Senior Real Estate Associate, Asset Management

Position Summary

Rice Management Company (RMC) is looking to add a Senior Real Estate Associate, Asset Management to work with our real estate team. In this role, you will play an integral role in the active management of a portfolio of retail assets to develop strategy, optimize cash flow, and enhance value. Over time, the portfolio may also include other asset types, such as office and multifamily.

A successful Senior Real Estate Associate will have an ownership mentality, strong quantitative and qualitative skills, and a desire to support the mission-driven work of a university endowment. The ideal candidate enjoys a variety of assignments and working with a highly collaborative team.

About Rice Management Company

Rice Management Company (RMC) is a division of Rice University that serves as the steward of the University’s $8B of permanent capital resources. The team of nearly 40 investment professionals at RMC employ an actively managed investment strategy and has generated top decile returns over the past decade. The work that RMC’s team does plays a vital role for Rice, as distributions provide approximately 40% of the University’s operating budget and support the University’s core endeavors: path-breaking research, unsurpassed teaching, and access for students regardless of ability to pay. The endowment ranks in the top 20 largest endowments of private research universities in the United States.

About RMC’s Real Estate Portfolio

As part of the $8B endowment, RMC’s $1B real estate portfolio includes strategic real estate in Houston and high-quality joint venture investments in select American and European markets including:

Rice Village - The 20 acre urban shopping district immediately adjacent to Rice University. This investment has 210k sq ft of retail that includes some of the nation’s most recognized retail brands and some of Houston’s most exciting first-to-market stores and restaurants. The Village includes 13 acres of near-term development opportunities building upon its established character.

The Ion District - A currently-under-development three-million square foot mixed-use innovation district in Midtown Houston with over $1B in future investments in new commercial office, apartment and retail buildings. The District includes The Ion, a $120M innovation hub that opened in 2021 and houses startups, leading technology companies, and programming to grow Houston’s innovation ecosystem.

Joint Ventures - Five long-term partnerships in targeted American and European markets investing in office, multi-family, and mixed-use value-add projects and new ground-up developments.

Salary

Commensurate with experience and qualifications

Essential Functions

• Creates and manages asset valuation models using both Argus and Excel
• Assists asset management team in regular asset level reporting, oversight of third-party service providers, capital plan oversight, and business plan execution
• Performs underwriting analysis of leases, reviews operational reports, property forecasts, and Argus cash flows for accuracy and provides variance analysis
• Assists in oversight of the construction and renovation of assets
• Reviews third-party appraisals for accuracy and consistency
• Assists in the preparation of investment memos, presentation materials, and dashboards for review for internal use and stakeholder communications
• Performs additional responsibilities as directed by real estate team leadership

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in business, accounting, finance or other related field
• 3 years of related commercial real estate experience, ideally with focus on asset management
• Strong analytical and problem-solving ability with advanced Excel skills
• Solid writing and presentation skills
• Passion for real estate and desire to build a career on the principal side
• Self-starter that shows initiative and enthusiasm in seeking new challenges
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision and collaboratively as part of a team
• Attention to detail under time-pressure, ability to multi-task, and organizational skills

Preferred Qualifications

• 5 years of of related commercial real estate experience, ideally with focus on asset management