Global Workplace Business Operations Lead

Location: San Francisco Workplace: Hybrid OVERVIEW The Workplace Experience team powers and connects the workday for all Perplexity employees across our global offices. We are hospitality and experience-driven at the core. We are made up of People people, meaning that we love supporting each other and all of the People in our workplace. We take on the good and the bad with optimism and with a positive, kind approach to solving problems, dealing with the obstacles handed to us, and proactively creating good around us. We think about each moment through the lens of our colleagues (our customers) so that we can create thoughtful and memorable experiences no matter what task we have at hand. As our Global Workplace Business Operations Lead, you will manage the business operations and cross-functional program delivery that enable our global Workplace Experience team to scale. In collaboration with the Head of Workplace Experience, you will set the operating framework for your areas, make decisions within agreed priorities and approval limits, and remain hands-on in delivering results. You will own the effectiveness of portfolio operating processes and internal project delivery. WHAT YOU’LL DO - Own the Workplace operating framework: Lead annual and quarterly planning for your areas, translate team strategy into priorities and resource plans, and establish clear decision rights, delivery commitments and measures of success. Resolve sequencing and capacity trade-offs within agreed parameters and recommend when to add people, vendors or technology. - Lead internal capital-project delivery: Take accountability for integrated delivery plans across office openings, refreshes and other capital initiatives. Direct the work of external PMs within agreed scopes, align internal workstreams, resolve delivery issues and hold partners accountable for schedule, cost, quality and operational readiness. - Own portfolio controls and insight: Establish dependable lease administration, obligation tracking, space and occupancy information, and portfolio reporting. Set data and control standards, ensure actions have owners, and turn trends and risks into recommendations before deadlines or capacity constraints become problems. - Drive financial planning and performance: Own the processes and quality of operating and capital forecasts, commitments, actuals and variance analysis in partnership with Finance. Challenge assumptions, recommend corrective actions and investment trade-offs, and give the Head of Workplace Experience a reliable basis for budget and commitment decisions. - Set the systems and reporting roadmap: Own business requirements, governance and improvement priorities for workplace tools such as Envoy. Establish useful performance measures, improve data quality, and automate repeatable work while maintaining appropriate controls and keeping processes practical for the team. - Lead EHS program governance: Establish a risk-based plan, clear responsibilities and a review cadence with qualified vendors and internal teams. Drive follow-through on assessed obligations and remediation across offices and remote populations, maintain evidence of completion, and escalate material risks without substituting for specialist advice. - Set standards for delivery and handover: Own the development and use of project playbooks, planning processes and operational-readiness criteria. Bring together design standards and occupancy requirements, and ensure completed projects transfer to local operations with the documentation, training, vendor arrangements and issue ownership needed to run well. - Serve as a senior operating partner: Lead cross-functional operating and project reviews, surface decisions with clear recommendations, and represent your areas with internal and external partners. Drive resolution within your authority, escalate material changes with options, and build accountability without adding unnecessary layers. WHAT YOU BRING - Senior functional leadership: 8+ years in workplace business operations, corporate real estate, facilities programs or a closely related field, with increasing responsibility for complex, multi-site programs and their outcomes. You have operated with substantial autonomy, not only administered plans set by others. - Project and program management expertise: You are a project manager at the core. You are quick and agile, but methodical when it comes to planning for, organizing, tracking, and executing on a project in a way that keeps everything and everyone aligned and on task. - Relevant delivery depth: You have a record of delivering office buildouts, relocations or capital improvements as an internal owner, with accountability for scope, financial performance, schedules, change control and external delivery partners. - Strong financial and analytical judgment: You have experience driving forecasting and reporting processes, challenging assumptions and translating portfolio data into resource or investment recommendations; strong spreadsheet and analytical skills. - Experience building an operating framework: You have established planning, governance, performance measures and systems that helped a growing function deliver more predictably. You know when structure improves execution and when it becomes unnecessary process. - Leadership across organizational boundaries: You can secure commitments, challenge constructively and resolve competing priorities across teams and vendors. You communicate risks and recommendations credibly to senior leaders and know which decisions to make independently and which to escalate. - Hands-on ownership and sound judgment: You can move between portfolio-level trade-offs and project details, deliver through others without losing accountability, handle sensitive information responsibly, and maintain a kind, service-oriented approach under pressure. - Helpful, not required: International portfolio experience, workplace technology ownership, EHS program governance, or a relevant project-management credential.