Sr Manager, Real Estate Strategy

About the Role

This position focuses on developing and maintaining strategic market plans through research, field validation, and analysis of markets. The Senior Manager of Real Estate Strategy supports cross-functional partners in optimizing retail café development and asset optimization, building strategic plans for both existing and new markets to drive brand, café, and franchisee growth. The role involves educating leadership, field teams, and franchisees through market diagnostics, spatial analytics, competitive analysis, post-opening audits, and field validation. The position acts as an unbiased strategic coach, influencing decision-making for growth and performance in both new store development and asset optimization.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain strategic market plans for brand growth through prioritized new store development and optimization of existing assets, supported by market research and field validation.
• Create, summarize, and maintain Franchise Sales Inventory to enable and complement strategic market growth, supporting tactical clustering and alignment for sales to existing and new candidates.
• Conduct trade area and site analytics using spatial (GIS) tools, demographics, competitive data, and mass mobile data to identify success metrics, deliver scenario-based sales and cannibalization forecasts, and analyze comparable store performance.
• Assess performance of existing assets, including sales impact from proximate openings, asset optimization strategies (relocations, remodels), and competitive landscape changes, and prioritize actions with stakeholders.
• Collaborate with Real Estate and Franchise partners to enable knowledge-based decision-making through assessments, recommendations, and ongoing education.
• Provide ad-hoc mapping, geospatial analysis, and data requests to support teams across the organization.
• Maintain location databases for mapping platforms, analysis, and tracking documents.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree (preferred) in real estate, geography, economics, urban planning, finance, or a related field.
• 4+ years of experience in market planning, business strategy, site location research, strategic market planning, real estate, or finance.
• Strong competencies in strategic thinking, vision and purpose, business/organizational savvy, results-driven mindset, interpersonal relationships, communication, conflict management, and problem-solving.
• Ability to communicate complex data concisely and effectively to large audiences, both internally and externally.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, providing clarity in presentations and reports.
• Strong project and process management skills with a bias toward action.
• Proficiency in PowerPoint, Excel, Word, Outlook, BI tools, Alteryx, GIS software, and database management.
• Customer service approach with high responsiveness to sensitive issues and complex inquiries from field-based and corporate associates.
• Willingness to travel 30-40% of the time.
• Experience with sales and cannibalization forecasting techniques and methodologies is preferred.

Working Conditions

• Travel required: 35-50%.
• Physical requirements include regular standing, sitting, talking, hearing, and using hands/fingers to operate keyboards.

Pay

Competitive pay range: $136,383 - $155,477 annually. The actual pay offered will be determined by factors such as relevant experience, job-related knowledge, skills, and geographical location.