Lease Manager

H&M Group is a global company of strong fashion brands and ventures. Our goal is to prove that there is no compromise between exceptional design, affordable prices, and sustainable solutions. At H&M, we want to liberate fashion for the many, and our customers are at the heart of every decision we make.

We are made up of thousands of passionate and talented colleagues united by our shared culture and values. Together, we want to use our power, our scale, and our knowledge to push the fashion industry towards a more inclusive and sustainable future.

About the Role

As a Lease Manager , your main focus will be to manage the store portfolio in your market by securing the best locations and deals, optimizing performance, and ensuring long‑term sustainable growth for all brands. You lead the full leasing lifecycle—from market analysis and deal negotiation to due diligence, business case preparation, and cross‑functional execution—to secure profitable, competitive, and future‑fit stores.

This hybrid role reports into our Expansion Manager and is based out of one of our Sales Region Office in Houston, TX.

A Day in the Life

Working at H&M means no two days are ever the same, but a typical day will include the following responsibilities*

Enable growth by developing and maintaining an up-to-date roadmap for each brand

Have a great understanding of local customer behavior, and the local competition

Create and follow up on pipeline, ensuring that we continuously work on several alternatives

Enable the optimization of selling, location, and profitability of each deal

Set ambitious targets for each deal, based on its location strength, and use H&M’s negotiation principles to negotiate the best deal, always in a professional way and in line with our Code of Ethics

Analyze relevant data (e.g. market rent, traffic, cannibalization) to ensure your business cases are based on facts

Coordinate in a positive and collaborative way with other functions before finalizing the negotiations

Complete due diligence reports on our landlords, to ensure that we have vetted our business partners

Recommend the full business case in terms of fit with market strategy, location requirements, commercial idea, configuration of space, economic and legal terms, as well as risk assessment

Present ready negotiated business cases for approval by in a professional and convincing way

Work closely with C&F and Legal and help facilitate deals through the legal and construction process

Ensure the store portfolio is commercially competitive in your geographic area and beats local competition in terms of customer experience

Actively seek ways to improve the portfolio, keeping in mind the long-term impact and aligning with latest global leasing and legal guidelines

Negotiate lease actions for existing stores based on a thorough analysis of the performance and conditions of the store (e.g. breaks, terminations, lease term, extensions, rent reductions, capital contribution)

Stay up to date on the financial/strategic performance of our landlords as well as relevant changes to their assets and continuously uphold professional business relations with them

Work in close collaboration with the Expansion Manager in Sales Market to set and implement the strategy in your market

Take the lead on driving store projects until signing and ensure close collaboration of the project team (inside and outside of Expansion) and secure their input in the project time plan and service scope delivery

Work closely with legal, facilities and the operational team to ensure that we act in line with our contractual rights and obligations throughout the lease term

Who You Are:

Bachelor’s or master’s degree in Real Estate, Business, Economics, or a related field

Strong leasing and negotiation skills with a solid understanding of legal frameworks

Strategic and analytical mindset with the ability to balance long-term vision and short-term actions

Strong planning, organization, and prioritization skills with the ability to manage multiple projects

Calm and solutions-oriented approach in complex situations and under pressure

Strong financial understanding and business acumen

Results-driven with strong communication and influencing abilities

Proficient in MS Office and Power BI

Advanced English level, both written and spoken

Minimum 3 years of experience in leasing, controlling, or real estate, preferably within the retail industry

You are communicative and socially confident, combining analytical and methodical thinking with a conscientious and results-driven approach. You remain resilient, decisive, and action-oriented while fostering collaboration and maintaining professionalism in all interactions

Why You’ll Love Working at H&M

We value diverse backgrounds, including but not limited to race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, and disability

We pride ourselves on being a values-driven organization, guided by our 7 unique values that have been part of our success story…