Director, Global Real Estate & Portfolio Strategy

Location: Onsite, four days per week - Kohler, WI

Opportunity

Lead Kohler Co.'s global real estate strategy and portfolio, ensuring assets are fully optimized to drive business growth, efficiency, and value creation. This role is accountable for long-term strategic planning, proactive portfolio management, and unlocking market opportunities, including retail expansion and income-generating real estate initiatives.

Specific Responsibilities:

Enterprise Strategy & Portfolio Leadership

• Develop and execute global real estate strategy aligned with enterprise and BU priorities
• Proactively manage portfolio as a strategic asset, ensuring highest and best use
• Identify and advance opportunities to monetize underutilized assets (reposition, redeploy, divest)
• Establish governance, metrics, and standards to drive portfolio performance and ROI

Portfolio Optimization & Value Creation

• Drive utilization, footprint optimization, and cost efficiency across global portfolio
• Deliver sustained cost savings and asset value enhancement
• Implement data-driven insights to inform investment and portfolio decisions

Retail & Market Development

• Lead retail real estate strategy (showrooms, hospitality, brand experiences)
• Identify and execute leasing and partnership opportunities to generate new revenue streams

Advance mixed-use and market-driven developments to position real estate as a profit center

Transactions & Execution

• Oversee all global acquisitions, dispositions, leasing, and development
• Lead cross-functional execution including site selection, underwriting, negotiations, and due diligence
• Ensure disciplined financial modeling, risk management, and strategic alignment
• Approve/review all company real estate transactions

Leadership & Cross-Functional Partnership

• Lead global Real Estate team (portfolio, asset, and property management)
• Partner with Business Units, Finance, Legal, Facilities, and Construction
• Influence executive decision-making through clear, data-driven recommendations
• Build high-performing team aligned to Kohler leadership competencies:
• Build Trust
• Set High Standards
• Continuous Improvement
• Focus on the Customer