Director of Investment Operations

Director of Investment Operations

Company: Carbon Real Estate Investments

You'll architect the operational systems that scale a real estate portfolio to house 10,000 families.

Responsibilities

Company:
- Carbon Real Estate Investments is a vertically integrated multifamily platform approaching 3,000 units across 6 Sunbelt states through a mix of direct sponsored deals, co-GP partnerships, and third-party management.
- We focus on Class B/C workforce housing in secondary markets.
- We own the buildings (or have skin in them as GP), and we run property management, construction, and asset management in-house.
- The same team that buys the buildings — or partners on them — is responsible for operating them, leasing them, renovating them, and reporting on them.
- Our goal is to house 10,000 families in Carbon communities over the next ten years, and the operating system underneath the investments function is what scales us there.

Defining Principle of Investments Department:
- Every deal follows the same operating cadence regardless of structure.
- Direct sponsored deals, co-GP deals, and third-party managed deals all flow through the same underwriting standards, the same IC pre-read process, the same AM cadence, the same lender and LP reporting discipline, and the same QA gates.
- No orphan deals.
- No two-tier system.
- No exceptions.

Operations:
- We operate on EOS, run weekly Level 10 meetings, and use a hybrid US/offshore team structure.
- The investments function — acquisitions, asset management, and investor relations — sits under the CIO.
- Today the operational layer of that function is split, undermanaged, and pulling the principals into work that should be running on its own.
- This role fixes that.

Our Core Values:
- We hire, develop, and promote based on these six values.
- If they resonate with you, you will thrive here.

Growth Mindset:
- Practice Kaizen.
- Never settle, figure it out.
- Get 1% better every day.

High Integrity:
- Do what you say.
- Own your wins and losses.

Discipline:
- Be purposeful, thoughtful, and diligent in everything you take on.

Build to Last:
- Take the long view.
- Every decision optimizes for 10–15 year outcomes.

Connection:
- Build genuine relationships that earn trust and respect — with residents, investors, vendors, and each other.

All In, All Out:
- Work hard, play hard.
- Bring full energy and commitment, and enjoy the ride.

The Opportunity:
- This is not an analyst seat.
- This is not a deal-doer seat.
- This is the operational owner of the entire investments function — and we are looking for someone who runs it like the principals do not have to think about it.
- The Director of Investment Operations leads, manages, and holds accountable (LMA) across three domains: Acquisitions, Asset Management, and Investor Relations & Fund Operations.
- You do not source deals, write the IC thesis, set asset-level strategy, or own LP relationships — those sit with the CEO and CIO.
- You own the operating system underneath all of that: the cadence, the data, the deliverables, the team execution, and the QA gates that ensure nothing falls through the cracks across any of the three domains.
- You run the Investments L10.
- You sit in the PM Ops meeting.
- You prepare and quality-control the IC pre-read.
- You hold the team accountable to weekly scorecards, monthly reports, quarterly LP packages, and annual budgets.
- You build and own the SOPs that scale this function from ~3,000 units toward 10,000+ across direct, co-GP, and third-party structures without breaking — and you ensure every deal stays inside the system regardless of how it came in (Build to Last).
- This seat is given real authority — and we expect it to be used.
- The principals (CEO, CIO, COO) are often the bottleneck on time-sensitive deliverables.
- So are external counterparties: lenders, fund administrators, attorneys, brokers, third-party PMs.
- You hold all of them accountable.
- Including up.
- Including out.
- Without flinching.
- Deference to title is not a feature of this role.
- The operating system only works if the person running it can hold every contributor accountable, regardless of seniority — that is why this seat exists, and that is the bar.
- You report solid line to the Integrator (Robbie) for operational accountability and EOS cadence.
- You report dotted line to the CIO (Michael) for strategic direction and IC priorities.
- You are accountable to the IC and Board through the CEO (Cody).

What Separates Great Directors of Investment Operations from Average Ones:
- The best operations leaders we have seen do not wait for the principals to tell them something is broken.
- They have already audited it, diagnosed it, and built the fix.
- They take true ownership — of the cadence, of the data, of the deliverables, of the team's performance, and of the principals' inputs when they are the bottleneck.
- They do not apologize for holding senior people accountable to commitments.
- They just do it — assertively, respectfully, and consistently.
- If you need permission to push back on a missed deadline — or if you frame upward accountability as something uncomfortable you “had to” do — this is not the right seat.
- If you are already the person who runs your desk that way, and you want a seat where that is the job description: keep reading.

