Investment Director - Octopus Real Estate

What's in it for you?

This is an exciting time to join the Octopus Real Estate’s Affordable Housing team as we grow. As an Investment Director you will be working alongside the rest of the Investment team and with the other Investment Director. The successful candidate will play a critical role originating and transacting on affordable housing opportunities – both s106, grant funded homes and partnerships. The affordable housing investments will be on behalf of existing and new funds managed by Octopus Real Estate.

The Investment Director will build long term relationships with house builders and housing associations and will take responsibility for deploying £100m per annum into acquiring affordable homes across the UK, noting that the Fund cannot take direct construction or planning risk.

Team Overview:

The affordable housing team manages around £250m of funds, with a focus on investing in affordable housing throughout the UK through the Octopus Affordable Housing Fund and it’s registered provider of social housing – NewArch Homes. The Fund has deployed around £40m to date and hopes to raise and deploy around £200m per year over time. This trajectory follows that of the Octopus Healthcare Fund, which manages over £1 billion of investments, with a focus on care homes and retirement communities – sectors requiring significant investment given the UK’s ageing population.

The property lending team provides bespoke, customer focused financing solutions across the UK residential, commercial and development sectors. The team has lent more than £6 billion across over 4,000 loans, providing competitively priced financing throughout the UK and spanning the property investment lifecycle, with loans typically ranging from £1 million to £50 million.

Key Responsibilities:

• Origination and execution of affordable housing opportunities in the UK
• Appraise, underwrite and progress opportunities, with a focus on pace and confidence to stand by lending terms offered
• Obtain Investment Committee approval for potential investment opportunities
• Manage execution of transactions in conjunction with ORE colleagues, and manage an Investment Manager
• Conduct due diligence, to include the inspection of all properties and the interrogation of valuation reports
• Enhance and develop a network of external contacts, both brokers and borrowers, to win new business
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• Degree qualified with a relevant professional qualification
• Experience​​​ operating within either another affordable housing business (housing association or for-profit registered provider) at a senior level, or within the real estate investment industry – although a network of contacts and understanding of the affordable housing sector is preferred.
• Ability to work autonomously, under pressure and on several priorities at once within tight deadlines
• A strong understanding of investment value and risk in commercial real estate  
• An established network of commercial property agents, investors and advisors.

What we offer

💰 A competitive salary, bonus, pension and share incentive plan 
✈️ Untracked holiday 
🏡 Hybrid working –  most of our people spend 3 days a week in the office
⚓ Anchor (our wellness hub) which includes Headspace, one to one coaching through Wellness Cloud, Digital GP & more 
👪 Up to 6 months paid parental leave regardless of gender 
❤️ Life insurance, critical illness cover and income protection 
🏥 Private medical insurance for you and your family 
🚗 Electric vehicle leasing 
🌍 The option to work overseas up to a month per year 

Our Values 
At our core, we believe that how a company behaves is just as important as what it does. That’s why we chose to become an accredited B Corp (the equivalent of a Fairtrade coffee stamp but for companies) and to change our Articles of Association so that the interests all our stakeholders – employees, customers, communities, environment and shareholders – are considered in every decision we make.   

We are committed to building a workplace where diversity is valued, and inclusion is a priority. By providing equal opportunities for growth and development, we embrace and celebrate all races, genders, religions, sexual orientations, ages, disabilities, and socio-economic backgrounds. We believe teams achieve their best when every member feels safe, respected and empowered to be their authentic selves.

We're proud to be disability confident and are committed to supporting candidates with a disability, including neurodiversity and mental health conditions, throughout the recruitment process. Applicants are welcome to opt-in to the disability confident scheme as part of our application process. If you require any adjustments to the interview process, we’ll be happy to accommodate where possible.