General Manager - Athens

Square One; Kentucky; On-site; USD 139,000 - 209,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Profit sharing

Discretionary bonus

Relocation support

Equity stake

Job summary

Square One is expanding into Athens with a founder-level mandate to build a self-sustaining regional development business from zero. The role will source the first deals, hire the local team and manage commercial results.

You will own P&L for the Athens business, secure land, navigate local permitting, and establish a repeatable sourcing engine to drive GDV and equity returns. Relocation may be supported.

Qualifications

• 8–12+ years in Greek residential development, real estate investment or construction with P&L accountability.
• Active land and antiparochi sourcing network in Attica is essential.
• Fluent in development appraisal and financial modelling; can be challenged line by line on assumptions.
• Demonstrated track record taking schemes from acquisition through permitting, construction and sale.

Responsibilities

• Establish Athens office: entity, premises, banking, systems and local network.
• Build acquisition pipeline: source, screen and negotiate land/opportunities.
• Underwrite opportunities in standard development format and present to group Investment Committee.
• Close first 1–2 acquisitions and map local costs, timelines and comparables.
• Drive GDV, units, margin and cash targets for Athens schemes.

Skills

Land sourcing network

Acquisition

Financial modelling

P&L ownership

Team leadership

Regulatory knowledge (Greece)

Negotiation

English (business)

Education

Bachelor's degree in Real Estate/Finance

MBA or equivalent

Tools

Excel

Financial modelling tools

Job description

About Square One

Square One is a Limassol-based residential developer founded in 2021. In under five years the company has achieved over €150M in sales, grown to 35 people and currently has 10+ active schemes across Cyprus. The group is vertically integrating across design, procurement, construction and operations, and its sister company MovingDoors operates 500+ serviced apartments in Cyprus and Dubai at c. 97% occupancy.

Athens is the group's first international development market. This is a founding role.

The Mandate

Build Square One Athens from a standing start into a self-sustaining regional development business, and own its P&L. This is an owner-operator role with real equity participation — not a corporate country-manager position. The successful candidate will source the first deals personally, hire the team behind them, and carry the commercial result.

Key Responsibilities

Phase 1 — Establish (Months 0–6)

• Set up the Athens office: entity, premises, banking, systems and the professional network (lawyers, notaries, civil engineers, architects, surveyors, contractors).
• Build the acquisition pipeline: source, screen and negotiate land and antiparochi opportunities in target Attica submarkets.
• Underwrite every opportunity in Square One's development appraisal format and present to the group investment committee.
• Close the first one to two acquisitions.
• Map the local cost base, contractor market, permitting timelines and sales comparables, and feed these into the group modelling standards.

Phase 2 — Scale (Months 6–24)

• Recruit, onboard and lead a Sales & Business Development Manager.
• Build out the wider local team across acquisitions, project management and sales.
• Drive the first schemes through permitting and onto site, working with the group technical function.
• Establish sales channels: direct, brokerage, international investor networks and Golden Visa intermediaries.
• Deliver against agreed GDV, unit volume, margin and cash targets.

Ongoing

• P&L ownership — revenue, gross margin, overhead, cash flow and returns for the Athens business.
• Capital — work with the group on debt financing, JV equity and investor relations for Athens schemes.
• Governance — permitting, tax, employment and regulatory compliance in Greece.
• Brand — represent Square One in the Athens market with landowners, agents, banks, investors and buyers.

What Success Looks Like

By month 12: office established and operating; two acquisitions closed and underwritten to group standard; Sales & BD Manager hired and productive; first scheme through permitting or in advanced application.

By month 24: a live pipeline of three to five schemes; first units sold; Athens P&L covering its own overhead; a functioning local team and a repeatable sourcing engine.

Essential

• 8–12+ years in Greek residential development, real estate investment or construction, with direct P&L or project-level financial accountability.
• An active land and antiparochi sourcing network in Attica. This is the single most important criterion — deal flow is the job.
• Fluent in development appraisal and financial modelling; comfortable being challenged line by line on assumptions.
• Demonstrable track record taking residential schemes from acquisition through permitting, construction and sale.
• Working command of the Greek planning, construction and tax framework.
• Native or fluent Greek plus business-level English.

Desirable

• Experience launching an office, business unit or new market from zero.
• Existing relationships with Greek banks and alternative lenders.
• Exposure to Golden Visa and international buyer channels.
• Track record hiring and managing sales teams.

Personal

Owner mentality. Comfortable with ambiguity and with building process where none exists. High integrity — the group's reputation in a new market rests on this person. Hands‑on rather than delegation‑first in the early phase.

• Base salary to be discussed based on candidate experience (senior position)
• Annual discretionary bonus tied to agreed milestones
• Profit share: 10% participation in the net profit of the Athens business, alongside the group's equity return
• Co-investment: the GM is expected to invest personally into the Athens vehicle on the same terms as group equity.
• Vesting: profit share subject to vesting, with good‑leaver / bad‑leaver provisions
• Corporate benefits
• Relocation support available if required

All terms indicative and subject to definitive legal documentation.