Job Title: Strategic Asset Manager
Type: Full Time / Hybrid with travel to our HO in Northampton
Salary: From £50k plus car allowance
Closing Date: 6th June 2026 or until the right candidate is hired – all applicants need to attach an up-to-date CV to be considered.
Purpose of the Role:
The Strategic Asset Manager plays a pivotal role in optimising and protecting the value of a portfolio of approximately 120–150 nursery properties across the UK. The role is responsible for developing and implementing bespoke asset strategies for each nursery, ensuring that properties are secure, flexible and commercially aligned with operational needs. This includes managing leasehold and freehold interests across community and client nurseries, and overseeing matters such as lease terms, planning matters, rent levels, costs and lifecycle strategy. Understanding the business operation, demographics, financial position and forecasting of a nursery is key so that the strategy for the nursery can be formulated, which will include rent reviews, lease renewals, regears, review/increasing capacity, acquisitions/relocations and in the case of a divestment it will include lease breaks, surrenders, assignments and dilapidations. The role will add value to the asset and the business and work closely with operations and all support functions including finance, legal, marketing, facilities and capital investment teams as well as external consultants. A key part of the role is to work collaboratively, seek alignment and ensure processes are followed and accountability taken for agreed clear actions. The Strategic Asset Manager’s is varied from dealing with day to day enquires from the nurseries, operations team, other support functions, agents and landlords and the person in the role will need the ability to manage a busy workload and make time to visit the nursery settings and surrounding location.
Why Bright Horizons?
We’ve been voted Great Place to Work every year since 2006, as well as being awarded the newly created Great Place for Wellbeing and Great Place for Women 2025. Our support functions enable our nurseries to deliver the best possible care and education to over 10,000 children across the UK. Through this support, our nurseries can deliver excellence – with 98% of our 300+ portfolio being rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted. We’re on a mission to change the future for children, families, and the people we work with, and are committed to progressive working values like flexibility, work-life balance, and wellbeing
What We Can Offer You
1. Our benefits include but are not limited to
2. Flexible working and holiday entitlements
3. Discounted childcare in one of our nurseries
4. Quarterly Employee Appreciation Weeks
5. Annual gala award evening
6. Fantastic range of discounts on high street retailers, grocery stores, cinema tickets, holidays and more
7. Wide range of wellbeing resources, supporting our teams for the ups and downs of daily life
Key Tasks and Responsibilities:
8. To asset manage and formulate a property strategy for each nursery having regard to the nursery financials, demographics, the “nursery place” supply/capacity in the nursery catchment area and other factors where appropriate. This will be reviewed and agreed on an annual basis.
9. The role will work closely with finance and facility/property coordinators to ensure rents, service charge, business rates and insurance are paid on time and efficiently as possible.
10. To keep CRM up to date regarding lease renewals, rent reviews, breaks, divestments and contact information.
11. To regularly plan and visit the nurseries in your specific portfolio, such as 2 – 3 days per month (circa 10 – 12 nurseries/month) to meet with NM/ops team to understand property related challenges and help forge asset management strategy.
12. To assist with property enquiries working closely with the facility/property coordinators.
13. To work collaboratively with the other support functions to improve the process and improve efficiency and quality of information to inform business decisions in areas such as, but not limited to, legal (heads of terms), capex teams (business cases for refurbishment work), finance (renewals, divestments and CRM etc).
14. Update our internal central data base of rents, yields, etc
15. To undertake rent reviews, lease renewals, divestments and disposals, appointing and working with external consultants, if required. Reviewing data, demographic reports, competitor analysis, comparable evidence and compiling reports.
16. Property Acquisitions, for replacement or new locations, preparing and presenting reports to support business cases, including demos, parent maps, financial models, working with consultants (planning, highway etc), negotiating, developing and agreeing heads of terms, instructing legal and managing through to acquisition of site/building.
17. To seek opportunities to add value to the nursery operation of the estate which might be through development opportunities, adding nursery capacity or mitigating/reducing costs such as rents, service charges, business rates or insurance, and re gearing leases with landlords.
Additional Responsibilities:
18. Review and approve rent, service charge and insurance payments, keeping CRM up to date
19. Build relationship with operations to help resolve any property related issues and inform the property strategy
20. Formulating Asset Strategy for each nursery to be agreed and review every 12 months
21. Lease Renewals – preparing reports with recommendations
22. Rent Reviews – review of lease, market evidence, negotiations with landlords/agents
23. Managing and reviewing break clauses
24. Managing dilapidations – developing strategy, working with consultants and negotiating settlements
25. Preparing business cases/presenting for approvals - financial models, risks, mitigation, sensitivity and recommendation etc
26. Agreeing Heads of Term for freehold, leasehold, agreement for lease - clearing identifying the structure of the deal, the conditionality to ensure that the risk of the deal is mitigated for Bright Horizons.
27. Assisting in the due diligence of the acquisition of other nursery businesses regarding property related matters
28. Managing external consultants on areas where it is deemed necessary and work cannot be undertaken in house
29. Build relationships with property agents for information on rent reviews and other property issues
30. Take responsibility for own personal and professional development.
Essential Experience:
31. Asset management experience across a commercial property portfolio
32. Formulating strategy, undertaking research, preparing reports/business cases, presenting reports and clear articulation – written and verbal.
33. Experience of formulating of strategies for negotiations and projects including timelines, conditionalities, opportunities, risks and mitigation strategy which are solution focused.
34. Strong PC skills - Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint etc
35. Use of Property Management systems (BH use a CRM system)
36. Experience of L&T law, familiar with reviewing leases and implications/obligations of clauses within leases
37. Preparing detailed Heads of Terms, applicable to the transaction and instructing legal.
Qualifications:
38. Relevant first degree, post graduate degree and professional qualification in Property/Estate Management an advantage
39. Or demonstrable experience in Commercial Property Management (essential)
40. Chartered Member of Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (MRICS) (or working towards) (desirable)
41. Full, clean driving licence (essential) as travel required to our network of nurseries throughout UK.
Personal Attributes:
42. Strong commercial and strategic instinct - comfortable with data and numerical detail to support strategy.
43. A desire to provide high quality customer service (internal and external)
44. Excellent influencer, interpersonal/negotiation skills and effective communicator, (oral and in writing)
45. Ability to manage a busy workload and prioritise – a can-do attitude, thrives on fast pace/dynamic environment
46. A positive collaborative approach - a team player, respecting the roles played by other people in the organisation - Highly motivated and driven, achieving positive impact and meeting deadlines and taking accountability - Accountable, making sure ownership of projects is clear and seeing projects through.
We look forward to receiving your application!