We believe that all children and adults everywhere in the world deserve to live in safe environments and have the right to be protected from all forms of abuse, maltreatment and exploitation as set out in article 19, UNCRC (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child) 1989. Appointment to positions where there is direct involvement with vulnerable groups will be dependent on thorough checks being completed in line with legal requirements and with the British Council’s Safeguarding policies for Adults and Children.

If you experience any difficulties with submitting your application, please email [email protected]