Portfolio, Transactions & Lease Administration Recruiting and Staffing
CRE Talent Group recruits and staffs portfolio, transaction management, and lease administration professionals for corporate real estate teams and the firms that support them. These are the people who manage a company's leases, sites, and occupancy decisions, from abstracting a lease to leading a relocation deal. We fill these roles on a contract or direct-hire basis.
Portfolio, Transactions & Lease Administration roles we recruit for
Titles vary from one organization to the next, so each role below is described by what the work involves.
Lease administrator and lease administration manager
Maintains lease records, tracks critical dates, processes rent and operating expense payments, and reconciles landlord charges.
Lease abstractor and lease analyst
Abstracts leases and amendments into the system of record, including options, escalations, and pass-through terms.
Lease accounting specialist
Works with finance on ASC 842 and IFRS 16 lease accounting, making sure lease data and accounting outputs agree, often in tools such as LeaseAccelerator, Nakisa, or Visual Lease.
Transaction manager
Leads leases, renewals, expansions, and dispositions from the occupier side: requirements, broker management, financial analysis, and approvals.
Portfolio manager and portfolio strategist
Plans the portfolio against business needs, forecasts occupancy and cost, and recommends where to grow, consolidate, or exit.
Real estate financial analyst
Builds occupancy cost models, lease-versus-lease comparisons, budgets, and forecasts for portfolio decisions.
Head of portfolio or real estate
Leads the portfolio, transactions, and lease administration functions and represents real estate to finance and business leaders.
What makes portfolio and lease administration hiring hard
Lease administration errors are quiet and costly
A missed renewal or termination option, an escalation entered wrong, or an unchecked operating expense reconciliation can be expensive and may go unnoticed for months. Accuracy is hard to judge from a resume.
In-house transaction work is its own skill set
Occupier-side transaction managers manage brokers, build business cases, and steer deals through internal approvals. Strong brokerage experience covers part of that job.
Lease accounting connects two functions
Lease accounting needs people who understand lease terms and accounting treatment. Candidates who are fluent in both are uncommon.
Portfolio roles depend on judgment
Portfolio strategy means weighing business plans, workplace needs, market conditions, and cost. That judgment shows up in how candidates explain past decisions, which takes a practitioner to evaluate.
What to look for in a portfolio and lease administration hire
Use these as a starting point for your job description and interview plan.
Accuracy on complex lease terms
Test abstraction of options, operating expense pass-throughs, assignment and subletting clauses, and amendments that change earlier terms.
Critical-date discipline
Look for a clear system for tracking and escalating dates in platforms such as Visual Lease, CoStar Real Estate Manager, MRI ProLease, or an IWMS lease module, and examples of acting on an option window in time.
Occupier-side deal leadership
For transaction roles, ask how they set requirements, managed brokers and counsel, compared alternatives, and won internal approval.
Financial fluency
Candidates should be comfortable with total occupancy cost, net present value comparisons, budgets, and forecasts.
Working across functions
These roles work closely with finance, legal, accounts payable, and business units. Communication and follow-through matter as much as technical skill.
How we evaluate portfolio and lease administration candidates
Every candidate is assessed on the same four dimensions, written up in a candidate assessment that comes with their resume. For this specialty, that means:
- Relevant experience
- Portfolio size and geography, property types such as office, lab, industrial, or retail, and whether their experience is on the occupier or landlord side.
- Functional expertise
- We ask candidates to walk through abstracting a difficult clause, a recent reconciliation, or a transaction from requirement to signature.
- Delivery capability
- Deals they led and their specific role, portfolio projects completed, lease audits performed, and processes they improved.
- Role fit
- Whether the role is administrative, transactional, or strategic, who it reports to, and whether that matches the candidate's strengths and goals.
Contract staffing or direct hire?
We fill these roles on either basis. Here is where each tends to fit.
Contract staffing
Contract staff are a good fit for lease and portfolio work with a clear start and end.
Often a good fit for
- Lease abstraction projects and system migrations
- Lease audits and operating expense reconciliation reviews
- Lease accounting data remediation
- Integrating a portfolio after an acquisition
- Covering a lease administration leave or vacancy
Direct-hire recruiting
Direct hire fits roles that carry ongoing ownership of the portfolio and its leases.
Often a good fit for
- Lease administration managers and leads
- In-house transaction managers
- Portfolio strategy and planning roles
- Heads of portfolio or real estate
Not sure which fits? Choose "Not sure" on the Hire Talent form and we will recommend an approach based on the work.
Portfolio, Transactions & Lease Administration hiring questions
What does a lease administrator do in corporate real estate?
A lease administrator maintains the records for every lease a company holds and makes sure the company meets its obligations and uses its rights. That includes tracking critical dates, processing rent, reviewing landlord operating expense reconciliations, and keeping lease data accurate for accounting. In many teams, lease administrators also produce the portfolio reports leadership uses.
How is an in-house transaction manager different from a tenant representation broker?
A tenant representation broker works for a brokerage and advises the company on a deal. An in-house transaction manager is part of the company's real estate team: they define requirements with the business, manage the broker and legal counsel, build the business case, and secure internal approvals. Many transaction managers come from brokerage, and the strongest candidates also have experience on the occupier side.
When does contract lease administration staff make sense?
Contract staff work well for lease abstraction projects, system migrations, lease audits, lease accounting cleanups, and integrating leases after an acquisition. They also cover leaves and vacancies so critical dates are never left unattended. For ongoing ownership of the portfolio's leases, a permanent hire is usually the better fit.
What should we look for in a lease administration manager?
Look for accuracy on complex lease terms, a reliable critical-date process, and experience working with finance on lease accounting. For a manager, add the ability to set data standards, train others, and review a team's work. Our written assessment covers each of these for every candidate we present.
More corporate real estate specialties
CRE Technology & Systems
IWMS, lease administration systems, workplace technology, and real estate data roles for corporate real estate teams, CRE technology vendors, and implementation partners.
Workplace & Facilities
Workplace experience, facilities management, and integrated facilities management (IFM) roles that run and improve the spaces where employees work.
Projects & Capital Delivery
Project management and capital program roles that deliver office fit-outs, relocations, and building improvements on time and on budget.
CRE Advisory & Consulting
Consulting and advisory roles at firms that help corporate real estate teams with strategy, operating models, technology selection, and change management.
Hiring for portfolio and lease administration?
Tell us about the role and get a shortlist, with a written assessment for every candidate. If you work in this field, submit your profile for current and future openings.