Director of Strategic Operations - Multifamily at Hines – Houston, Texas

When you join Hines, you will embark on a career journey fueled by vision and guided by leaders who set the standards of our industry. Our legacy is rooted in innovation and excellence, earning us a spot on Fast Company’s esteemed annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies, as well as recognition as one of U.S. News & World Report’s Best Companies to Work For in 2024. Discover endless opportunities to grow and make your mark at Hines.

The Director of Strategic Operations is a senior leader responsible for driving operational excellence and scalability across Hines’ multifamily platform, strengthening portfolio-wide consistency, and ensuring that systems, processes, and training programs provide effective support and are built to scale with growth. The Director serves as a critical bridge between corporate strategy and on-site execution, ensuring initiatives are practical, scalable and measurable. This role translates strategic priorities into execution, improving operational excellence across communities by optimizing workflows, elevating standards, and supporting organizational readiness for continued growth. You will partner cross-functionally with Community Operations, Technology Solutions, HR, Marketing, and other key partners, advancing operating standards, streamlines processes, and enabling data-driven decision making across a geographically diverse portfolio. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

Operational Excellence

• Lead development, refinement, and governance of operational standards, SOPs, and best practices across the portfolio.
• Identify system and operational performance gaps across the portfolio and partner with regional leadership to drive targeted, scalable solutions.
• Conduct operational diagnostics and support execution plans that improve consistency and operational outcomes.
• Oversee readiness and execution support for community openings, transitions, acquisitions, and major initiatives.
• Develop KPI frameworks that measure operational performance, team capabilities, and systems effectiveness.
• Utilize operational data, trends, and analytics to drive decision-making and operational adjustments.
• Support initiatives focused on elevating service delivery, operational efficiency, and portfolio consistency.

Systems Operations

• Drive adoption of integrated technology solutions to enable data visibility, operational efficiency, and improve resident and employee experience.
• Provide oversight and strategic direction for property management systems including PMS, CRM, revenue management, and business intelligence platforms.
• Ensure systems workflows align with operational standards and support business needs.
• Partner with Technology Solutions on system enhancements, implementations, and optimization initiatives.
• Support system readiness, communication, and adoption efforts during major updates or implementations.
• Serve as an operational stakeholder and advocate during system design, testing, and deployment.

Learning & Development Oversight

• Lead the strategic direction of Learning & Development to support operational capability building.
• Ensure learning programs are directly tied to performance outcomes, team productivity, leasing effectiveness, and operational consistency.
• Ensure onboarding, role-based training, and learning programs align with operational needs and performance expectations.
• Evaluate training effectiveness and ensure ongoing optimization based on operational feedback.
• Partner with the L&D leader to establish learning priorities and allocate resources to address capability gaps.
• Oversee development of standardized training frameworks that support consistent role readiness across communities.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Serve as a strategic partner to Community Operations, HR, Technology Solutions, Marketing, and Resident Experience.

• Collaborate on enterprise initiatives, ensuring operational needs are represented.

• Facilitate clear communication and alignment between corporate departments and onsite operations.

• Influence cross-functional decisions to ensure alignment with operational priorities and business goals.

Minimum Requirements include:

• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree preferred.
• 10+ years of progressive experience in multifamily operations, operational excellence, or related leadership roles.
• Deep understanding of multifamily operations, systems, workflows, and key performance drivers.
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional initiatives and operational improvement projects.
• Experience managing or overseeing Learning & Development at a strategic level.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with ability to translate data into strategy.
• Experience driving measurable operational improvements across a portfolio (e.g., occupancy growth, expense reduction, NOI improvement).
• Skilled communicator and facilitator who can build alignment across stakeholders and lead an organization through change.
• Experience implementing or optimizing property management systems at scale strongly preferred.
• Lead through influence and builds trust across diverse stakeholder groups.
• Process improvement and systems thinking.
• Strong change management capability.
• Ability to lead through influence across multiple stakeholder groups.
• Strong planning, prioritization, and project management skills.
• Proficiency utilizing various software systems including but not limited to MS Suite, Entrata, and more.
• Industry certifications and accreditations a plus (CAM, IREM, etc.).
• Ability to travel up to 40-50% to support operational initiatives, transitions, and training-related needs
• Ability to lift up-to 5-35 pounds.
• Working indoors majority of the time.
• Working outdoors and onsite as field support requires.

At Hines, we strive for excellence as a leading global real estate investment manager, driven by our by our belief that real estate is fundamentally about people. Our diverse portfolio spans $93.2 billion¹ of assets across such property types as living, office, retail, mixed-use, logistics and life science projects – all designed to enhance value, connection and inspiration. Our strategic approach integrates local expertise with global knowledge, taking calculated risks aligned with our convictions to exceed expectations and tailor solutions to our clients' needs.

While our projects are renowned for enhancing cities and pioneering sustainable practices, we recognize that the true driving force behind Hines' success is our 5,000 dedicated employees in 30 countries who draw on our 65-year history to build the world forward. This is why we prioritize investing in our people, offering comprehensive training, competitive compensation, robust benefits and generous vacation packages. By centering our focus on the growth and wellbeing of our team, we cultivate an inclusive environment where everyone, including our clients, can thrive.

Hines is proud to be named to Fast Company’s prestigious annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2024. ¹Includes both the global Hines organization and RIA AUM as of December 31, 2023.

We are an equal opportunity employer and support workforce diversity.

No calls or emails from third parties at this time please.

Closing

Hines is a global real estate investment, development and property manager. The firm was founded by Gerald D. Hines in 1957 and now operates in 28 countries. We manage a $92.3B¹ portfolio of high-performing assets across residential, logistics, retail, office and mixed-use strategies. Our local teams serve 634 properties totaling over 225 million square feet globally. We are committed to a net zero carbon target by 2040 without buying offsets. To learn more about Hines, visit www.hines.com and follow @Hines on social media. ¹Includes both the global Hines organization as well as RIA AUM as of June 30, 2022.

Visit www.hines.com for more information.

We are an equal opportunity employer and support workforce diversity.

No calls or emails from third parties at this time please.