Vice President - Real Estate, Construction & Store Development

Les Schwab•Bend, OR

About The Position

The Vice President, Real Estate, Construction & Store Development is an enterprise leadership role responsible for developing and executing Les Schwab’s store growth strategy. Reporting directly to the Chief Executive Officer, this role owns the end-to-end store development function, including market strategy, pipeline targets, capital allocation, real estate development, construction delivery, facilities strategy, and performance accountability. The VP will lead the company’s approach to new-store growth, relocations, remodels, portfolio optimization, and long-term asset performance. This leader will ensure growth decisions are disciplined, financially sound, operationally executable, and aligned with the company’s strategic priorities. This role is responsible for building a scalable development function that can support disciplined expansion across existing and new markets, including the structure, processes, tools, reporting, and cross-functional coordination needed to execute growth at pace.

Requirements

10+ years of progressive leadership experience in commercial real estate development, construction, store development, facilities, or related growth functions.
Demonstrated ability to own growth strategy, pipeline management, capital planning, and performance accountability.
Proven experience with site selection, market planning, lease and purchase transactions, ground-up development, relocations, remodels, and portfolio optimization.
Strong financial acumen, including capital budgeting, real estate economics, ROI, IRR, payback analysis, pro formas, project cost controls, and post-opening performance tracking.
Experience leading construction delivery, design standards, contractor/vendor management, permitting, project management, and operational handoffs.
Ability to build scalable teams, processes, governance, reporting, and external partner networks.
Strong executive communication skills and ability to influence across Operations, Finance, Legal, HR, M&A, and other functions.
Bachelor’s degree in Real Estate, Business Administration, Finance, Construction Management, Civil Engineering, or a related field required.

Nice To Haves

Experience leading multi-unit retail, automotive, service, restaurant, convenience, or other distributed-location development strongly preferred.
MBA or advanced degree preferred.

Responsibilities

Own the company’s store growth strategy in partnership with the CEO, Operations, Finance, and other executive leaders.
Translate enterprise growth goals into market plans, pipeline targets, development priorities, and execution roadmaps.
Lead market prioritization, site strategy, rural and metro expansion planning, and long-range store development forecasting.
Establish and manage pipeline targets by market, stage, timing, investment level, and expected return.
Maintain clear visibility into the full development pipeline, including new stores, relocations, remodels, acquisitions, and strategic portfolio opportunities.
Identify constraints to growth and recommend changes to structure, process, staffing, capital, or external partnerships.
Own capital allocation recommendations for store growth, relocations, remodels, and major real estate investments.
Partner with Finance to evaluate site economics, project returns, capital requirements, operating assumptions, and long-term performance expectations.
Ensure real estate and construction investments are tied to clear financial and operational outcomes.
Establish investment discipline around project prioritization, approval thresholds, ROI, IRR, payback, budget control, and post-opening performance.
Track actual performance against approved business cases, including project cost, timing, sales ramp, operating performance, and return expectations.
Provide executive leadership with regular reporting on pipeline health, capital deployment, project performance, and key risks.
Lead real estate strategy and execution for new stores, relocations, expansions, acquisitions, lease renewals, and portfolio optimization.
Evaluate site acquisitions, ground-up developments, lease-versus-buy options, and strategic market opportunities.
Oversee site selection, market analysis, broker strategy, real estate committee materials, deal structuring, and transaction execution.
Partner with brokers, developers, legal advisors, landowners, municipalities, and other external partners to advance priority projects.
Ensure real estate decisions support both near-term deployment schedules and long-term market performance.
Oversee construction delivery for new stores, relocations, remodels, conversions, and major capital projects.
Own construction cost management, project timelines, quality standards, and delivery accountability.
Establish and maintain design standards, prototype requirements, contractor selection processes, bidding standards, safety expectations, and quality controls.
Ensure construction projects are delivered on time, on budget, and in a manner that supports store readiness and operational execution.
Strengthen the handoff from Real Estate to Construction and from Construction to Operations.
Oversee the strategy for facilities management, property management, lease administration, landlord interface, and long-term asset support.
Ensure stores, Main Office, and other company facilities are maintained to support operational continuity, safety, brand standards, and asset value.
Implement proactive maintenance, repair, vendor, and capital planning processes.
Partner with Operations and support functions to address recurring facility issues, landlord matters, and asset performance risks.
Evaluate whether property management and facilities should be consolidated or more closely integrated to better support the existing asset base.
Build a scalable Real Estate, Construction, and Store Development operating model.
Define roles, responsibilities, decision rights, governance, reporting, and approval processes across the development lifecycle.
Partner closely with Operations to ensure site decisions, construction delivery, staffing, training, store opening readiness, and post-opening support are coordinated.
Partner with Finance, Legal, Compliance, HR, M&A, Facilities, and other teams to ensure development activity is aligned, disciplined, and executable.
Establish clear handoffs across market planning, site approval, transaction execution, construction, turnover, grand opening, and stabilization.
Lead and develop the Real Estate Development, Construction & Design, Facilities, Property Management, and related support teams.
Set clear expectations, priorities, accountabilities, timelines, and performance measures.
Build the internal capabilities and external partner network needed to support growth at scale.
Foster a culture of accountability, speed, disciplined decision-making, cost control, operational partnership, and continuous improvement.
Provide regular reporting to the CEO and executive leadership on growth strategy, pipeline status, capital allocation, project performance, risks, and key decisions.
Develop clear executive-level materials to support investment decisions, real estate approvals, market entry recommendations, and project prioritization.
Communicate effectively with internal stakeholders and external partners, including brokers, developers, contractors, legal advisors, municipalities, and consultants.