Head of Leasing

Overview

The Head of Leasing position is responsible for maximizing revenue and occupancy across Qiddiya Investment Company's leasable properties. This involves leading leasing strategies, tenant acquisition, lease management, and optimizing commercial assets. A key aspect includes cultivating connections with authentic local and traditional Saudi suppliers to ensure the commercial offering aligns with Qiddiya's cultural identity, visitor experience goals, and long-term financial success.

Key Responsibilities

• Formulate and execute leasing strategies for a variety of commercial assets including retail, food & beverage, entertainment, hospitality, and events.
• Support annual leasing plans with targets related to revenue and occupancy.
• Spot opportunities to enhance commercial value and efficient use of assets.
• Recommend tenant mix approaches that reflect the destination’s vision, customer experience, and Saudi cultural authenticity while integrating genuine local and traditional suppliers.
• Track tenant sales and overall commercial health, identifying underperforming tenants and crafting improvement strategies.
• Assist revenue growth through optimizing mixed use, promotional activities, and operational collaboration.

• Identify, attract, and secure new tenants, operators, and commercial collaborators, emphasizing relationships with Saudi artisans, traditional food businesses, heritage retailers, local suppliers, and culturally significant SMEs.
• Maintain a well-qualified leasing pipeline balancing commercial results with authentic Saudi concepts and operators.
• Conduct tenant presentations, property tours, market outreach, and negotiate leasing agreements, including with local entrepreneurs and cultural operators.
• Promote available commercial spaces and leasing opportunities effectively.

• Lead lease negotiations, including commercial terms and agreements.
• Coordinate contract structuring and documentation with Legal and Finance teams.
• Ensure compliance of leases with company policies and regulatory standards.
• Manage lease renewals, amendments, expansions, and terminations efficiently.

• Oversee occupancy levels, lease expirations, and renewals.
• Develop approaches to reduce vacancy and maximize rental income.
• Track leasing KPIs such as rental yields, occupancy rates, and revenue.
• Generate leasing and portfolio performance reports and maintain accurate records.
• Ensure tenant mix enhances the visitor journey, dwell time, satisfaction, and organizational objectives.
• Evaluate tenant mix based on customer demands and destination branding.
• Manage short-term leasing including seasonal activations, kiosks, pop-ups, and event-linked commercial opportunities.
• Keep a pipeline of temporary operators to optimize the use of flexible or vacant spaces.

• Serve as the primary commercial contact for tenants throughout their lease duration.
• Build positive tenant relationships to drive retention and satisfaction.
• Coordinate with Facilities and Operations on tenant needs.
• Support onboarding and handover ensuring local suppliers meet operational, guest experience, compliance, and activation standards.
• Resolve leasing issues and disputes as necessary.

• Keep abreast of market leasing trends, competing destinations, rental benchmarks, and consumer preferences.
• Advise on optimizing commercial mix, leasing strategies, and occupancy.
• Support forecasting and revenue modeling for leasing.
• Analyze occupancy and pipeline data to assess revenue impact.
• Use data to refine tenant mix and leasing decisions.

• Assist in leasing budget preparation and revenue forecasting.
• Monitor rent collections and liaise with Finance on outstanding payments.
• Analyze leasing performance, identifying opportunities to increase revenue.
• Develop business cases for new leasing initiatives and commercial prospects.

• Collaborate with Property Management, Operations, Finance, Legal, Marketing, and cultural stakeholders to ensure leasing decisions are commercially sound and operationally feasible.
• Align leasing activities with operational capabilities and destination goals.
• Support commercial reporting and presentations for senior leadership.

Success Metrics

• Achievement of yearly and seasonal leasing revenue, occupancy, and rental yield objectives.
• Quality and conversion efficiency of the leasing pipeline including leads, signed agreements, and alignment with Qiddiya's commercial and cultural position.
• Strength and engagement of local and traditional Saudi supplier network onboarded.
• Tenant and operator performance including occupancy stability, timely rent collection, compliance, guest experience, and resolution of issues.
• Accuracy, timeliness, and completeness of leasing reports, performance tracking, revenue forecasts, and corrective actions.

Qualifications and Experience

• At least 8-10 years' experience in commercial leasing, real estate asset management, retail leasing, or business development.
• Proven expertise in lease transactions, tenant negotiations, commercial terms, contract documentation, renewals, and terminations.
• Deep knowledge of the Saudi real estate leasing market, tenant landscape, commercial practices, and regulatory frameworks.
• Experience with mixed-use developments, destination retail, hospitality, entertainment, tourism, heritage, or cultural projects, especially involving local suppliers, traditional retail, or Saudi market collaborations.
• Track record of meeting occupancy, revenue, leasing pipeline, tenant conversion, and portfolio performance goals.
• Ability to thrive in fast-paced environments involving multiple stakeholders across Legal, Finance, Operations, Marketing, Procurement, and cultural sectors.

Required Competencies

• Expertise in commercial leasing strategy, tenant sourcing, and lease negotiation.
• Capability to design tenant mix strategies balancing financial performance with cultural authenticity and visitor experiences.
• Skilled in local market sourcing and developing supplier relationships with Saudi artisans, traditional suppliers, SMEs, and cultural operators.
• Strong financial and portfolio management abilities related to leasing.
• Excellent negotiation, contract administration, stakeholder collaboration, and presentation skills.