Intern Chief Real Estate Officer Jobs (NOW HIRING)

The CFO, Corporate Real Estate (CRE) is the senior finance leader accountable for the financial strategy, planning, and analytics of one of the largest and most strategically important physical footprints in U.S. banking - a nationwide portfolio spanning bank branches, office hub locations, and a broad network of client centers and ancillary sites. Partnering directly with the Head of Corporate Real Estate, this role shapes the bank's go-forward footprint by translating workforce strategy, location choices, and operating model shifts into clear, defensible financial tradeoffs. It works in close partnership with Corporate Treasury and Corporate Accounting to ensure disciplined capital and lease decisioning, balance sheet and P&L integrity, and strong financial governance.

This is a build-and-transform mandate, not a caretaker role. The organization is executing a multi-year strategic real estate plan that encompasses branch network transformation - relocations, renovations, and de novo builds - alongside a restructuring of the corporate office footprint into strategic hubs. The CFO, Corporate Real Estate is the financial architect behind this strategy, modeling the full economics of every major decision and translating complex real estate and workforce trade-offs into recommendations the most senior audiences in the company can act on with confidence.

What You'll Drive

• Enterprise footprint strategy and scenario decisioning (hub/non-hub mix, consolidations, exits, renewals; owned vs. leased; flex/hybrid models) and branch network transformation.
• Portfolio performance management, forecasting, and value realization across the CRE portfolio.
• Investment discipline for major CRE initiatives through ROI/NPV/IRR/payback-based decision frameworks.
• Total-cost-of-location and transaction economics that integrate occupancy, capital, tax, and workforce trade-offs into a single decision framework.
• Alignment of real estate choices to corporate strategy, cost resilience, talent access, operational continuity, and risk posture.
• A high-impact finance team oriented to insight, influence, and execution.

Essential Responsibilities

• Strategic Partnership & Influence: Serve as the primary strategic finance partner to the Head of Corporate Real Estate, embedded in strategy development from inception rather than reviewing decisions after the fact. Deliver executive-ready narratives that simplify complex tradeoffs, and present real estate strategy and multi-year financial impact to the CEO, CFO, and Board-level committees with clarity and credibility.
• Go-Forward Footprint Decisioning: Lead multi-year footprint planning and own the financial modeling behind the strategic real estate plan - branch relocations, renovations, de novo builds, and consolidation of the corporate office footprint into strategic hubs. Build and maintain a dynamic, site-level portfolio model that supports rapid scenario analysis across occupancy, capital, tax, and workforce dimensions, and model economics for consolidations (lease buyouts, early termination, sublease recovery, and stranded-cost provisions). Quantify P&L, cash flow, and balance sheet impacts for major footprint actions and establish clear decision thresholds.
• Total-Cost-of-Location Analysis: Lead total-cost-of-location analysis for new sites, integrating occupancy, long-term labor and benefits costs, workforce transition economics, and tax considerations into a single, defensible decision framework.
• Portfolio Economics, Capital & Transaction Strategy: Own the financial evaluation of real estate investments and commitments, including sensitivity analysis on key assumptions. Evaluate and structure real estate transactions - sale-leasebacks, build-to-suit leases, ground leases, developer joint ventures, and owned development - with a clear view of after-tax NPV, balance sheet, and regulatory capital implications. Drive real estate tax strategy, including property tax appeals, PILOT agreements, economic incentives, and abatements for hub locations and new builds. Partner with Treasury on funding and capital implications and with Corporate Accounting on lease accounting (e.g., ASC 842), controls, and reporting integrity.
• Analytics, Forecasting & Performance Management: Build and run core analytics (utilization, demand, cost per seat, run vs. change spend) to enable proactive portfolio decisions. Establish operating and performance metrics that drive efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability across the CRE portfolio, linking outcomes to cost, utilization, and strategic objectives. Own forecasting and performance reviews, surfacing variance drivers and leading indicators to drive action.
• Governance, Risk & Leadership: Maintain strong financial governance, risk management, and audit readiness across the CRE portfolio. Partner with HR/People Analytics, Tax, Accounting, and the lines of business to ensure workforce, tax, and accounting inputs are rigorous and defensible. Lead, develop, and retain a high-performing finance team spanning FP&A, transaction support, capital planning, and lease accounting, with a strong partnership mindset.

Preferred Skills/Qualifications

• 15+ years of progressive finance experience, including 5+ years as a divisional or functional CFO or senior finance leader, ideally managing an expense base or P&L of $500M+.
• Deep expertise in corporate real estate finance - occupancy accounting, lease-versus-own analysis, capital planning, and depreciation modeling.
• Command of ASC 842 lease accounting, sale-leasebacks, build-to-suit transactions, and related structures.
• Strong capital allocation discipline - NPV, IRR, payback, and real-options thinking applied to multi-year, multi-site portfolios.
• Demonstrated experience supporting a large, geographically distributed footprint (1,000+ locations) in banking, retail, or a comparable multi-site industry.
• Proven ability to build total-cost-of-location models that integrate real estate, labor, benefits, tax, and transition costs.
• Experience partnering with Treasury and Accounting on balance sheet, lease, and reporting implications.
• Advanced financial modeling skills and the ability to translate complex economics into concise, executive-level narratives.
• Track record of building and leading finance teams and partnering effectively with senior business leaders.
• Experience leading or co-leading a major real estate portfolio rationalization or office consolidation - from business case through execution.
• Familiarity with banking-specific considerations, including CRA implications of branch changes, regulatory approval processes, and how occupancy expense flows through the efficiency ratio.
• Experience negotiating economic incentive and abatement packages, and structuring novel real estate finance vehicles.
• Fluency with real estate technology and BI platforms (e.g., Tririga, Manhattan, CoStar, Lucernex, Power BI, Tableau).
• Experience presenting to ALCO, board real estate committees, or equivalent governance bodies.

Measures of Success

Within the first year, this leader will have established a trusted partnership with the Head of Corporate Real Estate, stood up a credible and reusable portfolio and location-economics modeling capability, and become the go-to financial voice on the strategic real estate plan for senior leadership. Success is measured not by expense management alone, but by the quality of the strategic decisions this executive helps the organization make - and the discipline, transparency, and honesty they bring to the financial case behind them.

• Clear, data-backed recommendations that materially improve footprint economics, efficiency, and flexibility.
• Improved forecast accuracy and faster decision cycles for footprint and investment decisions.
• Portfolio operating metrics that enable real estate to be run as a business, with transparent performance and accountability.
• Disciplined capital and lease decisioning with strong controls and accounting alignment.