Vice President of Real Estate

About the job

Vice President of Real Estate Detroit, MI | $150,000–$250,000 annual base salary

We are looking for a Vice President of Real Estate to lead new restaurant development for a quick-service restaurant franchisee. This person will build the real estate strategy behind the company’s expansion plans, determine which markets and trade areas to pursue, and lead the negotiations that turn promising sites into signed deals.

This is a leadership role with direct involvement in the deals. You’ll work with leadership to set opening priorities, build relationships that bring sites to the table, and make clear recommendations about which locations are worth pursuing based on projected restaurant performance and the cost to get open.

What you’ll do

• Translate restaurant opening goals into a market-by-market real estate plan. Identify priority trade areas, define site criteria, and maintain a pipeline that supports the planned pace of openings.

• Build relationships with brokers, landlords, developers, and property owners. Source opportunities across freestanding buildings, ground leases, existing restaurant conversions, and other formats that fit the concept.

• Evaluate sites using trade-area demographics, traffic, access, visibility, competition, and proximity to existing restaurants. Assess drive-thru access, queue capacity, parking, and signage before advancing a site.

• Partner with finance and construction to evaluate projected sales, occupancy costs, build-out costs, and expected returns. Present the economics, risks, and timeline behind each site recommendation to leadership.

• Lead negotiations for letters of intent, leases, ground leases, and purchase agreements. Work with legal to address deal terms such as landlord contributions, delivery conditions, contingencies, and critical dates.

• Oversee real estate due diligence, including zoning, permitting, and site constraints that could affect feasibility or timing. Coordinate franchisor approvals where required and hand approved sites over to construction and operations with clear next steps.

• Keep leadership informed on deal status, projected openings, and issues that could put the development schedule at risk.

What we’re looking for

• A track record of leading real estate expansion for a multi-unit restaurant operator, franchisee, or comparable retail business.

• Direct experience sourcing sites and negotiating commercial real estate transactions from initial evaluation through execution.

• Strong judgment on restaurant site selection and the ability to use projected sales, occupancy costs, and capital investment to recommend whether a deal should move forward.

• Experience managing multiple transactions at once and working closely with finance, legal, construction, and operations.

• Quick-service restaurant, drive-thru development, or franchisee-side real estate experience is strongly preferred.