Hotel Development/Design Manager

Company Description

Urban Property Group is quickly becoming one of NSW's largest and most dynamic residential developers and there's never been a more exciting time to join our team.

A 4.5-star iCIRT-rated property company, Urban has over 40 years of experience delivering high-quality homes, workplaces and retail environments that shape thriving communities across Sydney. Today, we are a fully integrated, multi-disciplinary organisation, bringing together development, design and construction expertise under one roof. This end-to-end capability enables us to deliver on our vision to build for the way living should be, creating places that genuinely enhance how people live.

With a strong and growing pipeline of projects - including an expanding hotel and hospitality portfolio - we are now seeking an experienced Hotel Development/Design Manager to join our team and take ownership of the end-to-end design and development delivery of our hotel projects, from concept through to handover.

The Role

We're looking for a Hotel Development/Design Manager to lead the design and development delivery of hotel projects across our portfolio. Sitting at the intersection of design, development and commercial outcomes, this role owns everything from concept through to hotel handover - including Hotel Management Agreement (HMA) requirements, brand standards approval, FF&E procurement, fit-out coordination and stakeholder management.

You'll operate with a high degree of autonomy, coordinating internal teams, our hotel partners, design consultants, authorities and contractors to deliver design excellence, programme certainty and budget integrity across multiple concurrent projects.

Key Responsibilities

Project Management

• Prepare development forecasts and budgetary information, and monitor project costs against budget

• Prepare monthly cost reports and manage project programmes, including critical path analysis and delay reporting

HMA & Brand Compliance

• Manage design and development obligations under each Hotel Management Agreement

• Lead the Formal Approval Process with hoteliers, ensuring design documentation meets brand standards at each milestone

• Maintain a register of HMA deliverables and compliance requirements, and manage the interface between Urban's teams and hoteliers' technical services teams

Design Management

• Support the Design Director in managing the design process across all hotel projects

• Appoint and manage multi-discipline consultant teams (architects, interior designers, engineers, hotel specialists)

• Prepare and issue design briefs, chair design workshops, and integrate Safety in Design and buildability principles

• Manage planning and authority approvals, and review design documentation before it goes to tender or construction

FF&E Procurement & Fit-Out

• Lead FF&E schedules and tender documentation aligned to brand standards and budget

• Manage FF&E/OS&E procurement, supplier engagement and contract award

• Coordinate FF&E delivery and installation with the construction team, and track budgets against forecasts

Stakeholder & Consultant Management

• Build and maintain relationships with hoteliers, local authorities, consultants and contractors

• Act as the key point of contact for joint venture partners where applicable

Legal, Approvals & Team Management

• Manage HMA-related approvals and tender documentation

• Support the Project Director with team coordination, coaching and performance support for junior team members

• Ensure work aligns with Company WHS, environmental, quality and compliance standards

About You

• Tertiary qualification in property development or a related discipline

• 7–10+ years' experience in hotel or hospitality development, with end-to-end delivery from design through to handover

• Proven experience managing HMA obligations and hotelier brand standard approval processes

• Track record leading multi-discipline design consultant teams on complex hospitality or mixed-use projects

• Experience managing FF&E procurement — tendering, supplier engagement and contract administration

• Experience on mixed-use tenure projects is a plus

• Strong financial acumen, stakeholder management skills, and the resilience to manage several live projects at once

Why join Urban

• Work across high-quality, design-led residential projects

• Collaborative, down-to-earth team environment

• A business that values quality, long-term thinking and people-first outcomes