Lease Manager at H&M

Job Description

Do you want to join H&M Group on a journey, defining the way we create a seamless omni customer experience? If you have a genuine passion for growing businesses and see yourself in a role contributing to added customer value and strong brands – join us and take part in setting how we work to deliver an outstanding omni offer for our customers.

The mission of the Expansion function is to support meaningful growth. We are responsible, in partnership with our brands, for all aspects of creating and maintaining our real estate portfolio: we lease, design, draw, buy, build, and maintain each store and constantly follow up on the existing portfolio to ensure high profitability. We add new stores and optimize the current portfolio through rebuilds, extensions, renegotiations, relocations, and consolidations.

We are now looking for a Lease Manager to support the South African market.

Job Description

As a Lease Manager, you are part of the Expansion Function, which supports all brands within the H&M Group. You will be responsible to execute the expansion strategy and targets in the market, undertake negotiations, and set a foundation for collaboration and alignment across Expansion functions on strategy and projects. You will work closely with the Expansion Manager and together with the team, you will manage the store portfolio which includes both new stores as well as lease actions for existing stores. On this journey, we´re all collaborating to create the best omni customer offer for our customers and as a Lease Manager, you will be a key player in making this happen.

Some of your key responsibilities

• Undertake negotiations and renegotiations with property owners /agents

• Recommend business case in terms of market strategy, location requirements, financial and legal terms and present ready negotiated deals for approval by country management

• Optimize our portfolio through opening, renegotiating, rebuilding, relocating and closing stores to ensure a commercially competitive portfolio in a geographical area

• Find top locations and deals for new stores in accordance with developed roadmap

• Secure coordination and cross-collaboration between other functions (construction, store design, HR, marketing, merchandising, visual etc.) throughout the lifecycle of a project

Qualifications

Qualifications

We see that you are a result-driven person who enjoys negotiating a good deal!  We believe that you are ambitious, competitive, humble, and a fast learner. You have analytical skills and leadership capabilities as well as a strong track record of results.  As a person, we believe you value having your own responsibility, working at a fast pace, enjoying teamwork, and straightforward communication with a flexible attitude.
To be successful you need to have an interest in and an understanding of retail in general. You are positive, have exceptional communication and presentation skills, and the ability to get everyone on board. On top of this, you need to be confident and not afraid to leave your comfort zone.

 We believe this is you

• Relevant degree or equivalent 3 years experience working within leasing, real estate, or a similar role - preferably in the relevant retail real estate market

• A good understanding of our customers, lease contracts, and legal requirements.

• A strategic approach with strong analytical skills

• Proven track record of understanding business needs, negotiations, and delivering results

• Strong in planning and executing together with a “can-do attitude” and self-motivating way of working

• Entrepreneurial spirit with strong negotiation skills

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills

• Flexibility to travel within the market on a frequent basis

• Fluent in English and in both spoken and written

Being part of our omni journey means there is not one clear path. We ask of you to be open to change and take part in creating an organization for the future. This is an opportunity for open minded team players that by being curious, innovative and forward-thinking, want to change our business and the whole industry. We ask you to be yourself, drive results, work towards goals and go for it with everything you’ve got.  

Additional Information

Please note that we will be using virtual screening and interviewing tools for this vacancy.

We know that diversity is what makes us strong. Our teams should consist of great mix of people that share and combine their knowledge, experiences and ideas. It leads to a positive impact on how we address challenges, what we perceive possible and how we choose to relate to our colleagues and customers all over the world. Therefore, H&M is strongly committed to diversity and especially welcomes applications from South African citizens who are members of designated groups who may contribute to Employment Equity within the workplace and the further diversification of ideas