Chief Development Officer
Soho House & Co. · Temple
The Role...
The Chief Development Officer (CDO) is the single point of accountability for all property development activity across Soho House & Co worldwide. Based in London, the CDO owns the development lifecycle end-to-end. Inclusive of, Acquisition, Design and Construction for every new House, hotel and mixed-use site globally. The role is accountable for turning the group's growth strategy into a deliverable, well-governed pipeline with accountability for overall timescales.
This newly consolidated role gives the business clear ownership of development outcomes — on programme, on budget, and on brand — from site identification through to opening handover. Given the scale and complexity of the US pipeline, deep, hands-on US development expertise is essential.
Key Responsibilities...
Single point of accountability for global development
- Own the full development lifecycle end-to-end — Acquisition, Design and Construction — for every project globally, acting as the single escalation point for status, risk and decision-making.
- Consolidate currently fragmented regional development functions into one global operating model, with clear standards, governance and reporting into the Executive Committee and Board.
- Build and maintain a global pipeline tracker and reporting cadence that gives the CEO, CFO and Board a single, reliable view of every project's status, budget and risk.
- Establish and chair the global development approvals framework, including sign-off on development briefs and budgets ahead of Board submission, and set financial authority levels for regional development teams.
Acquisition & site strategy
- Lead site identification, feasibility and appraisal for new Houses and related developments, partnering with Real Estate, Finance and Operations.
- Structure and negotiate development agreements, leases, joint ventures and construction contracts with landlords, developers and investment partners.
- Own capital appraisal and investment-case development for new sites, working closely with Finance on returns, funding and board approval requirements.
- Own legal due diligence and negotiate global Framework Agreements with preferred contractors, consultants and suppliers, ensuring consistent commercial terms across markets.
Design & construction
- Oversee design development and construction delivery across all markets, ensuring every project is true to Soho House brand, design language and member experience standards.
- Set and enforce global development standards, playbooks and specifications, adapted appropriately for local planning, building and cultural context.
- Manage architects, designers, general contractors and specialist consultants, ensuring robust project controls on programme, cost and quality.
Programme, budget and risk ownership
- Hold end-to-end accountability for capital budgets across the global development portfolio, including cost control, forecasting and variance management.
- Identify, own and mitigate development risk — planning, regulatory, construction and commercial — across multiple jurisdictions and legal frameworks simultaneously.
- Ensure robust health & safety, sustainability and compliance standards are embedded in every project from design through to completion.
- Establish and own a global change-control framework, ensuring material scope, cost or programme changes are escalated, approved and tracked consistently across every project and region.
- Own the development-to-operations handover process globally, ensuring operational readiness and pre-opening requirements are consistently met before launch.
Global market leadership
- Act as the senior executive owner of the global development pipeline, bringing direct, current expertise in global planning, permitting, construction and delivery models.
- Build and maintain relationships with global developers, landlords, contractors and local authorities to support continued growth.
Leadership & stakeholder management
- Build, lead and develop a high-performing global development team, including regional leads across EMEA, the Americas and APAC.
- Act as a credible, senior voice with the Board, investors, joint-venture partners and external advisors on all matters relating to development.
- Partner closely with the CEO, CFO, Chief Membership Officer and regional Managing Directors to ensure development plans align with commercial and brand strategy.
- Chair a global development steering committee — bringing together regional leads, Finance and Operations — as the standing forum for reviewing pipeline status, risk and decisions.
Experience Required...
We are looking for a senior development leader with a strong track record in complex, multi-site, global real estate or hospitality development, and genuine credibility operating at Board level.
- 20+ years' experience in property, real estate or hospitality development, including significant time at Director or C-suite / Executive Committee level.
- Proven delivery of complex, global development programmes — multiple concurrent projects, across multiple countries, legal systems and construction markets.
- Deep, current US development expertise — planning, permitting, construction procurement and delivery models in key US markets — is essential, not preferred.
- End-to-end development background spanning acquisition, design and construction (A/D/C), rather than a single specialism within the development lifecycle.
- Multi-disciplinary development business with a proven track record of hospitality success. The individual will be able to showcase premium projects working with practical experience to bring to the table.
- Background from a comparable luxury or lifestyle hospitality brand would be advantageous (for example Rosewood, Four Seasons, Capella or Edition) or a major branded hotel group (for example Hilton or Marriott), or an equivalent premium real estate developer.
- Strong commercial and financial acumen — comfortable owning multi-million-pound capital budgets, investment appraisals and Board-level reporting.
- Demonstrated people leadership — has built and led global, multi-regional teams and can operate as a credible, unifying leader across a historically fragmented function.
- Executive presence and stakeholder management — able to represent development at Board level and manage relationships with landlords, JV partners, contractors and regulators.
- Willingness to travel extensively, with regular time in the USA and other regional markets, while being based full-time in London.