Real Estate & Construction Executive Search Firm
Nationwide Retained Executive Search
Find the Real Estate & Construction Leaders Who Can Build What Comes Next.
Scion Executive Search helps real estate, construction, development, investment, and built-environment organizations recruit proven C-suite and senior executives through national market mapping, direct outreach to passive talent, rigorous leadership assessment, and retained-search accountability.
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98%+ long-term executive retention
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1,000+ executive placements
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20 years of search experience
98%+
Executive Retention Beyond Year One
Your Search Reaches Beyond Applicants
Recruit leaders who may never respond to a job posting.
Direct competitors
Adjacent organizations
Passive executives
Nationwide leadership markets
98%+
Placed executives remaining successfully
beyond the first year
1,000+
Executive placements completed nationwide
20 Years
Executive search experience since 2006
National Reach
Market mapping and direct executive recruitment
Chief Executive Officer
President
Chief Operating Officer
Chief Financial Officer
Chief Investment Officer
Chief Development Officer
Head of Construction
Head of Development
Acquisitions Leadership
Asset Management
Capital Markets
Why Employers Call Scion
Critical Leadership Searches Rarely Begin With an Easy Hiring Problem.
Employers typically engage a retained executive search partner because the role is too important to leave to inbound applicants, the relevant leadership market is difficult to reach, or the cost of making the wrong hire is simply too high.
What Clients Get With Scion
A Retained Search Partner Focused on the Appointment—Not the Résumé Submission.
Every search is built around one objective: identify, recruit, evaluate, and successfully appoint the executive best equipped to lead the organization forward.
01 / RETENTION
98%+ Long-Term Executive Retention
More than 98% of placed executives remain successfully in their roles beyond the first year. Our process is designed around lasting leadership alignment—not simply completing a placement.
02 / REACH
National Executive Market Mapping
We map relevant organizations, competitors, adjacent industries, markets, functions, and geographies to build a deliberate view of where qualified leadership exists.
03 / PASSIVE TALENT
Direct Access to Passive Executives
Many of the strongest real estate and construction executives will never apply to a public opening. We identify and recruit them directly into your opportunity.
04 / STRATEGY
Search Strategy Built Around Your Business
We define what the executive must accomplish, where relevant experience is likely to sit, what leadership characteristics matter, and how the market should be approached.
05 / ASSESSMENT
Rigorous Executive Assessment
Candidates are evaluated against leadership capability, achievements, industry context, functional depth, organizational alignment, motivation, and long-term potential.
06 / ACCOUNTABILITY
Dedicated Team & Search Guarantee
A dedicated retained-search team manages the engagement through successful appointment. Retained engagements also include a service guarantee, subject to engagement terms.
Have a Critical Leadership Opening Now?
Tell us the role, location, business challenge, and desired timing. We will help you determine the right search strategy and executive market.
Search for the mandate—not simply the title.
Asset class • capital • investment •
development • operations • leadership
Real Estate Executive Search
Leadership for Investment, Development, Ownership & Operations.
Real estate executives operate at the intersection of capital, assets, development, market timing, operations, risk, and long-term value creation. The right profile depends heavily on the ownership model, asset class, capital strategy, portfolio, growth plan, and operating environment.
Scion builds searches around those realities, helping employers recruit leaders with the experience and leadership patterns most relevant to the business ahead.
Investment, acquisitions, and portfolio leadership
Development and entitlement leadership
Capital markets and finance executives
Asset and property management leadership
Enterprise and regional executives
Leadership that turns strategy into execution.
Projects • margin • safety • operations •
growth • client relationships
Construction Executive Search
Recruit Operators Who Can Deliver Projects, Performance & Growth.
Construction leadership requires more than technical knowledge. Presidents, operating executives, division leaders, and functional heads must balance project delivery, people, safety, productivity, customer expectations, margin, risk, and growth.
Scion can identify leaders whose history matches the scale, project environment, geography, operating complexity, and strategic demands of your construction organization.
