Chief Development Officer

Job Description

Job Description

 

Chief Development Officer (CDO)

 

Here We GROW Again! CR Fitness is one of the fastest-growing Crunch Fitness franchise groups with over 100+ locations and aggressive expansion across multiple markets. Our mission is to transform lives through fitness, leadership, and opportunity. As we continue our rapid growth, we are committed to building high-quality clubs that deliver exceptional member experience and support long-term operational success.

CR Fitness Holdings is seeking an experienced and strategic Chief Development Officer (CDO) to lead the continued expansion of our growing Crunch Fitness portfolio.

Position Summary

The Chief Development Officer will provide executive leadership across real estate, site selection, lease negotiations, construction, design, development, and new club delivery. This individual will be responsible for developing and executing a scalable growth strategy that supports the company's aggressive expansion goals while ensuring projects are delivered on time, within budget, and aligned with CR Fitness and Crunch Fitness brand standards.

As a key member of the executive leadership team, the CDO will partner closely with the CEO, Operations, Finance, Legal, and other senior leaders to identify new market opportunities, build the development pipeline, optimize capital investment, and successfully bring new clubs from initial market identification through opening.

Key Responsibilities

Development Strategy & Leadership

• Develop and execute the company's long-term development strategy in alignment with organizational growth objectives.
• Lead the overall development pipeline across existing and emerging markets.
• Establish annual and multi-year development plans, priorities, budgets, timelines, and performance metrics.
• Provide executive oversight and leadership to the Real Estate and Construction functions.
• Build scalable processes and infrastructure to support continued portfolio growth.
• Serve as a strategic advisor to the CEO and executive leadership team regarding development opportunities, risks, capital requirements, and market expansion.

Real Estate & Market Expansion

• Lead market planning and real estate strategy for new club development.
• Oversee market analysis, site selection, trade-area evaluation, and deal pipeline development.
• Direct negotiations of LOIs, leases, amendments, renewals, and other real estate agreements in partnership with internal and external legal resources.
• Evaluate proposed locations based on demographics, accessibility, visibility, competition, economics, projected performance, and long-term market potential.
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with landlords, developers, brokers, municipalities, and other real estate partners.
• Present development opportunities and recommendations to executive leadership for approval.

Construction & Project Delivery

• Provide executive oversight of all new club construction, renovations, relocations, expansions, and major capital projects.
• Lead construction planning, budgeting, scheduling, design coordination, permitting, and project execution.
• Ensure projects meet established timelines, budgets, quality expectations, and brand standards.
• Partner with architects, general contractors, engineers, vendors, consultants, and internal stakeholders throughout the development process.
• Identify risks and proactively resolve issues that could impact cost, schedule, or club opening dates.
• Continuously evaluate construction processes and vendor relationships to improve speed, quality, and cost efficiency .

Financial & Portfolio Management

• Develop and manage annual development and capital expenditure budgets.
• Partner with Finance to evaluate project economics, investment returns, development costs, and financial feasibility.
• Monitor development costs against approved budgets and identify opportunities for cost savings and improved ROI.
• Maintain visibility into the entire development pipeline, including deal status, projected openings, capital requirements, construction progress, and key risks.
• Provide regular development reporting and forecasting to executive leadership.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Partner closely with Operations to ensure seamless transition from construction and development into presale and club opening.
• Collaborate with Finance, Legal, Marketing, IT, HR, Recruiting, and other departments to ensure new locations are fully prepared for successful openings.
• Establish clear accountability, communication, and project-management standards across all development functions.
• Recruit, develop, and lead a high-performing Real Estate and Construction organization capable of supporting continued growth.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive leadership experience in real estate development, construction, or multi-unit development, with significant senior-level leadership experience.
• Proven experience leading aggressive development and expansion for a multi-unit retail, fitness, restaurant, hospitality, or other consumer-facing organization.
• Demonstrated success managing a high-volume pipeline of new locations from market identification through opening.
• Strong commercial real estate background, including site selection, market analysis, LOI and lease negotiations, and deal economics.
• Extensive understanding of construction management, development timelines, permitting, design, budgeting, and capital planning.
• Proven experience managing significant development and capital expenditure budgets.
• Strong financial acumen with the ability to evaluate project economics, ROI, risk, and investment decisions.
• Demonstrated ability to build and lead high-performing Real Estate and Construction teams.
• Strong negotiation, communication, and executive presentation skills.
• Ability to manage multiple markets, projects, and priorities simultaneously in a fast-paced growth environment.
• Bachelor's degree in Real Estate, Construction Management, Business, Finance, Engineering, or related field preferred.
• Ability to travel regularly to current and future markets.

Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate is a growth-oriented development executive who knows how to scale. They combine strong real estate instincts with construction and financial expertise and understand how to turn an aggressive growth strategy into successfully opened locations.

They are equally comfortable negotiating a complex real estate deal, reviewing a development pipeline with executive leadership, challenging construction costs, developing a high-performing team, and creating the processes necessary to support rapid multi-market expansion.

Why CR Fitness

CR Fitness Holdings is one of the largest and fastest-growing Crunch Fitness franchise groups in the country. Our continued expansion creates an opportunity for an accomplished development leader to play a significant role in shaping where—and how—we grow next.

This is an opportunity to lead development at scale and directly influence the next chapter of CR Fitness's growth.

Compensation & Benefits

• Competitive base salary + bonus opportunity
• Medical, Dental, Vision and Life Insurance
• 401K with match and PTO
• Free CR Fitness membership and discounted Personal Training sessions
• Team-oriented work environment with significant career growth opportunities in a rapidly expanding company

Ready to help build the future of CR Fitness ? Join one of the fastest-growing fitness companies in the country and play a key role in delivering world-class clubs across every market.

About CR Fitness

CR Fitness is a leading franchisee of Crunch Fitness. The company is rapidly expanding its club footprint throughout Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, and Arizona and is led by a veteran management team with over one hundred years of combined experience in the fitness industry. With a comprehensive fitness offering and affordable price point, Crunch Fitness offers unmatched value to its members regardless of fitness level and is well positioned to take advantage of consumers’ increasing focus on health and wellness. 

Crunch Fitness is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment based on race, color, religion, national origin, age, gender, sex, ancestry, citizenship status, mental or physical disability, genetic information, sexual orientation, veteran status, or military status.

 

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