Real Estate Manager

Founded in 1982, Little Sprouts, LLC is a leading provider of early education and child care in New England and a subsidiary of The Babilou Family (“Babilou”). Babilou is a leader in Europe and one of the world’s largest early childhood education companies with over 1,200 education centers and 50,000 families served globally. 
Here in the US, Little Sprouts operates approximately 39 schools in the New England area under three brands; Little Sprouts, Building Blocks, and Heartworks Early Education & Child Care Centers. As we continue scale for future growth, we are seeking a high-performing, proactive Real Estate Manager to help execute our greenfield Growth Strategy (i.e., site identification and analysis) and to help optimize our existing real estate portfolio. 

Existing Lease Portfolio Management:

• Directly manage leases across our entire portfolio of early education schools, overseeing renewals, rent escalations, expansions, terminations, and compliance. 
• Maintain a centralized lease database and ensure all lease terms and obligations are followed, tracked, analyzed, and aligned with long-term business strategy. 
• Evaluate occupancy costs and recommend opportunities forcost savings or space optimization across sites. 
• Support strategic decision-making around relocations, consolidations, and space reconfigurations across multiple schools. 

New Site Identification and Growth Strategy:

• A significant part of the role will consist of focusing on new growth opportunities. Identify new sites opportunities and analyze againstspecific site criteria that the Company has developed. 
• Serve as one of the primary points of contact for landlords and brokers, maintaining strong partnerships to ensure positive outcomes for existing and future school sites. 
• Provide market intelligence and site analyses for new school leasing opportunities and growing both in and outside the New England area 
• Lead lease negotiations and collaborate with legal and finance on term sheets, LOIs, and final lease agreements. 
• Develop summary financial models, lease comparisons, and long-term planning reports for internal stakeholders, as needed 
• Coordinate site evaluations and improvements with the real estate, design, and operations teams. 

Who You Are:

• 5–8 years’ experience managing multi-site commercial real estate portfolios, as well as ability to identify new site growth opportunities, ideally in education, retail, or healthcare settings. 
• Deep understanding of lease structures, landlord/tenant dynamics, and commercial leasing strategy. 
• Strong financial and analytical skills with ability to assess occupancy costs, site performance, and lease risk. 
• Highly organized with excellent communication skills and the ability to manage multiple projects across locations. 
• Proficient in Excel and real estate software tools; experience with lease administration platforms a plus. 
• Bachelor’s degree in Real Estate, Business, Finance, or a related field. 
• Knowledge of early education school development is desired but not required. 
• Willingness and ability to travel. 

How It Gets Done:

• Is able to work at least a full-time, 40-hour a week schedule, sometimes off-hours as the business requires (i.e., evening town hall or permitting meetings, networking events, business dinners, etc.). 
• Must be able to lift, carry, push and/or pull up to 15 pounds without the assistance of another person. Performing physical activities that require considerable (20%+ of the day) use of your arms and legs and moving your whole body, such as climbing, lifting, balancing, walking, stooping, and handling of materials. Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer. The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. 
• Travel may be required (33-50%+) may be required to schools, events, meetings, or new school/acquisition scoping, both US Domestic and International. 

We’re Growing!  We’re Growing! Little Sprouts LLC is a subsidiary of Babilou Family, a global network of 1,200 early education and child care centers. Little Sprouts LLC provides award-winning early education and child care across 39 New England schools. Through the experience and talents of over 1,000 early education professionals and in partnership with nearly 4,500 families, we are on a meaningful journey to create optimal learning spaces where children ages 0-5 can learn, grow, and thrive.