Senior Project Manager, Expansion - Warsaw, PL

CIC is seeking an experienced Senior Project Manager, Expansion to lead the real estate assessment and support the delivery of complex expansion opportunities worldwide. This is a hands-on, senior individual contributor role for someone who can combine rigorous project management with strong real estate transaction knowledge, commercial judgment, and confidence working with senior internal and external stakeholders.

The Senior Project Manager turns qualified opportunities sourced by other resources into well-assessed, coordinated, and executable projects.

ABOUT CIC

CIC builds and operates spaces where startups, scale-ups, corporations, and public institutions come together to overcome challenges and grow.

Founded in 1999, CIC was one of the first companies to offer flexible office space and coworking options, providing a platform for entrepreneurs to develop their ideas in a shared environment.

CIC manages a global network of workspaces, laboratories, and event spaces across North America, Europe, and Asia. Beyond our spaces, CIC also develops innovation-focused programming, builds and enables industry clusters, and offers consulting services to help the public and private sectors foster innovation ecosystems.

We invite you to explore our opportunities and learn more about our teams here .

ABOUT CIC CATALYST

CIC Catalyst is the strategic advisory and programming arm of CIC. It designs, operates, and manages innovation hubs and ecosystem programs that drive competitive specialization, sustainable growth, and impact. Catalyst provides advisory and programming to governments, corporations, and universities, grounded in 25+ years of hands-on operational experience and deep global ecosystem connections. To date, Catalyst has delivered 100+ programs and cohorts globally across CIC campuses, supporting 700+ startups, facilitating 500+ corporate-startup meetings, running 50+ technology scouting programs, and supporting 10+ government agencies through market-entry programs.

HOW THE ROLE FITS INTO THE EXPANSION MODEL

Expansion is led by Catalyst advisory and is supported by a range of senior staff and executives throughout CIC. The Senior Project Manager is the operational and real estate lead for assigned opportunities, namely projects that will become future CIC centers:

Coordinate the initial real estate feasibility assessment and prepare a clear recommendation for green-light consideration.

Own internal project coordination and execution, using the Expansion Process SOP and agreed stage gates.

Build trust and continuity with external counterparts and, when delegated, lead day-to-day project discussions and selected negotiations. The designated country or regional lead retains ownership of the overall external relationship.

Coordinate closely with the Executive Sponsor, Catalyst Advisory, Corporate Finance, Design and Construction, Legal, and Campus operations, bringing each team into the process at the right stage.

YOUR DAY-TO-DAY WORK

As a Senior Project Manager on our Expansion team, you will be the operational and real estate lead for opportunities that become future CIC centers, working closely with our Catalyst Advisory team, Executive Sponsors, and partners across Corporate Finance, Legal, Design and Construction, and Campus operations.

Potential responsibilities will include:

Leading the initial real estate feasibility assessment for qualified opportunities, covering site suitability, market and demand assumptions, program and space requirements, delivery approach, schedule, capital needs, operating implications, and principal transaction risks.

Evaluating proposed real estate and partnership structures, identifying gaps and dependencies, and preparing decision-ready materials that present the opportunity, key assumptions, trade-offs, risks, and recommended next steps.

Creating and managing the integrated project plan for each approved opportunity, with clear workstreams, owners, milestones, dependencies, decision points, and deliverables.

Maintaining a disciplined risk, issue, action, and decision process; surfacing stalled or at-risk work early, escalating material issues to the relationship lead or Executive Sponsor, and ensuring clean handoffs from assessment through agreement and into implementation.

Representing CIC credibly in working sessions with government entities, universities, hospital systems, developers, landlords, investors, and other potential partners.

Supporting the relationship lead, General Counsel, and Executive Sponsor in structuring and negotiating commercial terms, including term sheets, letters of intent, scopes of work, proposals, and transaction documentation, keeping discussions connected to CIC's operational requirements, financial parameters, and delivery capacity.

Coordinating across the expansion team, Corporate Finance, RFP teams, Legal, Design and Construction, Campus operations, and Catalyst Advisory, bringing each in at the right stage and integrating their inputs, such as financial models, legal reviews, and design plans, into project recommendations.

Coordinating Legal reviews for public-sector RFPs and non-standard, high-value, or high-risk terms, at intake and again before external submission where required.

Maintaining accurate pipeline, project, and stage-gate information in CIC's designated systems, providing concise, decision-oriented reporting to regional leaders and Executive Sponsors, and improving templates, playbooks, the Expansion Process SOP, KPIs, and the AI-enabled RFP and proposal repository.

ABOUT YOU

You are a structured, pragmatic project leader and a proficient English user who isn't just looking for a job, you're looking for a mission. You are calm under pressure and energized by the "beautiful chaos" of building something new, and you thrive when no two deals look the same. You are a natural connector who can hold a room of executives and external partners while staying close enough to the details to keep a project moving.

More specifically, as our ideal candidate, you are:

Able to lead discussions with external partners and executives while staying close to the details that move a project forward.

Well-versed in how real estate deals move from early feasibility through negotiation, documentation, approvals, and implementation, with a sharp eye for where risks emerge.

Highly structured but pragmatic, creating enough process for clarity and control without slowing progress, and comfortable turning incomplete information into sound recommendations.

A clear communicator across cultures and functions who builds trust quickly and stays calm when timelines are tight or interests differ.

YOU HAVE

At least seven years of relevant experience in commercial real estate transactions, real estate development, expansion, or complex project delivery, with direct responsibility for multi-stakeholder projects.

Strong working knowledge of real estate deal processes, including feasibility, site and commercial evaluation, due diligence, deal structuring, negotiation, transaction documents, approvals, and delivery planning.

A record of managing several complex workstreams simultaneously while maintaining clear ownership, documentation, timelines, and executive visibility.

Commercial and financial literacy, including the ability to interpret real estate financial models, challenge key assumptions, and connect financial outputs to deal and operating decisions.

Experience working directly with senior executives and external counterpart organizations. Experience with public-sector entities, developers, universities, hospital systems, or public-private partnerships is especially relevant.

Excellent written and spoken English, with the ability to produce clear, client-ready and decision-ready materials.

A bachelor's degree in real estate, business, finance, engineering, architecture, construction management, a related field, or equivalent professional experience.

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