Assistant Director - Leasing Operations

Tufts University•Medford, MA

16h•Onsite

About The Position

Tufts University seeks an experienced and dynamic real estate professional to join our Operations team as Assistant Director, Leasing Operations. Formal title for internal purposes: Assistant Director Real Estate. Reporting to the Associate Vice President for Operations and working closely with the Senior Director of Real Estate. This is an exciting opportunity for someone who thrives in a dynamic environment and is eager to help build and evolve real estate operations at Tufts. The successful candidate will bring an entrepreneurial mindset, strong independence, and a results-driven approach, while working collaboratively across schools and central units. This is a specialized leasing operations role that combines lease negotiation and process improvement with leadership-by-influence and systems-building responsibilities—focused on creating efficiencies and clarity rather than property management or tenant services. This is a one-year, benefits-eligible, limited-term position with the potential to become permanent based on performance. The role is based in Medford and requires three on-site days weekly.

Requirements

Knowledge and skills as typically acquired through completion of bachelor’s degree in real estate, business, finance, or related field.
7+ years of progressive experience in commercial/institutional real estate leasing and contract negotiation.
Hands-on expertise in lease and contract negotiation, review, documentation, administration, and project management.
Demonstrated ability to operate independently in a dynamic environment; strong collaboration skills.
Ability to adapt industry best practices to a setting that may have constraints and limitations.
Lead through influence and coordinate across decentralized stakeholders.
Implement process improvements and build systems for contract tracking and reporting.
Work comfortably in ambiguity and establish clarity through workflows and templates.
Manage multiple leases and deadlines simultaneously with strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
Use contract management tools and Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, SharePoint, etc.) proficiently.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree or JD.
Experience in higher education or institutional settings.
Familiarity with Boston-area commercial real estate markets.
Background in process improvement and systems thinking.

Responsibilities

Lead and execute leasing transactions where Tufts is both landlord and tenant, including negotiations, coordination with legal counsel, documentation, and approvals.
Serve as the central point of coordination among stakeholders such as Campus Planning, Facilities, Finance, Legal, and academic units to ensure timely actions and compliance with standards.
Establish reliable workflows, templates, and documentation systems for lease management; maintain data integrity, version control, and reporting cadence in the university’s contract database.
Manage renewals, amendments, terminations, and closeouts; coordinate space transitions with Facilities and technology teams.
Prepare materials for governance approvals and ensure purchasing steps (POs) are executed per policy.
Collaborate with Finance on budgeting, projections, and payment schedules related to leasing.
Identify and implement process improvements that streamline leasing operations and support broader institutional initiatives.
Act as an advisor to schools and departments, helping scope space needs and translate them into actionable lease requirements.
Coordinate with external legal counsel on lease negotiations and risk management, applying best practices in the absence of dedicated in-house real estate counsel.
Oversee lease documentation and compliance processes, including contract database integrity, governance approvals, and reporting cadence; implement workflows that improve efficiency and decision support.
Apply systems-thinking and comfort navigating ambiguity to design templates and processes that bring clarity and efficiency in an evolving environment.