President of Ruddell Industrial Platform

Description

The President, Industrial Platform Development at Ruddell Group oversees the leasing and development of light industrial parks across the Southeast. Buildings are typically under 100,000 square feet, catering to light manufacturers, assemblers, regional distributors, and B2B service companies. Tenants require flexible space configurations including office, warehouse, showroom, and service bays.

What This Role Is Not

This role is not about leasing individual spaces or responding to requests from brokers. Instead, it involves creating demand for new industrial space, converting that demand into leases, and supporting the development of new parks in multiple markets.

The Job in One Paragraph

Lease and protect rents on Ruddell's existing portfolio (target: 95%+ occupancy). Build a national pipeline of growing light industrial companies (20,000 to 100,000 sq ft users) before they start a formal site search. Match these companies to the right Ruddell market. Turn relationships into build-to-suits, pre-leases, and multi-site expansions. Use this demand to support new public-private partnerships with municipalities.

Who Should Apply

• Candidates must have direct, hands-on experience leasing or developing small-bay light industrial product, specifically buildings under 100,000 sq ft with tenants in the 20,000 to 100,000 sq ft range.
• Experience limited to bulk warehouse, big-box distribution, or large single-tenant deals does not transfer.
• This tenant base requires different requirements (flexible configs, office/showroom mix, smaller labor pools, local supply chains) and a different sales motion (relationship-led, longer cycle, not RFP-driven).

Required Background

• A track record of originating and closing leases or build-to-suits with 20,000-100,000 sq ft light industrial tenants, not just managing existing accounts.
• Direct experience calling on and closing at the executive level: CEOs, COOs, supply chain and corporate real estate leaders, not just brokers.
• Working knowledge of light/advanced manufacturing, assembly, and regional distribution operations, enough to speak credibly to a plant manager or COO about their space needs.
• Familiarity with Southeastern industrial markets and site selection factors: labor availability, incentives, transportation access.
• Comfort with the financial mechanics of the business: rents, TI costs, development costs, NOI, and deal economics.
• This is not the right role for someone whose experience is primarily: Traditional brokerage (representing tenants or landlords on a transaction-by-transaction basis without platform-building responsibility), Bulk/big-box industrial leasing (500,000+ sq ft, national logistics tenants), Pure property management with no business development component.

Core Responsibilities

• Own leasing strategy and execution across the existing portfolio.
• Build and manage a pipeline of expanding light industrial companies across the Southeast.
• Negotiate build-to-suit and lease transactions.
• Manage broker and site-selector relationships.
• Coordinate with municipalities and economic development groups on incentives and public-private partnerships.
• Advise leadership on future site selection, building size, and development timing based on real tenant demand.

Performance Measures

• Portfolio occupancy (target 95%+) and NOI growth.
• Signed leases and pre-leased square footage.
• Active build-to-suit and anchor-tenant deals.
• Size and quality of the qualified tenant pipeline.
• Multi-market expansion opportunities generated from existing relationships.

Compensation

• Base salary plus performance cash incentives, development promote participation, phantom equity, and carried interest in developments.
• Structured to reward closed deals and long-term value creation, not activity.

Location

The role is based in Birmingham, Alabama, with regional travel throughout the Southeast and additional travel as needed to build tenant and broker relationships across target markets.

Summary

This is a high-impact role for someone who wants to help build and scale an industrial real estate platform. Ruddell is not looking for someone to simply monitor assets from behind a desk. We are looking for a commercial operator who can build relationships, drive leasing, increase occupancy, create tenant demand, improve market visibility, and help turn each new park into a stabilized, income-producing asset.

About the Company

Ruddell Group owns and develops light industrial parks across the Southeast. Buildings are almost all under 100,000 square feet, catering to light manufacturers, assemblers, regional distributors, and B2B service companies. Tenants require flexible space configurations including office, warehouse, showroom, and service bays. Ruddell is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.