Property Acquisitions Executive in City of London

We are recruiting for a London-based property acquisition agency. They act on the tenant side for operators in food, drink, hospitality, and lifestyle — from restaurants and cafes to leisure concepts and the new wave of wellness brands: pilates studios, cold plunge & sauna operators and the like. Their clients range from early-stage founders to established multi-site groups.

Their sweet spot is the operator with one to ten outlets: small enough that the founder is still in the room, big enough to have capital and the decisiveness to deploy it. They also work with earlier-stage founders and larger groups, but the centre of gravity is the ambitious mid-sized brand they can move the needle for.

The team is currently three: a founder/CEO who leads the business and the larger client relationships, a colleague running his own client base of small and mid-sized operators, and a team assistant who keeps them honest.

How they work

They start from a useful assumption: every client they meet has, at some point, dealt with the worst kind of estate agent — someone who would say anything to get a deal over the line. Their job is to be the opposite of that, every single time.

• Integrity first — honest advice, even when it costs a deal.
• Real expertise — they know their patches, landlords, and clients’ P&Ls.
• Personality and warmth — clients work with them because they like them, and refer them for the same reason.
• Tenacity and creativity — they go after deals other brokers miss, and structure them in ways that genuinely work for their side.

The role

You will work directly alongside the founder/CEO on his client base. He intends to focus his time on the largest operators, where his experience moves the needle most. He needs someone to take the lead on the smaller and mid-sized clients in that book — not by farming them out, but by becoming the trusted point of contact who runs their searches end to end, with him in the background as mentor and escalation route.

Think of this role as a “mini-me” apprenticeship. You will not be polishing decks for the first six months. You will be on the road, in front of landlords, walking patches, sitting in client meetings, and — over time — running deals.

What you will do

• Own day-to-day client relationships for a portfolio of small and mid-sized operators within the founder’s book.
• Source, qualify and shortlist acquisition opportunities — on-market and (more interestingly) off-market.
• Build deep patch knowledge across central and inner London — agents, landlords, who is moving where, what is really happening to rents.
• Run viewings, accompany clients, write site reports, and prepare comparable evidence.
• Negotiate heads of terms — rent, rent-free, premiums, lease length, break options, repair obligations — with the founder’s coaching at first, independently as you grow.
• Structure deals creatively when the obvious shape does not fit the client’s economics.
• Keep the pipeline and CRM clean and current. Emily supports the team on admin, but ownership of your deals sits with you.
• Represent the agency at industry events, openings, and on-site — we are a small team and visibility matters.

Who you are

• High personal integrity. You would rather lose a deal than mislead a client.
• Personable and curious. Comfortable in a room with founders, finance directors, landlords and brokers. People come away from meetings with you wanting another one.
• Organised and self-directed. You can hold ten live conversations at once without dropping any of them.
• Tenacious. You will chase the call back, walk the extra street, and read the lease again.
• Genuinely interested in food, hospitality and lifestyle. You probably have opinions about which neighbourhood is on the way up and why.
• London-literate, or hungry enough to become so quickly.
• Industry experience is welcome but not required. If you have 1–3 years in commercial property, hospitality real estate, retail leasing, landlord-side asset management, or an operator-side property/expansion role, you will have a head start. But what we are really hiring for is the six points above — drive and the right attributes will beat pedigree every time.

Why this role is unusual

• Direct, daily mentorship from the founder — not a layer of middle management between you and the deals.
• Real responsibility from week one. Small team, big trust.
• A client base full of the most interesting operators in London right now — the brands you actually go and eat at, train at, and drink at.
• Uncapped commission on the deals you close, on top of base salary.
• A reputation worth inheriting. We have spent years being the antidote to the worst of our industry, and our clients know it.

The details

• Location: London office, full-time. Expect to be in front of landlords, agents and clients in person — this is not a remote role.
• Compensation: £30,000 – £40,000 base, depending on experience, plus uncapped commission on closed deals (structure to be discussed with our recruiter).
• Reporting line: directly to the founder/CEO.
• Start date: as soon as the right person is found.