Workplace Lead

About the Role

Imagine this. You are shaping the office environments where Destinus teams across Europe come together to build, collaborate, and grow. As Head of Workplace, you will lead our corporate office environments and Office Manager community across Europe, owning the strategy, standards, and day-to-day delivery of our office portfolio across several countries supporting employees in engineering, commercial, production, and corporate functions.

This role is distinct from our production and manufacturing Facilities function, which manages our industrial sites. Your focus is the corporate workplace, including the spaces, services, and experiences that enable our office-based teams to do their best work.

You will lead a team of currently 8 Office Managers, establish consistent standards across the company, and act as the single point of accountability for everything that touches our office environments, from office leases and vendors to employee experience, events, and general administrative support.

You will partner closely with HR, IT, Security, Finance, and senior leadership to ensure each site operates smoothly, scales as we grow, and reflects our culture and values.

At Destinus, we are revolutionizing the defense industry with cutting-edge Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Our innovative technologies are designed to meet the unique demands of modern defense operations, delivering unparalleled speed, precision, and cost effectiveness. Destinus partners with government agencies and defense organizations worldwide to provide advanced solutions for mission-critical operations, enabling a new era of efficiency and technological superiority. Join us in shaping the future of defense with groundbreaking aerospace innovations.

What You'll Do

• Define and own the workplace strategy for our office portfolio, aligned with company growth plans, hybrid working policies, and budget.
• Establish consistent service standards, processes, and KPIs across all sites, covering office services, vendor management, space utilization, and employee experience.
• Develop and maintain workplace playbooks, SLAs, and escalation procedures used by all Office Managers.
• Lead, coach, and develop the Office Manager team across European sites, setting clear objectives, running regular 1:1s, and conducting performance reviews.
• Build a strong and connected Office Manager community, sharing knowledge, standardizing approaches, and ensuring consistent quality across locations.
• Recruit and onboard new Office Managers as new sites open or existing sites grow.
• Ensure each site delivers a reliable, professional, and welcoming environment, including reception, mail and shipping, catering, cleaning, meeting room services, and visitor management.
• Oversee vendor selection, contract negotiation, and performance management for office-related services across the region, consolidating suppliers where it creates value.
• Implement and maintain workplace technology and tools, including desk and meeting room booking, visitor management, ticketing, and access control, in partnership with IT and Security.
• Partner with leadership on lease management, renewals, expansions, relocations, and new site openings.
• Manage office fit-outs, refurbishments, and moves from briefing through design, build, and handover, ensuring delivery on time and on budget.
• Partner with HR on onboarding logistics, town halls, internal events, and culture-building activities at each site.
• Ensure each office complies with local health and safety, fire, accessibility, and employment-related premises regulations across all sites.
• Coordinate with site H&S leads, building landlords, and authorities, maintaining risk assessments, emergency procedures, and required certifications.
• Support business continuity and crisis management for office sites in close coordination with Security and Operations.
• Partner with IT on connectivity, AV, meeting rooms, and on-site technical support, with Security on physical access and incident response, with Finance on budgets and procurement, and with HR on culture and employee experience.

What You'll Need

• 8+ years of experience in workplace, office operations, corporate real estate, or facilities, with at least 3 years leading multi-site teams across multiple European countries.
• Proven track record of managing distributed Office Manager or Workplace teams and building consistent service standards across locations.
• Experience managing significant operational budgets and complex vendor portfolios, with strong commercial and negotiation skills.
• Hands-on experience with at least one of the following areas, office openings, fit-outs, relocations, or major refurbishments in a European context.
• Solid understanding of health, safety, and premises-related compliance across multiple European jurisdictions.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills and confidence engaging with senior leaders, landlords, vendors, and employees alike.
• Fluent business English. An additional European language such as German, French, Italian, or Spanish is a strong plus.
• Willingness and ability to travel regularly to European sites.
• Experience in a high-growth, scaling, or international technology, engineering, or industrial environment is a plus.
• Experience working alongside, but distinct from, a manufacturing or industrial Facilities function is a plus.
• Familiarity with workplace technology platforms such as desk booking, IWMS, visitor management, or ticketing systems is a plus.
• IFMA, BIFM/IWFM, or an equivalent workplace or facilities certification is a plus.
• Experience implementing sustainability or ESG initiatives across office portfolios is a plus.

Requirements

Who You Are

You bring high integrity, resilience under pressure, and the adaptability to operate in a fast-paced, technology-driven environment. You know how to create structure and consistency across multiple locations without losing sight of what each local team needs. You are comfortable moving between strategy and hands-on execution, building strong relationships across functions, and taking ownership when challenges arise. Compliance and transparency are part of how you work, not an afterthought.