Estate Manager

Group / Client

(

Service Line

Contract Type & Location

• Full-time position based in Dubai, UAE
• 5-day working week: Monday – Friday
• Hybrid working model in line with client and CWC account requirements;

Head of Asset Management MENA

Job Summary

• :
• In this role, you will support one of C&W's most forward-thinking and prestigious client accounts by providing in-market Estate Management leadership across the operating portfolio.
• The Estate Manager - In-Market is accountable for the landlord, subtenant, stakeholder and judgment-led management of the estate within a defined market or market cluster.
• The role ensures that occupied premises are managed with commercial discipline, operational control, regulatory awareness and clear escalation.
• This is the front-facing Estate Management role for material estate matters.
• It works in close partnership with the Hub-Based Estate Manager, who provides workflow, lease data, documentation, reporting and control support.
• The role should therefore spend less time building trackers and searching for documents, and more time on judgment, relationships, risk and resolution.
• The role contributes to operational excellence, workplace stability and lateral collaboration across CRES, FM, Projects, HSE / HSSE, Security, Legal, Finance, Transactions, Strategy and the Operations Hub.
• **Operational Excellence and Estate Control**
• Own the in-market Estate Management relationship model across landlords, subtenants, local CRES stakeholders and relevant external advisers.
• Lead landlord engagement for material estate matters, including service failures, building issues, operational lease obligations, landlord performance and commercial disputes.
• Apply commercial judgement to property tax, service charge, landlord recharge, statutory cost and other estate cost matters, including challenge strategy where appropriate.
• Act as the local escalation point for estate-related operational incidents where landlord responsibility, lease obligation, business disruption, regulatory sensitivity or reputational risk applies.
• Confirm closure of material estate issues once operational, commercial and governance requirements have been satisfied.
• **Landlord, Subtenant & Stakeholder Management**
• Manage subtenant relationships and estate obligations, including renewals, exits, reinstatement, deposits, recharges and issue resolution, with hub support for tracking and documentation.
• Provide market judgement on lease obligations, landlord behaviours, local customs, regulatory constraints and execution risk.
• Direct external advisers where specialist advice is required, ensuring scope, governance, commercial purpose and stakeholder alignment are clear.
• Support a premium workplace and client experience by ensuring estate risks and landlord obligations are understood, prioritised and resolved through the right delivery route.
• **Regulatory Compliance, & Risk**
• Work with FM, Projects, HSE / HSSE, Security, Legal and Finance to ensure estate issues are assessed properly and resolved through the right functional route.
• Partner with the Hub-Based Estate Manager to ensure lease data, documents, critical dates, evidence packs, issue logs and reporting are accurate and complete.
• Support landlord assurance and compliance oversight, escalating non-performance where obligations are not being met.
• Promote a consistent Estate Management operating model while recognising genuine local market, landlord and regulatory complexity.
• **Collaboration and Cross-Support**
• Support Transactions and Strategy with estate intelligence, landlord context, lease risk, subtenant exposure, reinstatement obligations and market-specific constraints.
• Work laterally across market, regional, hub and platform teams to create a seamless, solution-oriented service for the client.
• Contribute to the wider Asset Management operating model by sharing market insight, recurring risk themes, landlord intelligence and improvement opportunities.
• **Role Boundaries & Collaboration**
• The role does not own transaction execution, broker direction, market campaigns or negotiation of new leases, disposals or strategic renewals; these sit with Transaction Management
• The role does not own FM service delivery or project delivery, although it must engage where the issue has landlord, lease, risk or stakeholder implications.
• The role does not own routine lease abstraction, document storage, tracker maintenance, system updates or recurring MI production; these sit with the Hub and Lease Administration.
• The role does not set portfolio strategy in isolation, but it is a key input into Strategy through landlord intelligence, lease risk and local estate insight.
• **Qualifications & Experience**
• Bachelor’s degree in Real Estate, Property Management, Facilities Management, Business Administration, Law, Finance or a related discipline. Equivalent professional experience in lieu of a degree will be considered.
• 2–4 years of experience in estate management, property administration, facilities coordination or corporate real estate in the UAE or MENA region. A background in financial services, banking, or another regulated institutional environment will be highly valued and is the natural home for this role.
• Proven experience managing a multi-site property or facilities portfolio with genuine ownership of lease or licence administration, critical-date management, landlord correspondence and a structured property register or IWMS database. The right candidate will have done this work before and will understand why getting it right matters.
• A working knowledge of UAE commercial tenancy Familiarity with commercial property legislation in at least one other MENA jurisdiction is a practical advantage.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook) to a professional standard. Strong Excel skills for cost tracking, payment scheduling and critical-date pipeline management are genuinely important in this role.
• Strong written and spoken English is mandatory.
• Arabic language proficiency (spoken and/or written) is a significant operational advantage across the MENA portfolio and is strongly preferred.
• A valid UAE driving license is required.
• **Compensation & Benefits**
• Market-competitive base salary commensurate with the seniority, scope and specialist nature of a GOS-embedded estate management role in Dubai.
• Fixed annual salary structure; this is a salaried account delivery role – there is no commission or transaction-based component.
• Benefits: health insurance, annual flight allowance and annual leave in accordance with UAE Labour Law.
• Access to Cushman & Wakefield’s global learning and development platform, professional membership support and structured career development within the CWC GOS account delivery framework