Vice President - Real Estate, Construction & Store Development

Job Description:

Position Summary The Vice President, Real Estate, Construction & Store Development is an enterprise leadership role responsible for developing and executing Les Schwab’s store growth strategy. Reporting directly to the Chief Executive Officer, this role owns the end-to-end store development function, including market strategy, pipeline targets, capital allocation, real estate development, construction delivery, facilities strategy, and performance accountability. The VP will lead the company’s approach to new-store growth, relocations, remodels, portfolio optimization, and long-term asset performance.

This leader will ensure growth decisions are disciplined, financially sound, operationally executable, and aligned with the company’s strategic priorities. This role is responsible for building a scalable development function that can support disciplined expansion across existing and new markets, including the structure, processes, tools, reporting, and cross-functional coordination needed to execute growth at pace.

Growth Strategy & Pipeline Ownership Own the company’s store growth strategy in partnership with the CEO, Operations, Finance, and other executive leaders. Translate enterprise growth goals into market plans, pipeline targets, development priorities, and execution roadmaps. Lead market prioritization, site strategy, rural and metro expansion planning, and long-range store development forecasting. Establish and manage pipeline targets by market, stage, timing, investment level, and expected return.

Maintain clear visibility into the full development pipeline, including new stores, relocations, remodels, acquisitions, and strategic portfolio opportunities. Identify constraints to growth and recommend changes to structure, process, staffing, capital, or external partnerships.

Capital Allocation & Investment Performance Own capital allocation recommendations for store growth, relocations, remodels, and major real estate investments. Partner with Finance to evaluate site economics, project returns, capital requirements, operating assumptions, and long-term performance expectations. Ensure real estate and construction investments are tied to clear financial and operational outcomes. Establish investment discipline around project prioritization, approval thresholds, ROI, IRR, payback, budget control, and post-opening performance.

Track actual performance against approved business cases, including project cost, timing, sales ramp, operating performance, and return expectations. Provide executive leadership with regular reporting on pipeline health, capital deployment, project performance, and key risks.

Real Estate Portfolio & Site Development Lead real estate strategy and execution for new stores, relocations, expansions, acquisitions, lease renewals, and portfolio optimization. Evaluate site acquisitions, ground‑up developments, lease-versus-buy options, and strategic market opportunities. Oversee site selection, market analysis, broker strategy, real estate committee materials, deal structuring, and transaction execution. Partner with brokers, developers, legal advisors, landowners, municipalities, and other external partners to advance priority projects.

Ensure real estate decisions support both near‑term deployment schedules and long‑term market performance.

Construction, Design & Delivery Oversee construction delivery for new stores, relocations, remodels, conversions, and major capital projects. Own construction cost management, project timelines, quality standards, and delivery accountability. Establish and maintain design standards, prototype requirements, contractor selection processes, bidding standards, safety expectations, and quality controls. Ensure construction projects are delivered on time, on budget, and in a manner that supports store readiness and operational execution.

Strengthen the handoff from Real Estate to Construction and from Construction to Operations.

Facilities & Asset Management Oversee the strategy for facilities management, property management, lease administration, landlord interface, and long‑term asset support. Ensure…