The Vice President of Real Estate Development is a key leadership role responsible for accelerating new restaurant growth at sweetgreen. The role, based in our LA Sweetgreen Support Center, oversees all aspects of new restaurant pipeline development across the US, regional teams. Each team, consisting of real estate, construction, design, and site development, is responsible for meeting or exceeding profitable growth targets and expanding sweetgreen’s mission. This leader will be responsible for developing and implementing strategic initiatives that enable growth at scale, reduce cycle time and complexity, and manage capital returns. 

The VP of Real Estate Development will communicate and work with senior leaders across the organization to develop new market expansion and densification strategies to meet the Company's objectives. This leader will provide subject matter expertise and represent the needs of our brand, our operators and our customers.

Summary of Key Responsibilities, including but not limited to the following: 

• Develop a comprehensive Real Estate strategic plan with tactics that enable the team to build and execute a robust pipeline to meet the Company’s overall profitable growth objectives.
• Build comprehensive knowledge of sweetgreen’s leasing requirements, including landlord work letters to create productive, mutually beneficial long-term relationships with landlords.
• Accountable for meeting & exceeding the Company’s financial performance targets and metrics for new stores (i.e. ROIC, Cost reduction) Manage the store development cycle to set and meet performance commitments (i.e. store opening dates, on-time and on-budget construction projects & costs, proforma & financial objectives).
• Lead regional development teams to optimize performance for all aspects of the store development process:
• Real Estate: tour markets, create proformas, prepare letters of intent, negotiate leases, renewals, expansions, relocations, and potential closures.
• Construction: join Real Estate to evaluate prospective new stores’ spaces for cost implications and fitness of equipment, mechanicals, electrical, value engineering ideas, project management, cost savings, mgmt. of timelines, solving unexpected cost issues, close-out of projects, on-time, on-budget performance.
• Design: evaluate new stores’ spaces for layout and ‘flow’ ideas, potential challenges, creation of test fits, meet design production deadlines, ensure consistency with Company design standards, and reduction in costs.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with operations portfolio management to gain alignment on goals objectives to optimize performance of the fleet.
• Lead your teams and their personal development by mentoring each team member through effective coaching, feedback, and recognition.

About You:

• Highly effective communication skills, comfortable communicating at all levels of the organization, and ability to influence internal and external stakeholders.
• An ambassador who models the values and mission of the Company’s culture every day.
• Builds trust, develops continuously seeking opportunities to improve self and others to achieve their potential. Skilled at providing meaningful coaching, feedback, and recognition.
• Leads courageously, takes personal responsibility to do the right thing, persists in times of challenge or uncertainty, adapts quickly to change, and makes timely well thought out decisions.
• Achieves results and understands what drives overall business success.
• Anticipates obstacles and takes action to prevent or minimize their impact.
• Leads with integrity, honesty, and knowledge that promotes the culture, values, and mission of Sweetgreen. Establishes valued and trusted relationships with market and regional stakeholders. 
• Advocates for brand – in validating new location decisions and execution suited to the Sweetgreen brand. Represents and aligns its objectives effectively with cross-functional teams to optimize performance.
• Creates and develops organizational structures and actively involves each team member in personal growth and capability building. Develops and delivers functional training. 

Qualifications:

• Highly motivated leader of professionals, who has a history of leading inspiring large teams to achieve profitable growth results, while reinforcing the Company’s mission, values, and culture.
• Excels at building long-term relationships in the real estate industry, with landlords, developers, and other key stakeholders. 
• Successful track record of expanding high-growth restaurant/retail concepts nationally, while meeting or exceeding company financial metrics. 
• Has developed and implemented high-growth market planning strategies and reduced cycle time through process improvement, portfolio performance, and market analysis. 
• 10 years successfully leading store development teams (including real estate, design, construction and site development) who achieved outstanding results in retail/restaurant expansion nationally. 
• 10 years of experience with real estate industry’s best practices and standards, including but not limited to: site selection, location analysis, deal making, lease negotiations, and data driven market planning.
• In a leadership position for 8-10 years in construction planning, management, entitlements and risk mitigation in high growth companies.
• Has exhibited strong business acumen and financial planning regarding proforma analysis, store P&Ls, investment thesis, and development cost for at least 10 years.
• Minimum of 5 years experience in successful design for top-level retail and/or restaurant brands in the US.
• BA/BS degree in a real estate or business field strongly preferred
• This role is expected to travel 50-70% of the time. 

What you'll get:

• Highly competitive pay bonus plan
• Three different medical plans to suit your and your family's needs
• Dental and Vision insurance
• Flexible PTO plan
• 401k program
• Employee HSA and FSA
• Complimentary greens
• An opportunity to make a real impact on the people around you, both by growing them and by connecting them to real food
• To live the sweetlife and celebrate your passion purpose
• A collaborative team of people who live our core values and have your back
• A clear career path with opportunities for development, both personally and professionally
• Free sweetgreen swag

Come join the sweetlife!

About sweetgreen

sweetgreen is on a mission to build healthier communities by connecting people to real food. We passionately believe that real food should be convenient and accessible to everyone. Every day in each sweetgreen, our 3,500 team members make food from scratch, using fresh ingredients and produce delivered that morning. And in our local communities, we’re committed to leaving people better than we found them. We’re in the business of feeding people, and we’re out to change what that means.

sweetgreen provides equal opportunities for everyone that works for us and everyone that applies to join our team, without regard to sex or gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, pregnancy, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, any service, past, present, or future, in the uniformed services of the United States (military or veteran status), or any other consideration protected by federal, state, or local law.

sweetgreen participates in the federal government's E-Verify program to determine employment eligibility. To learn more about the E-Verify program, please click here.