Presidents and enterprise operating leaders
Construction and field operations leadership
Preconstruction and estimating executives
Regional and division leadership
Finance, strategy, people, and safety leadership
Executive Search Mandates
The Leadership Need Usually Starts With a Business Outcome.
A title tells only part of the story. We build search strategies around what the executive must accomplish after joining the organization.
DEVELOPMENT
Expand a Development Pipeline
Recruit a development executive capable of sourcing opportunities, navigating entitlements, managing teams, advancing projects, and executing growth across target markets.
CONSTRUCTION
Improve Project & Margin Performance
Identify an operating or construction leader who can strengthen delivery, productivity, project controls, safety, profitability, and accountability.
INVESTMENT
Deploy Institutional Capital
Recruit investment leadership with the market, asset-class, underwriting, transaction, and stakeholder experience required to execute the investment strategy.
PRIVATE EQUITY
Scale a PE-Backed Platform
Find executives capable of translating the investment thesis into growth, operational improvement, leadership depth, M&A integration, and value creation.
SUCCESSION
Replace or Succeed a Founder or CEO
Build a confidential market for proven enterprise leaders capable of protecting continuity while moving the organization into its next stage.
FINANCE
Add Strategic Financial Leadership
Recruit a CFO or senior finance executive capable of strengthening capital strategy, reporting, forecasting, systems, transactions, and business partnership.
Ownership & Operating Context
The Same Title Can Require a Very Different Executive.
A CFO, President, COO, or development executive in a public REIT may face very different expectations than the same title in a family-owned contractor, PE-backed platform, founder-led developer, or institutional investment organization.
Public Companies
Governance, investor visibility, public reporting,
enterprise scale, succession, and market scrutiny.
Private Equity-Backed
Value creation, accelerated growth, operating
improvement, M&A, reporting, and exit readiness.
Family-Owned
Succession, legacy, governance, professionalization,
growth, and long-term stewardship.
Founder-Led
Scale, leadership depth, decision delegation,
organizational maturity, and succession planning.
REITs
Portfolio operations, capital markets,
investor expectations, acquisition strategy,
finance, and asset performance.
Institutional Investors
Investment judgment, fiduciary responsibility,
underwriting, asset management, and portfolio strategy.
Private Companies
Growth, operational discipline, leadership depth,
financial infrastructure, and market expansion.
Joint Ventures & Partnerships
Stakeholder alignment, governance, development,
financing, partner communication, and execution.
Real Estate & Construction Industry Coverage
Search Expertise Across the Built-Environment Ecosystem.
We can customize executive search strategies for organizations involved in investment, ownership, development, construction, management, infrastructure, architecture, engineering, and related services.
Investment, Ownership & Operations
REITs
Real Estate Private Equity
Investment Management
Owner / Operators
Institutional Investors
Family Offices
Real Estate Funds
Asset Management
Property Management
Brokerage
Advisory
PropTech
Development & Land Organizations
Commercial Development
Residential Development
Mixed-Use
Master-Planned Communities
Land Development
Urban Development
Redevelopment
Adaptive Reuse
Hospitality Development
Healthcare Development
Data Center Development
General & Specialty Construction
General Contractors
Commercial Construction
Residential Construction
Multifamily Construction
Industrial Construction
Civil Construction
Heavy Construction
Specialty Contractors
Design-Build
EPC
Construction Management
Modular Construction
Property & Project Environments
Multifamily
Industrial & Logistics
Office
Retail
Hospitality
Healthcare
Life Sciences
Data Centers
Senior Housing
Student Housing
Affordable Housing
Self Storage
Infrastructure & Public Works
Transportation
Utilities
Energy Infrastructure
Water Infrastructure
Public Works
Digital Infrastructure
Telecommunications
Renewable Infrastructure
Architecture, Engineering & Advisory
Architecture
Engineering
Planning
Project Management
Facilities Services
Building Services
Real Estate Consulting
Cost Consulting
Sustainability
Leadership Roles We Recruit
Build Leadership Across the Entire Enterprise.
Search capability extends from the C-suite through high-impact functional and operating leadership.
