This role is to lead the property portfolio, to further develop our Client’s retail footprint, together with their team in the region. Candidate will have a comprehensive and strategic understanding of the commercial and non-commercial leasing process, as well as the commercial and non-commercial landscape in the region.

This position will support the Global Head of Property and the Regional General Manager to anticipate and strategize the regional development by driving critical real estate strategy in line with Company’s global approach and regional financial and business requirements. The role will lead a lean team in the region, to achieve a qualitative improvement in Company’s retail and department store portfolio (existing and new), driving regional targets, negotiations, deal making, project approval processes, and all other internal/external stakeholder management. This position contributes to the success of Company’s unique retail experience and landscape, and follows our retail principles, strategy, values, and ethos.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategy, Real Estate and Property Portfolio Optimization:

• Co-Lead and partner with Regional General Manager and Global Head of Property, the development of a short, mid, and long term commercial and non-commercial strategy to answer the growth and CAGR needs for the region (3YP and 5YP basis).
• Co-lead with Regional General Manager and Global Head of Property, the evaluation of all retail opportunities through site selection metrics and criteria, demographic analysis, competitors, and analytical research, to ensure the best location, performance, and visibility.
• Lead negotiation strategies and is accountable for the target in the region and their deliveries on time, qualitatively, and on performance. Ensure that real estate KPIs are met, in line with regional and global expectations.
• Coordinate analysis of the Company Real Estate portfolio to actively seek lease optimisation, restructuring, closure, expansion, reduction and/or relocation recommendations based on performance, market conditions and lease terms.
• Drive, with the Country/Commercial Managers and SDD teams, the assessment of new potential retail premises for network expansion or existing store relocation, in line with the global/regional strategy. Included but not limited to premises relocations, new leases, closures, store renewals, extensions and downsizes, restructuring, etc.
• Actively implement regional retail strategy, building a robust pipeline of new potential properties (working in partnership with Head of Commercial as needed); Align on business case key drivers/KPIs with Head of store Design, Head of commercial and Regional General Manager. In conjunction with Country/Commercial Managers, actively lead the negotiations with regional/local real estate brokers, landlords, legal partners, and vendors. Systemize and tailor fit the development of real estate support through selected partners.
• Participate and co-lead the definition of best practices, new ways of working and their implementation and persistence in the regional team and organization.
• Actively assist the Head of Global Property in developing Real Estate tools and guidelines to improve retail KPI’s and Company’s portfolio of leases by reducing the financial impact in each markets P&L.
• Evaluate portfolio performance and work with SDD and Finance teams to proactively plan and budget for large- or small-scale store refurbishments, optimizing back-to-back trading whenever necessary.
• Liaise and partner closely with the SDD team, Head of commercial and other functions in the region, driving common real estate goals, and finding opportunities within the commercial and non-commercial portfolio for each market.
• Responsible for all Insurances, and claims linked to industry special risk for our commercial and non-commercial portfolio.
• Act as the liaison for all property SOX matter in the region; in coordination with relevant teams.
• Act as coordinator for the legal matters linked to property lease contract and negotiations.

Renewal, Restructuring, and Rent Relief:

• Anticipate and lead the negotiations for rent relief of affected tenancies in line with global and region strategies.
• Lead with Finance team and other related stakeholders, the coordination of rental abatements, payment of balance, and other charges for affected tenancies.

Reporting and Analysis:

• Responsible with the property team of the compilation of monthly leasing reports, and to maintain the region’s property data and reporting in local, and regional up to date. Including availability of all lease documentation in LeaseEagle (or similar systems).
• Coordinate competitive landscape real estate market analysis for commercial and non-commercial premises in the region or for specific markets (competitors, demographics, relevant real estate market and portfolio data and analytics as well as broader field when needed)
• Responsible for the follow-up and update all property trackers within work remit (negotiation, 5YPS, Global portfolio), as well as all related Property System, Data, and Platform Management.
• Responsible for the compilation of proposals for approval for all capex related projects in the region.

