Director Real Estate

Ayr Wellness•Miami, FL

6h•Remote

About The Position

The Director of Real Estate leads Ayr Wellness’s real estate strategy and execution across its multi-state footprint, from market evaluation and site selection through lease negotiation, build-out handoff, and ongoing lease portfolio management. The role combines commercial real estate with cannabis regulation and operations, identifying locations that meet business and regulatory requirements, developing site business cases, and guiding deals from letter of intent to signed lease in partnership with Legal, Compliance, Finance, Construction, Facilities, and Retail Leadership. The Director manages the lease portfolio and landlord relationships, oversees external brokerage partners, and supports an active expansion pipeline. Success is measured by pipeline coverage against planned openings and licensing deadlines, entitlement approvals, on-time and on-budget openings, occupancy cost as a percentage of sales, and new-store payback. This is primarily a remote-based position with frequent property, construction-site, and operating-facility visits. Travel may reach 50% across Ayr’s markets, including overnight trips. Flexible days and times, occasional evenings and weekends, and short-notice schedule changes may be required. The role requires being at least 21 years old and obtaining and maintaining any required state or local cannabis agent badge or license, including background checks.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Real Estate, Business, Finance, Urban Planning, or a related field; an equivalent combination of work and education experience is accepted.
At least 8 years of progressive commercial real estate experience in retail, site selection, lease negotiation, and/or portfolio management, including multi-site or multi-state expansion.
Demonstrated ability to take sites from market evaluation through executed lease and opening.
Deep knowledge of commercial real estate, site selection, market analysis, lease structures, and lease economics.
Ability to negotiate LOIs and leases and partner effectively with legal counsel on lease terms.
Working knowledge of zoning, land use, permitting, and regulatory requirements.
Strong financial acumen and ability to build and interpret site-level financial models, including MPV, occupancy cost, and sales-to-rent analyses.
Experience managing brokers and external vendors and holding them accountable to scope, timelines, and results.
Familiarity with construction and facilities processes, physical diligence, and build-out coordination.
Excellent executive communication skills and ability to present recommendations and analysis to senior leadership.
Strong organization and ability to manage multiple concurrent deals and a large lease portfolio across markets.
Proficiency with lease administration systems such as Lease Query, mapping/GIS tools, and Microsoft Office.
Familiarity with cannabis license application and scoring processes and ability to align site strategy with licensing timelines.
Strong negotiation and deal-structuring skills and comfort working in a changing legal and regulatory environment.
Must be at least 21 years old and able to obtain and maintain required state or local cannabis agent badges or licenses, including background checks.
Must hold a valid driver’s license and be able to travel by car and air.
Must be able to remain stationary for extended periods while working at a computer or in meetings; walk properties and active construction sites over uneven surfaces and stairs; communicate accurately with internal teams, landlords, brokers, and public officials; and occasionally lift or move items up to 25 pounds.

Nice To Haves

MBA, JD, or CCIM/SIOR designation.
Experience in a regulated retail category such as cannabis, pharmacy, liquor, gaming, or convenience; cannabis industry experience is a plus.
Experience managing or auditing external brokerage relationships.
At least 3 years of prior leadership experience, including building and leading a team.
Existing relationships with cannabis-friendly landlords, brokers, and municipal contacts.

Responsibilities

Lead market evaluation and site selection using commercial criteria and state and local cannabis requirements.
Build and maintain a multi-state site pipeline aligned with licensing application windows, capital plans, and opening targets.
Conduct white-space mapping and competitive reviews, partnering with IT on mapping and sensitive-use analysis.
Direct brokerage partners in identifying properties that meet criteria for traffic, visibility, size, parking, and access.
Partner with Facilities to assess utilities, power, water, logistics, and proximity to supplied retail locations.
Validate zoning, municipal requirements, buffer zones, and other state and local licensing requirements in partnership with Compliance and Legal.
Coordinate with Licensing and Compliance to align site decisions with application windows and scoring criteria.
Support community and local government engagement, including town halls and special use permit processes when required.
Partner with Finance to develop site-level financial analyses and KPIs; prepare market-entry analyses and site recommendations for executive review and approval.
Coordinate internal alignment on deal terms before LOI, including rent, offer strategy, landlord risk, environmental diligence, and site requirements.
Lead LOI and lease business-term negotiations, including economics, term, renewals, escalations, tenant improvements, and cannabis-specific provisions.
Work with Legal on lease drafting, clauses, contract risk, and execution; structure leases, purchases, and sale-leasebacks as appropriate.
Account for federal-law risk, banking limitations, and tax considerations such as IRC 280E in partnership with Legal and Finance.
Provide real estate documentation for state and local licensing applications with Compliance and Asset Protection.
Build relationships with cannabis-friendly landlords, developers, brokers, and REITs.
Engage Construction at the LOI stage for physical diligence and confirm sites are fit for purpose.
Serve as the real estate contact for Construction, Facilities, architects, and designers through build-out, supporting handoff to Retail Leadership and Facilities.
Partner with Construction, Design, and Asset Protection to deliver stores on budget and schedule and track build-out costs and time to opening.
Own the lease portfolio and lease administration system, including critical dates, renewals, rent escalations, and lease compliance.
Manage landlord inquiries, disputes, and ancillary charges, including CAM reconciliations.
Partner with Finance, Legal, Compliance, and Retail on renewal, relocation, expansion, and exit decisions.
Maintain portfolio reporting, identify occupancy-cost reductions, and conduct rent, CAM, and tax reconciliation reviews to identify savings or recover overcharges.
Monitor store performance, recommend optimization, relocation, or exit for underperforming sites, and develop action plans.
Report pipeline status, capital spend, and portfolio performance to executive leadership and the board.
Manage and audit external brokerage relationships, including broker selection, scope, performance, and fees.
Establish repeatable real estate processes, templates, and governance for scalable expansion.
Manage land-use counsel, consultants, and other external partners against scope, cost, and timelines.
Hire, develop, and lead real estate team members as the pipeline and portfolio grow.