Director of Real Estate

Director of Real Estate Job Description

Position summary

Lead site selection, acquisition, and real estate strategy for a fast-growing quick-service restaurant (QSR) group. Drive pipeline growth, optimize portfolio performance, and partner with operations, finance, legal, and development teams to open new locations on time and on budget while protecting brand and lease economics.

Key responsibilities

• Develop and execute short- and long-term real estate strategy aligned with growth targets and unit economics.
• Identify, evaluate, and secure new sites (ground-up, endcaps, inline, pad sites, and redevelopments) across target markets.
• Negotiate leases, purchase agreements, letters of intent, and term sheets to achieve favorable rent, tenant improvement, and early-termination terms.
• Manage pipeline: site due diligence, market and trade-area analysis, demographic and traffic studies, feasibility, and ROI modeling.
• Oversee real estate transaction process end-to-end, including coordination with brokers, landowners, municipalities, architects, permitting teams, and construction.
• Build and maintain relationships with commercial brokers, landlords, developers, and local officials to accelerate site approvals and priority access.
• Partner with finance to develop pro formas, evaluate capex and lease accounting impacts, and support budgeting and forecasting.
• Lead internal cross-functional coordination with operations, construction, marketing, and legal to ensure timely store openings and consistent brand execution.
• Manage lease administration, CAM reconciliation, submetering, renewals, relocations, and claim resolution to control occupancy costs.
• Create and maintain site selection criteria, standard operating processes, and reporting metrics for scalable expansion.
• Monitor market and regulatory trends, zoning changes, and competitive activity; recommend adaptive strategies.

Required qualifications

• 8+ years of commercial real estate experience; 3+ years in QSR/retail/site selection preferred.
• Demonstrated track record of site acquisition and lease negotiation for high-velocity expansion.
• Strong financial modeling, analytical, and market research skills.
• Knowledge of lease structures, CAM, TI, ROFR/ROFO, and lease accounting (ASC 842).
• Experience managing brokers, counsel, permitting, and entitlement processes.
• Exceptional negotiation, communication, and stakeholder management skills.
• Willingness to travel frequently and visit prospective sites and markets.

Desired attributes

• Strategic thinker with bias for action and ability to deliver in a fast-paced growth environment.
• Data-driven decision maker with strong commercial instincts.
• Collaborative leader who develops talent and scales processes.
• Comfort with ambiguity and rapid change.