The Head of Development is one of the most important hires a PE-backed real estate platform can make — and one of the most mishandled. It sits at the intersection of operations, finance, and deal execution in a way that very few other roles do. Get it right, and your pipeline moves. Get it wrong, and projects stall, costs overrun, and your sponsor relationships get tested.
We've run enough of these searches to have a clear view of the patterns. Here are the mistakes we see most often — and what to do instead.
Mistake #1: Conflating Development Experience with Development Leadership
Hiring a great project manager and calling it a Head of Development
A strong VP-level development professional who has managed projects from entitlement through certificate of occupancy is not automatically equipped to lead a development platform. The skills that make someone excellent at executing individual projects — attention to detail, contractor management, schedule discipline — are necessary but not sufficient for the Head of Development role at a scaled platform. Leadership at the Head level requires the ability to manage a team, own a pipeline of simultaneous projects at different stages, interface credibly with the investment committee and capital partners, and make resource allocation decisions under pressure.
We frequently see candidates who are genuinely excellent at execution get put into Head of Development roles prematurely — and struggle. The tell is usually in references: if every reference talks about what the candidate did on projects but can't speak fluently to how they led, developed, and scaled a team, that's a signal worth taking seriously.
Mistake #2: Underspecifying the Role Before Going to Market
Going to market with a title and a comp range, not a real position spec
The Head of Development role means different things at different platforms. At a vertically integrated REIT, it might mean managing 50 people across a multi-billion-dollar pipeline. At a mid-market regional developer, it might mean being the first dedicated development hire who builds the function from scratch. At a PE-backed value-add operator, it could be primarily a capital allocation and third-party oversight role with minimal internal construction management. These are fundamentally different jobs — and they attract fundamentally different candidates.
Before we go to market on a Head of Development search, we invest real time understanding three things: the current size and composition of the development team (if one exists), the pipeline — volume, product type, geography, development stage mix — and what "success in Year 1" actually looks like for this person. That context shapes everything about how we position the role and who we bring forward.
"The most common thing we hear from candidates who've taken the wrong Head of Development job: 'I thought I was joining a platform. I joined a project.'"
Mistake #3: Overweighting Product Type Experience
Requiring multifamily-only (or office-only, or industrial-only) experience
Product type expertise matters at the project level. At the Head of Development level, it matters considerably less than you think. The skills that make someone an exceptional development leader — stakeholder management, entitlement navigation, contractor and consultant relationship management, budget and schedule discipline, team building — transfer across asset types more readily than most sponsors assume. By rigidly requiring same-product-type experience, platforms routinely exclude a large portion of the best candidates in the market.
We're not saying product type is irrelevant. If you're a luxury high-rise developer in a major gateway city with a highly specific subcontractor network, someone with only suburban garden-style experience will face a real learning curve. But for most mid-market platforms, the product type filter is doing more harm than good at the Head of Development level.
Mistake #4: Moving Too Slowly Once You've Found the Right Person
A six-week interview process that loses the finalist to a faster-moving competitor
The candidate pool for a genuinely senior Head of Development — someone with platform-level leadership experience, relevant geography, and the right cultural fit — is small. When we identify that person and they're interested, the clock starts. The best candidates are typically managing multiple conversations simultaneously, and they make decisions based partly on process speed as a signal of organizational health. A six-round interview process with two weeks between each round communicates something about how decisions get made at your firm.
Our recommendation: have your interview process designed before we present the shortlist. Know who needs to be in the room, in what order, and how quickly you can move from first meeting to offer. If you need board or LP sign-off on the hire, build that into your timeline upfront — not after you've found the person.
What the Right Candidate Actually Looks Like
After running many of these searches, here's the profile of a Head of Development that consistently works at a PE-backed platform:
The Head of Development Profile That Works
- 10–18 years of development experience, including at least 3–5 years in a leadership role managing a team or pipeline
- Has personally navigated a full cycle — entitlement through stabilization — on multiple projects, including at least one that hit significant obstacles
- Can speak credibly to LP and institutional capital partner relationships, not just internal execution
- Has hired, managed, and developed people — not just directed them
- Understands the financial model well enough to defend underwriting assumptions and identify budget risks early
- Has operated in an environment with real accountability to a sponsor or investment committee, not just an owner-operator founder
- References consistently describe them as someone people want to work for, not just work with
That last point — the leadership quality that makes people want to follow this person — is the hardest thing to assess from a resume and the most important thing to get right. It's also why reference intelligence, done properly, is one of the most valuable parts of the search process. We don't just verify. We gather real intelligence about how this person leads under pressure.
The Compensation Reality for This Role
Head of Development compensation has moved sharply over the past two years, and the single biggest mistake employers make is applying mid-market benchmarks to a large-platform search. The range is genuinely wide — and where you land within it is almost entirely determined by the scale and complexity of your platform.
- Small platform (<$250M pipeline): $215K–$300K total cash. Often supplemented with deal-level promote or co-invest rights in lieu of higher base.
- Mid-market ($250M–$1B pipeline): $350K–$540K total cash. Base typically $260K–$360K; bonus 35–50%. Carried interest participation standard.
- Large platform ($1B–$5B pipeline): $455K–$720K total cash. Base $325K–$450K; bonus 40–60%. Carry or promote participation expected.
- Institutional / national scale ($5B+ or top-10 developer): $525K–$865K+ total cash. A recent Gratus search at a top-10 national affordable housing developer closed at approximately $600K all-in cash, with long-term incentive participation on top. This is the current market rate for senior development leadership at genuine national scale.
Equity and promote participation compound these numbers significantly. Candidates who are currently in a promoted interest or carry structure will not leave it for cash alone — regardless of the dollar amount. If your platform does not offer a comparable equity component, your effective cash number needs to carry a 20–35% premium above the midpoint of your size tier to be genuinely competitive for the best candidates.
Geography adds a further layer: New York, LA, and San Francisco roles typically carry a 25–40% premium over mid-Atlantic or Southeast market benchmarks. National platforms headquartered outside major markets generally pay at national-rate comp regardless of HQ location.
If your compensation structure isn't competitive across all three components — base, bonus, and equity — you will lose the best candidates to platforms that are. We help clients build the right package before going to market precisely to prevent that outcome.
Running a Head of Development search?
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