We're Hiring: Asset Development Manager
Location: United Arab Emirates (Remote)
Employment Type: Full-Time
Experience Level: Mid-Level to Senior
Work Arrangement: Fully Remote
About Us
We are a globally focused organization involved in real estate development, investment, infrastructure, asset management, and property operations across diverse markets. Our multidisciplinary teams collaborate across Development, Investment, Finance, Planning, Design, Engineering, Construction, Legal, Commercial, and Operations to maximize asset value and deliver sustainable long-term returns.
The Role
We are seeking an experienced Asset Development Manager to lead the development, enhancement, repositioning, and value-creation initiatives of real estate and physical assets throughout their lifecycle.
The successful candidate will identify development opportunities, assess asset potential, manage development programs, coordinate multidisciplinary teams, and ensure projects deliver strong commercial, operational, technical, and investment outcomes.
Key Responsibilities
- Develop asset development strategies aligned with investment and portfolio objectives.
- Identify opportunities to improve asset value, functionality, occupancy, revenue, and long-term performance.
- Assess existing assets for redevelopment, expansion, refurbishment, repositioning, or alternative-use opportunities.
- Lead asset development feasibility studies and highest-and-best-use assessments.
- Evaluate development potential, planning constraints, market demand, and investment requirements.
- Prepare development business cases, investment papers, and approval recommendations.
- Develop preliminary development budgets, schedules, cash-flow assumptions, and project plans.
- Coordinate market research, demand analysis, competitive assessments, and development positioning.
- Work with Finance and Investment teams to evaluate project returns, funding requirements, and financial risks.
- Establish asset development objectives, milestones, governance structures, and performance targets.
- Manage architects, engineers, planners, consultants, contractors, and specialist advisors.
- Coordinate master planning, architecture, engineering, landscape, infrastructure, and interior design activities.
- Ensure proposed developments align with asset strategy, market requirements, planning regulations, and commercial objectives.
- Manage development approvals, permits, licenses, and authority requirements.
- Coordinate with government agencies, municipalities, utility providers, and regulatory bodies.
- Lead design development and ensure solutions support asset performance and investment objectives.
- Review design proposals, technical studies, specifications, and consultant recommendations.
- Lead value engineering, development optimization, and lifecycle-cost initiatives.
- Evaluate procurement strategies, construction approaches, project phasing, and delivery models.
- Support contractor and project-management procurement and selection.
- Monitor development programs, costs, quality, risks, and delivery milestones.
- Coordinate with construction and project-management teams to resolve development issues.
- Manage changes and assess their impact on scope, budget, schedule, quality, and asset value.
- Monitor development expenditure, commitments, forecasts, and cost-to-complete estimates.
- Support financing and investment requirements for major development initiatives.
- Identify opportunities for asset repositioning, redevelopment, expansion, and adaptive reuse.
- Evaluate opportunities to improve operational efficiency, tenant experience, customer value, and revenue generation.
- Coordinate with Asset Management, Property Management, Leasing, Sales, and Operations teams.
- Ensure development projects consider long-term maintenance, operational efficiency, and lifecycle performance.
- Incorporate sustainability, energy efficiency, resilience, accessibility, and environmental objectives into development plans.
- Manage development risks, dependencies, interfaces, and critical decisions.
- Maintain development schedules, risk registers, decision logs, project trackers, and governance documentation.
- Prepare executive reports, development dashboards, presentations, and investment recommendations.
- Present development strategies, financial performance, risks, and recommendations to senior management.
- Monitor project performance against approved business cases and asset plans.
- Coordinate project completion, commissioning, handover, and transition into operations.
- Review post-completion performance and identify opportunities for further asset enhancement.
- Maintain strong relationships with investors, developers, consultants, authorities, contractors, operators, and other stakeholders.
- Identify opportunities for technology, automation, sustainability, and process improvements.
- Mentor development professionals and promote strong commercial and project-governance practices.
Key Performance Indicators
- Asset value growth.
- Development project profitability.
- Return on investment against approved targets.
- Development budget performance.
- Cost-to-complete accuracy.
- Project schedule performance.
- Development milestone achievement.
- Planning and authority approval performance.
- Development feasibility accuracy.
- Asset utilization improvement.
- Revenue and income growth from development initiatives.
- Occupancy or leasing improvement where applicable.
- Development pipeline growth.
- Consultant and contractor performance.
- Procurement and delivery performance.
- Development cost variance.
- Change-order and variation control.
- Risk identification and mitigation.
- Quality and defect performance.
- Sustainability and operational-efficiency improvements.
- Successful completion and handover.
- Post-completion asset performance.
- Stakeholder and investor satisfaction.
- Implementation of value-creation initiatives.
Ideal Candidate
The successful candidate should have strong experience in asset development, real estate development, property development, asset management, investment, construction, or development advisory, preferably within commercial, residential, hospitality, mixed-use, retail, industrial, or large-scale development environments.
The candidate should demonstrate:
- Bachelor's degree in Real Estate, Finance, Business, Architecture, Engineering, Construction Management, Urban Planning, or a related discipline.
- Significant experience managing real estate or asset-development initiatives.
- Strong understanding of the complete property development and asset lifecycle.
- Experience with feasibility studies, development appraisals, investment analysis, and business cases.
- Strong knowledge of planning, design, construction, procurement, and development approvals.
- Experience managing architects, engineers, consultants, contractors, and specialist advisors.
- Strong commercial and financial understanding of asset development.
- Experience monitoring development budgets, project costs, cash flows, and investment returns.
- Ability to identify opportunities for redevelopment, repositioning, expansion, and asset optimization.
- Strong understanding of market trends, customer requirements, leasing, sales, and asset positioning.
- Experience coordinating government authorities and regulatory approvals.
- Strong project-management, analytical, negotiation, and decision-making skills.
- Excellent communication, presentation, and stakeholder-management capabilities.
- Ability to manage multiple development initiatives, priorities, risks, and deadlines.
- Strong understanding of development contracts, procurement, consultant appointments, and project governance.
- Real estate, development, investment, or project-management certification is desirable.
- Experience with institutional investors, developers, asset owners, or major property portfolios is highly desirable.
- Strong commercial judgment and commitment to maximizing long-term asset value.