General Manager - Athens
— Athens, Greece Be an early applicant 3 weeks agoBy agreement
Athens, Greece Be an early applicant 3 weeks agoContractLeadSquare OneNEW
Description (EN)
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)
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.
Requirements
Essential
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.
Benefits
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
- 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
- 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
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.
Requirements
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
- 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
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.
Benefits
- 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
Published today