Chief Development Officer

About the role

On behalf of our client, The Management Recruitment Group have been retained exclusively to appoint to the post of Chief Development Officer for a large project based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This role will be responsible for leading the performance management of Real Estate Development from project inception to delivery and handover of a large-scale, multi-billion dollar regional development programme.

Background

Our client is at the start of a 7-year programme with a multi-billion dollar portfolio of projects. This project consists of residential, leisure, hospitality and world-class destination and resort assets.

With some aspects of the projects started and others still requiring funding and business case preparation, this is a multi-faceted role requiring a full range of skills and capabilities.

You will need to be

As an experienced Senior Real Estate Executive, you will have a strong background and track record in the delivery of large-scale urban development, Masterplanning, and full lifecycle delivery. This is a lifestyle destination development, so equal consideration will be given to hospitality and leisure experience as well as ultra-luxury or high-end residential development backgrounds.

You will have ideally having worked as an Executive for >$2bn portfolio of development projects, having held previous executive roles in blue-chip main contracting, consultancy, and real estate developer organizations, and demonstrated experience in commercial and financial elements of JV structures including procurement, and the ‘front end’ delivery of design, development and asset management.

You will focus on development & placemaking for Phase One from an ROI perspective, to ensure the success of phase two and a conceptual/visceral perspective. As such, our client is very open to both transactional development directors that will focus on the dollars and cents as well as destination developers that will ensure this is a world-renowned destination and resort.

You do not need to have local experience to apply for this role, though it would be considered an asset.

Key Accountabilities

You will be responsible for:

• Leading all development activities and providing strategic leadership and tactical implementation for the organisation’s real estate projects across the region.
• Leading the preparation of development and operational business plans (including market research, due diligence reports, financial analysis, investment strategy, anchors strategy, pricing, sale and lease strategy, risk register and exit strategy) of relevant real estate projects.
• Producing consolidated high level executive reports, showing a clear picture of the entirety of the works within the residential real estate portfolio, recommending the strategy, and highlighting all critical issues, recommending actions and measures.
• Preparing the delivery strategy of the development, coordinating with and integrating the input from other support functions including technical, legal, finance, market research, sales, and marketing and operation to deliver the project development plan.
• Providing regular updates of the performance of the real estate portfolio based on the market research reports market drivers and trends, statistics, demographic analysis, absorption analysis and competitive set analysis, scenario analysis, the market competitiveness, and supply and demand drivers, risks and approved feasibility hurdle rates.
• Managing the preparation and regular review of the project specific development and design briefs to ensure its alignment with the project business objectives.
• Establishing, updating and regularly reporting on the consolidated risk register and mitigation measures.
• Instructing, organizing and coordinating all development disciplines with the objective of harmonizing the diversified functions to deliver completed projects in accordance with the objectives established in the approved business plan.
• Reviewing the property laws and provide advice on its impact on the development.
• Reviewing and highlighting the risks associated with all the necessary legal documentation relevant to the real estate and development process that needs to be implemented, including contracts, appointments, sales agreements, leases, warranties, performance guarantees, purchase contracts, utilities contracts, master community declarations, owners association declarations, management association documentation, title deeds and other such documentation and correspondence to facilitate and deliver the development.

Background, Skills, and Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Urban or Town Planning, Economics, Real Estate, Finance, Business Administration or comparable/similar appropriate qualification.
• Minimum of 20 years of development management experience on major real estate development projects, with top reputable Developers.
• Experience working for a top-tier Real Estate Developer or Real Estate organization.
• Proven expertise in lifestyle or destination real estate development management, program management, financial analysis, property appraisals, business analysis, financial modeling & real estate market dynamics.
• Substantial experience managing the real estate development process, from project initiation and acquisition, to project structuring, design, construction, commission, and operation.

In return

In return, you will be able to have direct oversight and responsibility for one of the world’s most exciting real estate projects. You will be offered a generous compensation package, which will include a guaranteed high basic, bonus, a sign-on bonus, and executive relocation.

What to do now

For a confidential discussion, please contact Matthew Donovan (Matthew.Donovan@mrgpeople.co.uk) of The Management Recruitment Group on +447964 465 343. Applications should consist of a CV and a relevant project list.

Campaign Timeline

Applications are open until the role is filled.