Address:

Under the direct supervision of the Head, Global Workplace Services, this role is accountable for the strategic leadership, operational oversight and performance of the facilities related function and the management of outsourced Facilities Service Providers for BMO’s North American Office space portfolio.

The position is accountable to ensure optimal performance and north/south alignment of the service providers in their contractual obligations so that BMO premises are safe, compliant, cost effective and fit for purpose for the BMO lines of business (LOBs), visitors and guests that occupy the space.

This role provides a point of escalation as required, supports and directs the outsourced Facilities Management Providers to enhance occupant experience, and maintain compliance with regulatory, environmental, and safety standards.

Key Accountabilities

Team Leadership

• Fosters a culture aligned to BMO purpose, values and strategy and role models BMO values and behaviours in all that they do.

• Ensures alignment between values and behaviour that fosters diversity and inclusion.

• Regularly connects work to BMO's purpose, sets inspirational goals, defines clear expected outcomes, and ensures clear accountability for follow through.

• Builds interdependent teams that collaborate across functional and operating groups to create the highest value for all stakeholders.

• Attracts, retains, and enables the career development of top talent.

• Improves team performance, recognizes and rewards performance, coaches employees, supports their development, and manages poor performance.

Advisory

• Acts as a trusted advisor to senior leaders for making business decisions and implementing strategic initiatives.

• Develops an expert understanding of business/group challenges.

• Networks with industry contacts to gather competitive insights and best practices.

• Recommends measures to improve organizational effectiveness.

• May consult to or serve on various committees and task forces

Strategy

• Lead cross functional or global initiatives or ongoing programs

• Drive innovation

• Ensure 3-5 year operating and capital plans and strategies are in place and reviewed and maintained on a rolling basis

Relationship Management

• Lead, cultivate and sustain strong, collaborative partnerships with Workplace Services teams, peers in Corporate Real Estate functions including transaction management, project management and critical environments, internal business partners across Lines of Business, Technology and Security as well as Property Management teams. Build trusted relationships to enhance operational effectiveness and alignment with facilities strategy.

• In addition to the above, develop formal connection point with Critical Environments to effectively manage joint or adjacent spaces

• Escalation point for management and resolution of stakeholder escalations to minimize operational risk. Proactively support reoccurring issues and drive cross functional alignment to ensure timely updates, accountability and resolution

• Provide strategic guidance to the service provider to support operational excellence and workplace experience

• Support escalated review and approval of key facilities related communications distributed to Lines of Business, ensuring clarity, strategic alignment and effective representation of the intended message

• Collaborate with Senior Leadership, property management, leasing, etc.to align facility operations with business needs

Governance of Service Providers

• Act as Country lead for the US Service Provider relationship

• Provide strategic oversight of service providers, ensuring adherence to contractual obligations, performance standards, and operational governance framework and alignment of practices between Canada and the US relating to office

• Lead the end-to-end review process and provide concurrence or approval for service provider deliverables related to North American office Facilities Management escalating issues, risks or exceptions to the Global Head for awareness of approval as appropriate

• Represent Office Workplace Services in monthly and quarterly service review meetings with service providers, Corporate Real Estate and business partners and provide insights, identify performance management opportunities and drive action plans

• Act as the Senior escalation point for office related service delivery issues, complaints, and operational concerns, managing resolution in partnership with the Global Head as needed

• Oversee the analysis and validation and provide concurrence or approval of Service Provider governance reporting for office portfolio, including KPIs, Incidents, work order performance, SLA compliance and operational trends and recommend corrective actions to the Global Head

• Develop or approve Workplace Services standard operating procedures in alignment with regulatory policy requirements and enterprise directives and ensure ongoing maintenance and compliance

• Review and ensure effectiveness operational quality control checks of service provider,

• Review and validate changes to service provider managed square footage arising from portfolio changes for Global Head approval

Risk Management

• Ensure operational processes, risk libraries and internal controls are documented, maintained and enhanced

• Primary risk interface for Office Workplace Services identifying, assessing and escalating operational risks, co ordinating subject matter input across teams and providing direction. Take escalations or exceptions to Global Head for action.

