Vice President, Real Estate and Workplace

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative was founded in 2015 by Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg to harness the power of technology to pursue some of society’s most ambitious goals — from curing or preventing all disease to transforming how students learn.

At CZI, you’ll join a deeply collaborative, mission-driven community where your work helps drive breakthroughs across our flagship nonprofit organizations, Biohub and Learning Commons. Whether enabling scientific breakthroughs via open science and AI-powered biology or strengthening the tools teachers and students rely on every day, your contributions help turn bold ideas into real-world impact.

Our teams operate at the intersection of innovation and scale, building the infrastructure, partnerships, and capabilities that allow scientists, educators, and innovators to tackle some of the most complex challenges of our time — and to do so with urgency, integrity, and optimism.

The Team

The Operations team is a key partner in enabling Biohub’s pioneering work to combine frontier AI with frontier biology to solve disease and Learning Commons’ mission to build AI infrastructure that aligns how students learn with the tools that shape their learning experiences.

Operations includes our Central Tech, Finance, Marketing & Communications, People, and Real Estate / Workplace / Events / Facilities / Security (REWFS) teams. Together, these teams create the systems, programs, and experiences that empower our partners and colleagues across Biohub and Learning Commons to drive impact. 

This work requires strategic and operational rigor, creativity, and deep collaboration. Whether designing world-class employee experiences, safeguarding data and infrastructure, or shaping how we communicate our impact, Operations plays a critical role in helping deliver meaningful change at scale.

The Opportunity

CZI's Central Operations team is seeking a Vice President, Real Estate and Workplace, to lead the strategy, operations, and evolution of our workplace ecosystem. This executive leader will be responsible for shaping how employees, guests, and partners experience our physical environments while ensuring our real estate portfolio, facilities operations, and workplace services effectively support our mission and long-term growth.

As the senior leader responsible for Real Estate and Workplace, you will oversee a broad portfolio that includes workplace experience, facilities management, building operations, capital projects, real estate planning and transactions, transportation, parking, workplace services, and vendor management. You will lead a multi-layered organization through growth and change to ensure workplace, facilities, events and security services support collaboration, scientific work, organizational effectiveness and employee experience.

This role requires a strategic operator who can balance long-term planning with day-to-day execution, navigate ambiguity, build high-performing teams, and partner closely with leaders across the organization to create environments that foster collaboration, innovation, and impact.

What You'll Do

• Partner with executive leadership across Biohub and Learning Commons to align workplace and real estate strategies with workforce planning, evolving business needs, and future growth.
• Lead real estate, workspace operations, and regional facilities management strategy for all sites across the organization.
• Oversee the corporate real estate portfolio, including lease negotiations, site selection, acquisitions, dispositions, and space utilization optimization.
• Drive workplace experiences and design that foster collaboration, community, inclusion, and productivity across all locations.
• Manage corporate construction, capital improvement projects, and buildouts from inception through delivery, ensuring alignment with timeline, quality, and budget.
• Direct workspace operations, facilities management, physical security, food services, events support, and environment, health, and safety (EHS) programs.
• Develop and manage the annual operational and capital budget for the real estate and workplace function, prioritizing resource allocation and fiscal responsibility.
• Implement progressive sustainability practices, corporate social responsibility initiatives, and innovative technologies within our operations and physical infrastructure.

What You'll Bring

• 15+ years of progressive leadership experience in corporate real estate, workplace operations, and facilities management, preferably within dynamic, high-growth, or matrixed organizations.
• Strong understanding of real estate financial analysis, commercial leasing, transaction management, corporate construction, and building codes/regulations.
• Deep expertise across workplace functions including amenities management, asset protection/security, employee health & safety, and high-touch hospitality services.
• Demonstrated ability to operate as a strategic business partner and cross-functional integrator, effectively aligning functional resources with broad organizational priorities.
• Proven track record of building, scaling, and leading highly service-oriented teams within complex environments.
• Strong operational mindset with a history of improving organizational agility, simplifying processes, and reducing operational friction.
• Exceptional communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence executive leadership and build consensus among diverse operational groups.

Compensation

The Redwood City, CA  base pay range for a new hire in this role is $297,000 - $424,600. New hires are typically hired into the lower portion of the range, enabling employee growth in the range over time. Actual placement in range is based on job-related skills and experience, as evaluated throughout the interview process. 

This position may be eligible to participate in our discretionary annual performance bonus program. Bonus eligibility and targets are determined in accordance with our total rewards philosophy and may vary by role.

Better Together

As we grow, we’re excited to strengthen in-person connections and cultivate a collaborative, team-oriented environment. This role is a hybrid position requiring you to be onsite for at least 60% of the working month, approximately 3 days a week, with specific in-office days determined by the team’s manager. The exact schedule will be at the hiring manager's discretion and communicated during the interview process.

Benefits for the Whole You 

We’re thankful to have an incredible team behind our work. To honor their commitment, we offer a wide range of benefits to support the people who make all we do possible. 

• Provides a generous employer match on employee 401(k) contributions to support planning for the future.
• Paid time off to volunteer at an organization of your choice. 
• Funding for select family-forming benefits. 
• Relocation support for employees who need assistance moving

If you’re interested in a role but your previous experience doesn’t perfectly align with each qualification in the job description, we still encourage you to apply as you may be the perfect fit for this or another role.

#LI-Hybrid