We’re Hiring: Director of real estate

The Director of Real Estate will join a high-growth fast-fashion retailer scaling from 40+ to 100+ stores nationwide. This role owns national real estate strategy, including site selection, lease negotiations, renewals, portfolio analytics, and landlord relationships, driving occupancy cost optimization, profitable expansion, and long-term retail footprint growth.


BRICK EXECUTIVE SEARCH is working with an expanding fast-fashion retailer with 40+ locations and an aggressive plan to grow to 100+ stores over the next several years. We are seeking a Director of Real Estate who will fully own this retailer's national store portfolio-strategy, renewals, site selection, negotiations, analytics, and landlord relationships. This role centralizes work historically divided among ownership and third-party brokers (Savills) and provides the retailer with a single accountable leader to manage a large and increasingly complex portfolio.

This is a high-impact role that directly influences profitability, growth velocity, and long-term footprint.

Key Responsibilities

  1. Portfolio Strategy & Planning

  • Build a 3–5 year real estate roadmap to scale from a current 40+ stores.

  • Analyze regional performance, co-tenancy trends, demographic shifts, mall traffic, and fashion ZIP heat maps to direct expansion or exits.

  • Develop and maintain a portfolio scorecard using standardized metrics (e.g., occupancy cost %, sales PSF, EBITDA contribution, renewal risk).

  • Present quarterly recommendations to COO and ownership.

  1. Lease Administration & Renewals

  • Fully manage all lease expirations, options, renewals, rent escalations, and amendment negotiations.

  • Maintain a proactive 24-month renewal calendar and internal notification system.

  • Perform financial modeling on renewals (rent changes, CAM/NNN impacts, ROI on remodels).

  • Ensure timely execution of all lease documents.

  1. Market Expansion & Site Selection

  • Identify new markets and high-potential locations using the retailers customer density, mall traffic, demographic match, and fashion ZIP scoring method.

  • Conduct site tours, prepare comparative site matrices, and present recommendations.

  • Partner with brokers (including Savills) to source and vet opportunities.

  1. Deal Structuring & Negotiation

  • Lead all negotiations with landlords for new stores, renewals, relocations, short-term pop-ups, and rent abatements.

  • Secure favorable TI packages, free rent periods, caps on CAM increases, and co-tenancy protections.

  • Coordinate with legal on lease review, risk identification, and redline management.

  • Compare deals against industry benchmarks to ensure competitiveness.

  1. Cross-Functional Execution

  • Work closely with Construction, Finance, Operations, and Store Leadership on openings, remodels, and closures.

  • Partner with Finance to ensure accurate occupancy cost budgeting and forecasting.

  • Provide detailed turnover requirements and timelines to Construction & Ops.

  1. Vendor & Broker Management

  • Oversee Savills and all other real estate partners; set expectations, KPIs, and reporting cadence.

  • Hold brokers accountable to delivering actionable market intel and competitive deal terms.

  • Evaluate whether external brokerage workload should be expanded, replaced, or brought in-house.

  1. Store Performance Analytics

  • Build and maintain dashboards on store health:

  • Sales PSF

  • Occupancy costs

  • Year-1 ramp curves

  • Portfolio profitability clusters

  • Risk of decline (traffic shifts, anchor closures, competitive encroachment)

  • Recommend relocations or closures based on data and financial modeling.

  1. Executive Communication & Alignment

  • Create succinct, data-backed decks for ownership, COO, and board-level review.

  • Provide monthly reporting: renewals, risks, landlord issues, new deals, and market trends.

  • Represent the retailer professionally with landlords, developers, and national REIT contacts.

Required Skills & Experience

  • 5+ years in retail real estate, ideally with a multi-unit specialty retailer (50–200 stores).

  • Strong experience managing high-velocity renewals, lease negotiations, and multi-market expansion.

  • Advanced financial modeling skills (occupancy cost %, NPV of lease, break-even impact, EBITDA uplift).

  • Demonstrated success negotiating rent reductions, TI, abatements, and early termination strategies.

  • Competency in reading redlines, coordinating with legal, and managing lease execution processes.

  • Strong relationships in the landlord community a plus (e.g., Simon, Brookfield, Macerich, WS, Kimco).

  • Highly organized with ability to manage 50+ concurrent timelines and lease events.

  • Data-oriented and comfortable using scoring frameworks, GIS, and demographic tools.

Success Metrics (Year 1 – Year 2)

  • 0 missed renewals or escalation deadlines.

  • 10–15% average improvement in renewal terms vs. legacy deals at similar locations.

  • Full real estate roadmap created identifying markets for 40→80 store growth.

  • Proactive communication on portfolio risks (anchor closures, declining malls, lease cliffs).

  • Reduced reliance on ownership for real estate decision-making.

  • Faster deal cycle times from LOI → executed lease.

Compensation & Benefits

  • Medical, dental, vision, life, disability

  • 401(k), FSA/HSA, transit benefits

  • Generous employee discount