COMPANY CAPABILITIES & SCOPE OF WORK

This role is at Business level; and our critical Capabilities for this role are:

Influencing:   Prepares an approach that shows respect, focuses on shared goals. Explore issues and clarify perspectives, shares information about own goals, insights, and rationale. Communicates benefits, tailors the communication to engage individuals emotionally and rationally. Involves others through asking for ideas and working to reach a mutually agreeable solution. Steers others to commit to action, builds understanding of next steps, responsibilities, time frames, and tracking methods.

Execution:  Identifies and emphasizes priorities to ensure people’s time and energy are aligned with important goals and priorities. Communicates function or Country plans and strategies in an engaging manner. Assigns priorities and reinforces responsibility and addresses skill gaps. Identifies objective and actionable progress and outcome measures, tracks progress and accomplishments. Works tenaciously to overcome obstacles and to meet or exceed goals. Remains self-disciplined, measures progress and evaluates results, reprioritizes, and manages stakeholder expectations honestly and constructively.

Building Partnerships:  Initiates purposeful contact with others who share mutual interests. Seeks out and proactively builds effective working relationships with groups of people who can advance business goals. Demonstrates respect and flexibility when forming and adjusting relationships to achieve broader goals, is willing to work across global boundaries. Supports partners by offering information, resources, and time to accomplish outcomes, with higher priority on group goals than on own goals.

Client Focus:  Gathers and leverages information to understand current and emerging client priorities, problems, expectations, and needs. Uses understanding of client needs to build and create processes and procedures that will have an impact. Sets priorities and makes decisions that consider client impact and measures client satisfaction.

Decisions & Directions:  Identifies and fills gaps in information required to understand issues and opportunities. Organises information and data to identify major trends and problems, compares and combines information to understand underlying issues and predict future trends. Generates and considers options for action from environmental, social, and commercial perspectives and selects the strategy most likely to succeed and with the highest integrity. Establishes high-level plan by identifying key tasks and resources needed to achieve strategic objectives.

Creativity & Change:  Proactively identifies an improvement or change and looks for opportunities to mobilise others to implement creative solutions. Takes action and encourages others to take action to improve processes. Strives to understand differences in reactions to change, helps others to overcome resistance and engages passion and commitment by seeking ideas.

Developing Others:  Seeks information and opinions about performance and development needs. Provides timely, specific, and appropriate feedback to individuals.  Communicates expectations and links to personal and business goals.  Leverages support and provides guidance, collaboratively creates growth plans.  Helps people feel valued and included in coaching and development discussions.

Empowering:  Actively seeks and allocates appropriate decision-making authority or task responsibility, considers potential impact, priorities, and the opportunity to enhance knowledge and skills. Communicates the importance and parameters of responsibility, including scope, performance standards, constraints, and expected outputs.  Suggests resources and provides coaching as needed and offers feedback to reinforce effective performance. Generates commitment by asking for ideas when agreeing on expectations. Establishes procedures to remain aware of issues, follow up on action items, and tracks results.

Skills and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business/Commerce/Real estate/Engineering, or the equivalent experience
• At least 10-12+ years relevant progressive experience in real estate and property management
• Previous experience in regional or global retail company with a diverse and varied retail portfolio
• Ability to demonstrate initiative and proactively identify and escalate issues and process improvements
• Strategic, broad-based knowledge of the retail and property markets in the region with subsequent networks
• Experience in a managerial position, with a strong affinity with local & regional culture that are aligned with the Company ethos

About Poline Search Partners

Poline Search Partners is an international executive search firm specializing in the shopping center industry. We serve property owners, developers, retailers and service providers who are seeking remarkable talent and work to align them with candidates who are eager for new growth opportunities. Since 1979, our team has been connecting companies and candidates with a commitment to integrity and client satisfaction—making us the industry’s most trusted leader in recruitment.

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