VP of Business Development - Europe, Middle East & Africa

Highgate Hotels: Highgate is a premier real estate investment and hospitality management company widely recognized as an innovator in the industry. Highgate is the dominant player in U.S. gateway markets including New York, Boston, Miami, San Francisco and Honolulu, with a rapidly expanding presence in Europe, CALA and South America. Highgate’s portfolio of global properties represents an aggregate asset value exceeding $20B and generates over $5B in cumulative revenues. The company provides expert guidance through all stages of the hospitality property cycle, from planning and development through recapitalization or disposition. Highgate also has the creativity and bandwidth to develop bespoke hotel brands and utilizes industry leading proprietary revenue management tools that identify and predict evolving market dynamics to drive out performance and maximize asset value. With an executive team consisting of some of the industry’s most experienced hotel management leaders, the company is a trusted partner for top ownership groups and major hotel brands. Highgate maintains corporate offices in London, New York, Dallas, and Seattle. Location: Overview: This role will be responsible for assisting in asset selection, deal negotiation and due diligence efforts. This key executive will be a confident, self-directed, team-oriented individual who is effective at deal sourcing, networking and structuring real estate transactions. This individual must develop strong relationships with a number of constituencies including employees, appropriate external constituencies, such as other hotel investors, bankers, brokers, brands and research analysts. This individual must grasp and communicate issues, strategy and decision scenarios, brand positioning and cost impacts. He/she will interface as a credible, responsive, strong and effective member of the corporate team. The key objective is to deliver on the company’s strategic growth plans by generating a steady deal flow and an efficient professional approach to execution by leveraging internal and external resources to ensure an efficient deal closing. Responsibilities:

• Source, identify and pursue hotel management, asset management and revenue management contract opportunities that fit the company’s strategic vision.
• Maintain and develop a strong network of contacts throughout the industry; develop the appropriate business relationships with potential owners, developers, and investors.
• Lead negotiations of agreements and contracts with ownership groups; ensure that agreement terms are acceptable to Highgate senior leadership.
• Build internal consensus and present opportunities to Senior Management for approval.
• Partner with Highgate executive team to solicit input and communicate results with related functions such as Revenue Management, Operations, Sales & Marketing, HR, and Finance.
• Stay current with significant developments in the hospitality market.

Qualifications:

• Ten to fifteen years of progressive experience in Acquisitions and Development in the Real Estate or Hospitality Industry.
• Three to five years of leadership experience, preferably in an upscale hospitality environment.
• Bachelor’s degree is required, preferably in Finance.
• Strong analytical, problem solving, decision making, and organization skills.
• Accounting, financial analysis, and budget preparation experience is required.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• The position will be based in London.
• Travel up to 75% of the time will be required.