Primary Relationships:
- Reports to the Integrator (solid line) for operational accountability, EOS cadence, financial integration, and hiring decisions.
- Reports to the CIO (dotted line) for strategic direction, deal priorities, IC pre-read quality, and capital event timing.
- Accountable to the Investment Committee and Board through the CEO.
- Direct reports include the Sr. Acquisitions Associate, Sr. AM Associate, Analytics Analyst, and Jr. Analysts (5 today, likely 6 within 12 months).
- Cross-functional partners include the Construction Director and Property Management leadership (Regional, COO/Integrator) on capital projects, value-add execution, lease-up plans, and AM business plans that span months or years.
- External counterparties include lenders, fund administrators, attorneys, auditors, brokers, third-party PMs, the Senior Accountant (when hired), and the CPA.

Who You Are:
- You do not wait to be told what is broken.
- You catch it first.
- You build the system that prevents it next time.
- You hold the line on cadence and quality without becoming the subject matter expert in everyone else's domain (Discipline).
- You take ownership of every deliverable — yours, your team's, and the ones the principals are sitting on — and you finish them (High Integrity).
- You are assertive but respectful.
- You can flag a missed handoff to the CEO without flinching, and you can do it without being abrasive.
- You are willing to confront — directly and professionally — when the work is not meeting the standard.
- You would rather have the hard conversation today than carry the problem into next quarter.
- You build genuine relationships that earn trust across distance, time zones, and seniority levels (Connection).
- You are curious about new tools — especially AI — and you reach for them when they serve cadence and accuracy (Growth Mindset).
- You are not looking for a seat where the systems are already built.
- You are looking for the seat where you build them — and where the system you build is what makes the company scale (Build to Last).
- And you bring the All In, All Out energy this work demands.
- IC cycles.
- Refis.
- Quarter-end reporting.
- Capital events stacking on top of LP reports stacking on top of acquisitions deadlines.
- You do not burn out at quarter-end.
- You bring presence, urgency, and full commitment — and you enjoy the ride.

What You Will Own:

Acquisitions Operations (LMA):
- Every deal — direct sponsored, co-GP, or third-party managed — flows through the same institutional process.
- No orphan deals.
- No two-tier system.
- This seat enforces that consistency.
- Lead, manage, and hold accountable the Sr. Acquisitions Associate and the Jr. Analysts on deal screening, underwriting, and IC prep workflow.
- Own the acquisitions pipeline CRM, the buy-box discipline, and pipeline reporting cadence.
- Run the IC pre-read protocol: 48-hour gate, complete package, no exceptions.
- IC memo, model, market study, due diligence checklist, risk summary.
- Coordinate due diligence across legal, environmental, physical inspections, title, insurance, and lender requirements.
- Maintain the master checklist.
- Manage closing process — checklists, capital call timing, entity formation, lender deliverables, attorney coordination.
- Own the acquisition-to-AM handoff protocol: business plan transfer, baseline KPIs, first 90-day targets, PM team coordination.

Asset Management Operations (LMA):
- Every asset — direct, co-GP, or third-party — sits inside the same AM cadence.
- Same monthly reviews, same quarterly portfolio health checks, same lender covenant tracking, same variance discipline.
- No asset operates outside the system because of how the deal was structured.
- Lead, manage, and hold accountable the Sr. AM Associate and the Analytics Analyst on property performance, lender compliance, and recurring AM deliverables.
- Own the recurring AM cadence: monthly property performance reviews, quarterly portfolio health checks, annual budgets, insurance renewals, tax appeals.
- Sit in the weekly PM Ops meeting alongside the Integrator, the Regional, and the Construction Director — represent AM priorities in the property management cadence.
- Track asset-level business plans against underwriting.
- Flag variances.
- Surface watch-list assets to the CIO and IC before they become problems.
- Coordinate capital events end-to-end on the operations side — refinancings, supplemental loans, rate caps, dispositions, recapitalizations.
- CIO leads the negotiation.
- You manage the data, the timeline, the lender package, and the LP communication.
- Manage the lender covenant compliance tracker.
- 100% of loans current on reporting at all times.

Investor Relations Operations & Fund Administration (LMA):
- The CEO owns LP relationships and new investor development.
- The CIO owns strategic capital partner relationships (co-GPs, fund managers, certain PM relationships).
- This seat owns the operational and reporting machine underneath both — production, cadence, data, and QA.
- Lead, manage, and hold accountable the team on quarterly LP.

Skills

• Asset management
• Candidate relationship management (CRM)
• Closing process
• Due Diligence
• Investment management
• Investor relations
• Portfolio analysis
• Risk assessment
• Standard operating procedures (SOP)
• Underwriting

Languages

• English (conversational)