Operational Oversight

• Annual O&M and FM Capital Plan oversight

  • Approve the service providers annual operations and maintenance (O&M) Plans for office and common services and FM capital plans for office portfolio. Provide directions to ensure accurate forecasting, appropriate cost allocation, and alignment with standards and portfolio requirements

  • Evaluate and endorse allocation methodologies, ensuring transparency and consistency

  • Ensure capital planning reflects operational risks, lifecycle priorities, and long-term asset strategies.

  • Ensure BMO stakeholders are engaged by team

  • Approve monthly and quarterly status reviews, financial performance, and reforecasts

  • Support trend analysis, assess performance against contractual obligations and KPIs and elevate recommendations for Global Head approval while maintaining complete documentation for audit and governance purposes.

• Review and provide concurrence on service providers action plans to address operational risks, service delivery gaps and both internal and external issues impacting successful execution of the O&M Plan

• Standards Guidance for Projects & Programs

  • Ensure FM operating standards are in place, review and approve exceptions from the standards

  • Act as escalation point for resolving issues related to project handovers to Operations teams, ensuring service providers meet acceptance criteria and operational continuity is maintained

• Incident and Emergency Response Leadership

  • Escalation points for service providers during incidents impacting operations, ensuring adherence to incident management protocols and timely resolution

  • Approve service provider incident reporting, trend analysis and continuous improvement initiatives to strengthen organizational resilience and response standards to reduce impacts to our Lines of Business

• Process Excellence

  • Provide leadership on continuous improvement initiatives across Office Facilities Operations, modernizing standard operating procedures (SOPs), governance models, and service provider management frameworks

  • Recommend enhancements to key operational processes to improve accuracy and efficiency

  • Drive alignment to ensure consistent application of processes, tools and performance standards across the North American Office portfolio, and across Service Providers

Alignment with Critical Environments

Align processes, operations, protocols with Critical Environments team to ensure adequate coverage while avoiding duplication

Experience:

• 10+ years of progressive leadership experience working in Facilities Management or Property Management industries

• Experience in a Financial Institution is an asset

• Experience managing or working for outsourced service providers preferred

• Demonstrated success managing Facilities operating and project budgets, and service provider contracts

Knowledge:

• University degree or equivalent work experience (Advanced degree is an asset)

• Understanding of contract management and governance of outsourcing agreements

• Knowledge of Facilities and Property Management industry and practices

• Knowledge of risk management practices

• Understanding and experience with business process improvements

• Understanding and experience in managing Real Estate-related regulatory compliance obligations

• Technical knowledge of building systems

• Technical knowledge of Critical Environments is an asset

• IFMA Facilities Management Professional (FMP) / BOMA Real Property Administrator (RPA) or other related industry certifications is an asset

• Understanding and experience of emergency response and preparedness and incident management practices

Skills:

• Seasoned expert with extensive industry knowledge.

• Technical leader viewed as a thought leader for innovation.

• Verbal & written communication skills - Expert.

• Analytical and problem solving skills - Expert.

• Influence skills - Expert.

• Collaboration & team skills; with a focus on cross-group collaboration - Expert.

• Able to manage ambiguity.

• Data driven decision making 6 Expert

• In depth analytical thinking, very strong problem solving and ability to anticipate trends, risks and opportunities

• Demonstrated skills in managing relationships with business partners, stakeholders and service providers

• In depth reporting capability and data analysis

• Builds Strong relationships across all levels

• Results driven-oriented with a commitment to excellence

• Builds and maintains a high-performance work environment

• Excellent time management skills and ability to balance competing priorities

• Demonstrated leadership and team management skills to consistently meet deliverables

• Ability to lead and manage large-scale operations in high pressure, fast paced environments

• Demonstrates sound judgement and accountability

• Drives continuous improvement and innovation

• Models inclusive leadership behaviors

• Ability to leverage technologies to improve efficiency