Head of Investment - Real Estate

Job Description

• Deal origination: Build and maintain a proprietary pipeline of investment opportunities across the UAE market, working through broker networks, developer relationships, family office channels, off-market introductions and direct seller engagement.
• Opportunity assessment and structuring: Lead the evaluation of inbound and originated opportunities, including commercial logic, capital structure, payment terms, partnership architecture, and risk allocation between equity, debt and partner contributions.
• Equity acquisitions and dispositions: Drive direct asset acquisitions and disposals across residential, commercial and industrial segments, including bid strategy, offer structuring, negotiation, and execution through to closing.
• Joint ventures and co-investment: Originate and structure JV opportunities with developers, landowners and capital partners, including term sheet negotiation, governance design, waterfall mechanics, and partner due diligence.
• Land and development opportunities: Identify and underwrite land acquisitions and development opportunities, including site assessment, feasibility analysis, payment structuring with master developers, and selection of development partners.
• Core income acquisitions: Source and execute stabilised income-producing acquisitions, including yield-on-cost analysis, lease covenant assessment, exit pricing, and integration into the standing portfolio.
• Underwriting and financial analysis: Lead asset-level underwriting on every transaction, including DCF, IRR, equity multiple, yield on cost, NOI bridges, debt sizing, DSCR, capex scenarios, lease-up assumptions, exit scenarios, and stress cases.
• Due diligence execution: Manage technical, legal, commercial, financial and tax due diligence streams, working with internal teams and external advisors through to deal close.
• Investment Committee submissions: Author and present institutional-grade investment memos, approval papers and Board materials that present recommendations clearly and withstand senior scrutiny.
• Negotiation and execution: Lead commercial negotiations on price, payment terms, conditions precedent, representations and warranties, and post-closing arrangements in coordination with legal counsel.
• Portfolio strategy contribution: Contribute to capital allocation strategy, portfolio construction and recycling decisions, including identification of disposal candidates and reinvestment priorities.
• Market intelligence: Maintain a structured evidence base on UAE sub-markets, including pricing, yields, absorption, supply pipeline, transaction comparables and regulatory developments.

Qualifications

Minimum : Bachelor's degree in Finance, Real Estate, Engineering, Economics or a related quantitative discipline.

Desired : Postgraduate qualification (CFA, MRICS, MBA or equivalent) is a plus but not a substitute for hands-on experience.

Additional Information

Experience : 

Minimum : 8–12 years of relevant real estate investment experience; UAE or GCC market experience strongly preferred. Established or rapidly developing network across brokers, developers, advisors and capital partners.

Desired : Real estate private equity, developer investment team, family office real estate or institutional asset manager with principal mandate. Experience across multiple product types (acquisitions, JVs, land/development, stabilised income) and within a family group or owner-operator context preferred.

Skills & Abilities : 

Minimum : Real estate financial modelling (DCF, IRR, equity multiple, JV waterfall, NOI bridges, DSCR, sensitivity analysis); Advanced Excel; executive-ready written communication and investment memo authoring.

Desired : Argus, MRI, Yardi or Power BI; debt structuring and lender engagement; familiarity with UAE title and regulatory frameworks (DLD, RERA, ADREC, Oqood, Ejari).