Director of Real Estate

Texas HR Team Executive Search

Texas HR Team is conducting an executive search on behalf of an innovative and rapidly expanding franchise brand seeking a highly driven Director of Real Estate to lead and scale its real estate development strategy. We are looking for a strategic real estate leader with franchise development experience who has successfully navigated growth, opened new markets, and understands what it takes to support expansion across the United States and internationally.

The ideal candidate is energized by creating structure, accelerating deal flow, building broker relationships, and helping a franchise system achieve ambitious development goals.

If you are passionate about commercial real estate, franchise growth, market analytics, and expanding a brand's footprint on a global scale, we want to hear from you.

The Director of Real Estate will own the franchise real estate pipeline from franchise agreement execution through lease execution, ensuring the company consistently delivers high-quality sites that support aggressive development objectives. This leader will drive deal velocity, oversee market planning and site selection strategies, manage critical development timelines, and build strong partnerships with franchisees, area developers, brokers, landlords, and internal stakeholders.

The role combines strategic leadership, commercial real estate expertise, market intelligence, and operational execution to help scale a growing franchise platform throughout North America and beyond.

• Own and manage all real estate activities through lease execution.
• Lead real estate pipeline reporting, forecasting, dashboards, and executive review processes.
• Develop systems and processes that improve development efficiency and support rapid franchise growth.
• Monitor key development milestones and continuously improve speed to opening.
• Partner with franchisees and area developers to guide site identification, LOI negotiations, and lease execution.
• Drive accountability for development schedules and milestone achievement.
• Support territory validation, market research, and development planning efforts.
• Assist franchise development teams with market analyses that support franchise sales efforts.

• Build and maintain market development plans using demographic, behavioral, competitive, and trade area analytics.
• Utilize geospatial and location intelligence platforms, including Placer, Buxton, Vision Map, Vision Track, Plotr, or similar tools.
• Analyze competitor locations, consumer trends, and market opportunities to strengthen site selection decisions.
• Evaluate portfolio opportunities with landlords and multi-property ownership groups.

• Establish and cultivate a best-in‑class broker network across domestic and international markets.
• Identify emerging growth markets and attractive development opportunities.
• Build strategic relationships with landlords, developers, and real estate partners that support long‑term expansion objectives.
• Lead and develop the Real Estate Coordinator.
• Provide coaching, performance management, professional development, and ongoing mentorship.
• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

• 10+ years of commercial real estate lease negotiation experience within a franchise, retail, restaurant, fitness, or multi‑unit development environment.
• Minimum 3 years of people leadership experience.
• Demonstrated franchise development experience supporting rapid unit growth.
• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Economics, Business, Real Estate, Engineering, Statistics, Geography, Analytics, Mathematics, or a related field.
• Advanced proficiency in Excel and Google Sheets, including financial modeling and reporting.
• Strong analytical, financial, and market planning capabilities.
• Experience leveraging demographic and location intelligence platforms such as Buxton, Placer, Vision Map, Vision Track, Plotr, or similar solutions.
• Experience with project management platforms such as Click Up or comparable tools.

• Experienc…