If you’re someone who brings strong analytical thinking, attention to detail and a passion for problem solving, you’ll thrive as our next Property Commercial Governance Manager in our Property & Workspace function. In this role, you’ll play a key part in strengthening commercial governance, financial control and cost assurance across our property portfolio and people‑related spend, ensuring clear insight, robust controls and evidence‑based decision‑making.
This role supports the effective management of property investment, operational costs and programme delivery by embedding consistent controls, transparent reporting and strong governance practices. If you enjoy working at the intersection of finance, governance and property, and thrive in bringing structure, insight and assurance to complex environments, we’d love to hear from you.
Job Type: Permanent
Location: Edinburgh. Hybrid working is supported with occasional UK travel as required to support stakeholder engagement and governance activity.
Flexible working: All roles are open to part-time, job-share and other types of flexibility. We will discuss what is important to you and balancing this with business requirements during the recruitment process. You can read more about flexible working here.
Closing Date: 21/05/2026
Salary and benefits: Salary range £45,000 to £60,000 dependant on experienceplus an indicative bonus range of16-32%, private medical cover, 38 days annual leave, excellent pension, 12x salary life assurance, income protection, career breaks, 3 volunteering days and much more.
Who are we?
We’re Standard Life, a retirement specialist focused entirely on retirement savings and income. We champion the belief that everyone’s journey to and through retirement can be better, and for more than 200 years, we’ve been helping our customers plan and prepare for their financial futures.
Life today is increasingly complicated, uncertain and unpredictable. People move through different careers, face unexpected moments and navigate important choices. We offer our colleagues flexibility, trust and benefits that work for whatever life brings. In return we expect curiosity, connection, accountability and high standards. We make room for what matters - so you can bring your best, every day.
The role
As Property Commercial Governance Manager, you’ll be responsible for establishing and operating robust commercial governance, financial control and assurance frameworks across Property & Workspace and people‑related spend.
You’ll work closely with the Strategic Property Cost & Performance Lead and key stakeholders across Finance, Property, People and Change functions to ensure property initiatives, operational costs and investment activity are planned, governed and reported in line with defined commercial control standards.
The role plays a critical part in providing senior leaders with accurate, decision‑ready financial insight, supporting disciplined cost management, transparent reporting and effective investment governance across the property portfolio.
Key responsibilities include:
Establishing and maintaining commercial governance and financial assurance frameworks across Property & Workspace
Monitoring spend against budget, providing variance analysis, insight and challenge to support cost discipline
Leading core financial control processes including forecasting, reconciliations, month‑end reviews and budget preparation
Supporting the governance and quality assurance of property investment proposals and business cases
Maintaining accurate, evidence‑based reporting to support informed decision‑making and prioritisation
Providing oversight of property cost tracking, financial risks and compliance activities
Ensuring property and people‑related financial data is accurate, consistent and aligned across reporting systems
Acting as a central coordination point for property commercial governance, reporting and assurance activity
Supporting audit, assurance and continuous improvement activity across property programmes
What are we looking for?
We focus on essential capabilities and encourage applications from candidates whose experience may look different, but who bring strong analytical capability and governance discipline.
You’ll have:
Experience in commercial governance, cost control, financial assurance or performance roles
Strong understanding of governance frameworks, financial controls and structured approval processes
Experience working with financial and performance data, reporting tools and dashboards
Experience operating within structured, corporate or multi‑site environments
Strong stakeholder management and coordination skills
The following are desirable:
Experience within property, real estate or facilities management environments
Experience supporting investment governance or business case development
Familiarity with property portfolio cost and performance metrics
Relevant qualifications or professional membership (e.g. IWFM, RICS, finance or governance disciplines)
We want to hire the whole version of you.
We are committed to ensuring that everyone feels accepted and welcome applicants from all backgrounds. If your experience looks different from what we’ve advertised and you believe that you can bring value to the role, we’d love to hear from you.
If you require any adjustments to the recruitment process, please let us know so we can help you to be at your best.
We’re reviewing applications as they come in, so apply early to avoid missing out.
Find out more about working at Standard Life
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