Real Estate Manager

Salary: £55,000–£65,000
Reporting to: Commercial Director
Location: London (with regular travel across our portfolio)

Leading the identification, appraisal, negotiation and delivery of new Work.Life locations.

About Work.Life

At Work.Life, we're building happier work-lives.

Since opening our first space in 2015, we've grown into one of London's leading flexible workspace providers by creating beautifully designed workspaces backed by exceptional service and a genuine sense of community.

We believe that happy teams deliver measurable benefits for businesses. That’s why everything we do, from workspace design to delivering a best-in-class personal service, is designed to create happy working environments. We have shared workspaces across London, Reading and Manchester; with 8,000+ members; and an amazing team of nearly 70 Work.Lifers who share our ambition to redefine the workspace experience for the better.

As we continue to grow, we're looking for someone who wants to play a central role in shaping where Work.Life goes next. Every new building we open starts with the right opportunity, and that's where this role comes in.

The Opportunity

Growth sits at the heart of Work.Life's strategy.

As our Real Estate Manager, you'll help identify, evaluate and deliver the next generation of Work.Life locations. From building relationships with agents and sourcing opportunities through to financial appraisals, coordinating transactions and supporting delivery, you'll own the momentum behind every opportunity.

This is a highly commercial role that sits at the intersection of real estate, finance and growth. You'll work closely with our Commercial Director and wider senior leadership team, helping us make confident, well-informed investment decisions while ensuring opportunities continue moving forward.

Career Path

This is a senior individual contributor role within our Career Development Framework (IC4).

It is designed for someone who is ready to take ownership of a significant part of our real estate acquisition pipeline while continuing to work in close partnership with senior leadership.

As an IC4 role, you'll lead the execution of acquisitions across sourcing, appraisal, transaction coordination and delivery, while collaborating closely with senior stakeholders on investment decisions, commercial strategy and portfolio planning. The role offers meaningful autonomy within its remit, with support and guidance where strategic decisions are made.

We're looking for someone who enjoys the pace and variety of a scaling business. Success in this role comes from being commercially curious, proactive and comfortable making progress with imperfect information. You'll naturally build momentum, enjoy solving problems across multiple disciplines and be excited by the opportunity to shape the future of our estate rather than waiting for every process or decision to be fully defined.

For someone with ambition to build a long-term career in client-side real estate, this role provides a clear pathway towards full ownership of the function. As Work.Life continues to grow, there will be opportunities to expand into a fully autonomous Real Estate leadership position with end-to-end responsibility for acquisition strategy, investment recommendations and portfolio growth.

What You'll Be Doing

Identifying future Work.Life locations

• Source new buildings that could become future Work.Life locations.

• Conduct viewings and develop a deep understanding of the market.

• Build conviction around what makes a successful Work.Life site.

Building market relationships

• Develop trusted relationships with agents and tenant representatives.

• Become a respected point of contact within the London flexible office market.

• Maintain a healthy pipeline of opportunities.

Investment appraisal

• Build robust financial appraisals for every opportunity.

• Assess commercial viability, strategic fit and return potential.

• Present clear analysis to support investment decisions.

Driving transactions

• Keep every opportunity moving.

• Coordinate Heads of Terms, legal work, diligence and transaction milestones.

• Work closely with internal and external stakeholders to remove blockers.

Supporting project delivery

• Represent Work.Life during fit-out and delivery.

• Coordinate contractors, consultants and project partners.

• Monitor programme, budget and quality, escalating issues early.

Portfolio reporting

• Maintain an accurate acquisition pipeline.

• Produce clear reporting for senior leadership and Board discussions.

• Ensure opportunities are always visible and current.

What We're Looking For

You'll probably bring experience from commercial agency, occupier advisory, client-side acquisitions or commercial property, and be ready for broader ownership within a growing business.

We're particularly interested in people who have:

• Experience identifying and evaluating commercial property opportunities.

• Strong financial modelling and commercial appraisal skills.

• Confidence managing multiple transactions simultaneously.

• Excellent relationship management with agents and external partners.

• Strong organisation and follow-through.

• Clear written and verbal communication.

• Curiosity about flexible workspace and London's office market.

What Success Looks Like

In your first year you'll have:

• Built a strong network across London's commercial property market.

• Created a healthy, well-managed acquisition pipeline.

• Delivered robust investment appraisals that support confident decision-making.

• Helped progress multiple acquisition opportunities from first viewing through to delivery.

• Become a trusted commercial partner to the wider leadership team.

Why Work.Life?

You'll join a business that's growing, ambitious and willing to do things differently.

Rather than inheriting a mature corporate function, you'll help shape how our real estate capability develops over the coming years. You'll work closely with experienced commercial leaders, gain exposure to strategic decision-making and have genuine opportunities to grow your own remit as the business expands.

Why you’ll love Work.Life 

Work happiness is our passion, and this starts with our own team. We offer a supportive working environment, plenty of training and development opportunities, competitive salary, monthly wellness package, team joy budget, quarterly socials and more, so you can work happier.

At Work.Life, we’re committed to providing an inclusive environment for our team and our members, as we believe that diversity breeds a more innovative, creative, and caring culture.We’re an equal opportunity employer. Everyone who applies to Work.Life will be considered for employment without attention to race, age, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, family or parental status, or disability status. Ready to join the Work.Life way? We’re excited to hear from you. Here’s our Privacy Policy – by applying for this job you accept how we will use your data.