Are you passionate about Retail Development and want to contribute to reshaping our network of LEGO® Certified Stores across China?
As Senior Manager, Real Estate & Partner Implementation, you will play a pivotal role in bringing our retail footprint strategy to life across China. You will lead the execution of our retail footprint plans with partner-operated stores across China, translating strategic growth priorities into an actionable pipeline of high-quality retail locations that strengthen our brand presence and support long-term business growth.
No relocation assistance is offered for this position
Core Responsibilities:
Retail Real Estate & Site Portfolio Management
Lead the identification, evaluation, and qualification of retail opportunities, leveraging market insights, location analytics, and local real estate expertise to secure high-quality sites that support the long-term retail footprint strategy.
Recommend portfolio improvements, including the integration and interpretation of data to produce practical and commercially relevant outputs.
Forecast future real estate needs and trends, and participate in and drive key location planning projects.
Provide valuable retail implementation preparation and deployment guidance, balancing market commercial plans with Retail Development objectives and activity planning.
Partner Implementation & Expansion Execution
Drive the implementation of approved expansion plans with partner-operated stores, ensuring alignment between strategic objectives, partner capabilities, site readiness, and agreed development timelines.
Represent partner-operated store requirements in China store concept and format development, ensuring new and evolved concepts are practical, commercially viable, and executable within the partner operating model.
Influence Asia and Global store concept and format development, ensuring new design solutions are relevant to China, through a partner implementation lens.
External Partner & Market Collaboration Serve as the primary Retail Development counterpart to local partners, landlords, brokers and other external real estate stakeholders, building strong relationships to identify opportunities, align expectations, resolve execution challenges and advance approved expansion and portfolio optimization initiatives.
Internal Cross-Functional Collaboration Collaborate closely with KAMs, who own the overall partner relationship, as well as all China Retail Development functions, to align expansion priorities, secure internal alignment, coordinate execution requirements and ensure partner-operated store plans are delivered with pace, quality and consistency.
Business Case Support & Committee Readiness Contribute to the preparation of robust real estate business cases for internal Real Estate Committee review, ensuring site recommendations are supported by clear market rationale, commercial assumptions, investment considerations, partner input, key risks, and strategic alignment.
Pipeline Governance & Portfolio Performance Own the end-to-end real estate pipeline for partner-operated stores as defined by strategic City Blueprints and annual plans, providing portfolio oversight, risk management, performance tracking, and executive reporting to ensure expansion targets and strategic priorities are achieved.
Play your part in our team succeeding
Retail Development is responsible for shaping and delivering the physical retail experience across LEGO® branded stores, from footprint strategy and real estate through retail design, implementation and portfolio evolution. The function plays a critical role in ensuring our stores are commercially strong, operationally executable and distinctive expressions of the LEGO® brand.
China is one of our most important and complex retail markets, with a network of 400+ LEGO® branded stores and significant opportunities across owned and operated stores and LEGO Certified Stores managed by third-party partners. Reporting to the Senior Director, Head of China Retail Development, the Senior Manager – Real Estate & Partner Implementation role is critical to shape our next chapter of retail growth in China.
Do you have what it takes?
10+ years’ experience in retail real estate, with strong expertise across site assessment, location evaluation, market mapping, lease negotiation support, commercial deal input, and understanding what makes a location commercially viable and brand-appropriate.
Proven track record implementing China retail footprint plans through external partners or franchisees, ensuring clear alignment on priorities, timelines, investment requirements, and execution standards.
Strong commercial acumen, with the ability to translate footprint strategy into practical portfolio decisions that balance growth ambition, site quality, financial viability, risk, and long-term brand impact.
Strong understanding of critical Store Development functions, including Footprint Strategy, Real Estate, Store Design, Construction, and partner implementation.
Strong ability to collaborate across multiple stakeholders, including KAMs, local partners, landlords, brokers, all China Retail Development functions, and construction/implementation teams.
Strong project management and governance skills to manage the real estate pipeline, track progress, identify risks, remove blockers, and ensure store rollouts move efficiently from business approval through internal project management to final handover.
Proven experience working with premium lifestyle or brand-led retail environments, where location quality, customer experience, and brand expression are critical drivers of commercial success.
Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to clearly articulate complex real estate, portfolio and implementation topics to senior stakeholders, internal teams and external partners.
Work independently, recognized subject matter expert, able to coach others, tasks are independently identified and defined.
Communicate with senior management and handling conflicts in negotiation independently
Bachelor or master’s degree in real estate, architecture, business administration, engineering or another relevant field preferred.
Advanced English and Mandarin communication skills, both written and spoken are required
NICE TO HAVE:
Familiarity with design, construction, project management or store maintenance operating models
Experience working for international brands, with exposure to global standards, cross-market ways of working and the ability to adapt brand requirements to local market execution.
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Applications are reviewed on an ongoing basis. However, please note we do amend or withdraw our jobs and reserve the right to do so at any time, including prior to any advertised closing date. So, if you're interested in this role we encourage you to apply as soon as possible.
What’s in it for you?
Here is what you can expect:
Family Care Leave - We offer enhanced paid leave options for those important times.
Insurances – All colleagues are covered by our life and disability insurance which provides protection and peace of mind.
Wellbeing - We want our people to feel well and thrive. We offer resources and benefits to nurture physical and mental wellbeing along with opportunities to build community and inspire creativity.
Colleague Discount – We know you'll love to build, so from day 1 you will qualify for our generous colleague discount.
Bonus - We do our best work to succeed together. When goals are reached and if eligible, you'll be rewarded through our bonus scheme.
Workplace - When you join the team you'll be assigned a primary workplace location i.e. one of our Offices, stores or factories. Our hybrid work policy means an average of 3 days per week in the office. The hiring team will discuss the policy and role eligibility with you during the recruitment process.
Children are our role models. Their curiosity, creativity and imagination inspire everything we do. We strive to create a diverse, dynamic and inclusive culture of play at the LEGO Group, where everyone feels safe, valued and they belong.
The LEGO Group is highly committed to equal employment opportunity and equal pay and seeks to encourage applicants from all backgrounds (eg. sex, gender identity or expression, race/ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, age and religion) to apply for roles in our team.
The LEGO Group is fully committed to Children’s Rights and Child Wellbeing across the globe. Candidates offered positions with high engagement with children are required to take part in Child Safeguarding Background Screening, as a condition of the offer.
Thank you for sharing our global commitment to Children’s Rights.
Just imagine building your dream career.
Then make it real.
Join the LEGO® team today.
