Chief Investment Officer

Our client is a highly successful, privately held commercial real estate development company based in Mobile, AL. The company is entering its next phase—focused on disciplined growth with a path from $350M AUM to $1B+ in assets under management. The acquisition strategy focuses on acquiring existing industrial and retail assets across the Southeast. Our client needs a seasoned deal executive to help achieve the firm's growth.

Partnering with two significant capital partners, our client is ready to significantly grow the platform.

The firm operates across Property Management, Investment, and Development, with a strong retail and industrial portfolio and institutional capital relationships.

Role Summary

Reporting directly to the CEO and Founder, this role serves as the organization’s strategic #2 and institutional counterpart.

The executive will be responsible for taking the reigns of the growth engine (working alongside the founder/developer) to build out the platform.

Sitting beside the CEO, the position carries meaningful authority and economics aligned with AUM growth.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic & Platform Leadership

• Pressure-test strategy prior to investment decisions.

• Translate entrepreneurial decision-making into scalable frameworks, governance, and systems.

• Build platform-level discipline across capital allocation, portfolio construction, and risk management.

• Serve as institutional voice with LPs, auditors, advisors, and capital partners.

• Oversee portfolio operations across leasing, asset management, development execution, and integration.

• Identify and resolve platform breakpoints as AUM and complexity increase.

• Ensure operating cadence, decision velocity, and accountability scale appropriately.

Capital & Institutional Readiness

• Support preparation for fund formation, institutional capital raises, or public-market structures.

• Align capital strategy, reporting, and governance with institutional investor expectations.

• Participate in investment committee processes and portfolio reviews.

Growth Enablement

• Enable CEO focus on vision, sourcing, and relationships by absorbing platform load.

• Support acquisition integration and development pipeline execution.

• Preserve entrepreneurial flexibility while enforcing discipline.

• Serve as senior partner to functional leaders across finance, legal, property management, and development.

• Mentor leaders and strengthen management systems without bureaucratic drag.

• Reinforce a culture balancing accountability with speed.

Ideal Education, Skills & Experience

Education

• Bachelor’s degree required; MBA or advanced degree preferred.

Experience

• 15–25 years of experience within institutional real estate, private equity, pension, or insurance capital environments.

• Proven track record acquiring and integrating assets and running portfolios—not solely underwriting.

• Experience with investment committee participation, LP interaction, compliance, auditors, and risk management.

• Likely a Managing Director or equivalent with limited upside at current firm.

Skills & Attributes

• Platform thinker with strong judgment and systems orientation.

• Institutional credibility paired with entrepreneurial pragmatism.

• Ability to operate as trusted partner to a founder without ego or succession intent.

• Strong communication skills with internal teams and external stakeholders.

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