Director, Real Estate

The Director, Real Estate leads the strategic and operational management of the company’s real estate portfolio, encompassing owned and leased facilities across the network. They are responsible for overseeing real estate negotiations, market evaluations, facility planning, and compliance with applicable commercial property regulations. They partner closely with terminal, regional, and executive leadership to ensure real estate decisions align with operational, financial, and long‑term strategic objectives. They play a key role in ensuring that our facilities support operational excellence, cost efficiency, and organizational growth.

Responsibilities

• Lead the evaluation, management, and optimization of the company’s owned and leased real estate portfolio.

• Manage and interpret market analyses to identify opportunities, challenges, and emerging trends relevant to facility planning.

• Source, evaluate, and secure facilities that align with operational needs, growth plans, and financial goals.

• Negotiate, structure, and finalize lease agreements, renewals, subleases, acquisitions, dispositions, and terminations.

• Advise leadership on regional and local real estate availability, trends, risks, and considerations affecting operations.

• Oversee ongoing lease, sublease, and occupancy obligations to ensure compliance and cost‑effectiveness.

• Provide guidance to terminal and regional teams on facility maintenance responsibilities, landlord relations, and contractual obligations.

• Analyze operating center P&L expectations related to renewals, relocations, and facility maintenance; monitor real estate transactions against approved budgets.

• Develop, model, and evaluate full project cost structures, including capital investments, returns, escalations, and ground leases.

• Coordinate with external brokers, consultants, and service providers to ensure timely and accurate real estate execution.

• Maintain current knowledge of relevant building codes, commercial property laws, and applicable state and federal regulations.

• Communicate the status of active real estate transactions to local, regional, and executive leadership.

• Collaborate with internal stakeholders across the organization to ensure timely, coordinated site delivery, relocation, and/or termination.

• All other duties as assigned to meet evolving business needs.

Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in business administration, finance, real estate, or a related field from an accredited college or university. 

• Certification/Licensure: Real estate licensure preferred, not required.

• Experience: 8+ years of professional commercial or industrial real estate experience, including negotiation, acquisitions, financial analysis, and facility transactions.

• Strong negotiation, communication, and interpersonal skills with the ability to influence internal and external stakeholders.

• Proven ability to manage multiple priorities independently in a fast‑paced environment while delivering high‑quality outcomes.

• Strong analytical and financial skills; expertise in building financial modeling and data visualizations.

• Prior experience in the transportation or logistics industry preferred.

• Demonstrated discretion and confidentiality in handling and protecting sensitive information.

• Technical: Proficient with common office technologies, including Windows PCs, Microsoft O365 (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) and web conferencing (Teams, Zoom, Webex, etc.).

• Environment: Comfort commuting to/from and working in a 100% on‑site setting (listed in this posting), with travel for related meetings/events.

Forward Air is an Equal Opportunity Employer

#LI-Onsite #LI-LA1

Since 1990, Forward Air has been a leading provider of ground transportation and related logistics services to the North American air freight and expedited LTL market. We offer surface shipping on an accelerated “time-definite” basis, delivering cargo at a specific time, but under less time-sensitive situations – supplying you with a cost effective, reliable alternative to air transportation. We work with companies of all sizes to develop tangible advantages and build the best products to meet your specific needs. Forward Air presents to the wholesale transportation community (logistics companies, freight forwarders, integrated air cargo carriers, passenger/ cargo airlines, and non-traditional shippers), a single-source provider that can deliver more supply chain services and a superior menu of choices. Throughout the years we have added supplementary lines to our linehaul service, such as full truckload operations (Truckload Services), final-mile coverage (Complete® Cartage), and an Airline Logistics program, and we will continue to expand our services to meet the changing needs and growth of our customer base.

Forward Air is structured to optimize both savings and service to our customers. Direct partnerships with owner-operators and other surface transportation providers, enable us to remain cost-competitive. The Forward Air network is designed with over 90 facilities located at or near major U.S. and Canadian airports, 12 regional sort centers and over 300 beyond points (secondary airports provided through our Complete Cartage service), creating one of the most comprehensive linehaul networks in the industry.

Ranked 3rd in Newsweeks 2022 "Americas Most Trustworthy Companies" publication