C-Suite & Corporate
Chief Executive Officer
President
Chief Operating Officer
Chief Financial Officer
Chief Strategy Officer
Chief Revenue Officer
Chief Legal Officer
Chief People Officer
Capital Leadership
Chief Investment Officer
Head of Investments
Head of Acquisitions
Head of Capital Markets
Portfolio Management Leadership
Investor Relations Leadership
Managing Director
Investment Vice President
Development Leadership
Chief Development Officer
Head of Development
EVP Development
SVP Development
Regional Development Executive
VP Development
Land Development Leadership
Development Operations Leadership
Construction & Operations
President of Construction
Head of Construction
EVP / SVP Construction
VP Operations
Division President
Regional Executive
VP Preconstruction
Project Executive Leadership
Financial Leadership
Chief Financial Officer
Chief Accounting Officer
VP Finance
Head of FP&A
Treasury Leadership
Controller Leadership
Corporate Development Leadership
Strategy Leadership
Corporate Functions
Chief Human Resources Officer
Chief People Officer
General Counsel
Chief Legal Officer
Chief Risk Officer
Chief Compliance Officer
Safety Leadership
Technology Leadership
Illustrative Search Universe
Mapping Market
Known Network
START
Direct Competitors
EXPAND
Adjacent Organizations
EXPAND
Passive Executive Talent
DIRECT OUTREACH
National Leadership Market
FULL MARKET
Market Mapping & Passive Talent
Go Beyond the Executives Your Team Already Knows.
Retained search expands the accessible candidate market beyond applicants, referrals, existing databases, and familiar industry contacts.
We map the leadership landscape, identify executives whose experience aligns with the mandate, and engage qualified professionals directly—even when they are successfully employed and not actively considering a move.
Target Companies
Where does comparable leadership sit today?
Adjacent Markets
Which executives bring highly transferable experience?
Passive Leaders
Who should be recruited rather than waiting to apply?
Market Calibration
What does the executive market reveal about the profile?
Executive Candidate Quality
Qualified Shortlist
Fewer, better-aligned executives evaluated against
the leadership mandate before presentation.
Quality Over Volume
A Deliberately Assessed Shortlist—not a Résumé Pile.
Executive recruiting should not force your leadership team to sort through a high volume of loosely qualified submissions. Scion's objective is to present a carefully developed group of executives whose experience and leadership characteristics have been evaluated against the agreed search criteria.
The question is not, “How many candidates can we submit?” It is, “Who should your organization be seriously considering for this mandate?”
Why Retained Executive Search
When the Leadership Hire Is Too Important to Wait for Applicants.
Traditional recruiting can work well for many positions. A consequential leadership search often requires a deeper, more proactive market approach.
Search Capability
Traditional Recruiting
Scion Retained Search
Candidate Market
Often centered on applicants, databases,
and immediately available talent
Purpose-built national executive market
Passive Executive Outreach
May be limited by search model and resources
Core component of every search strategy
Market Mapping
Typically narrower
Direct competitors, adjacent firms,
functions, sectors, and geographies
Confidential Search
Not always structured for sensitive leadership hiring
Search can be designed around controlled,
confidential outreach
Executive Assessment
Frequently centered on qualification and availability
Assessment against leadership mandate,
experience, outcomes, and organizational fit
Search Committee Support
Varies
Stakeholder alignment, calibration,
interviews, finalist evaluation, and closing
Search Accountability
May focus on candidate submissions
Dedicated team committed through successful appointment
The Scion Search Process
A Structured Search With Clear Employer Deliverables.
Every engagement is customized, but clients receive a disciplined process from leadership discovery and market research through finalist selection, offer, and successful appointment.
01
Discover
Align around the organization, role, mandate, culture, stakeholders, challenges, and definition of success.
Client Deliverable: Position Strategy
02
Map
Build the target market across relevant companies, industries, asset classes, functions, and geographies.
Client Deliverable: Target Market Map
03
Recruit
Directly engage active and passive executives, represent the opportunity, and manage candidate interest.
Client Deliverable: Qualified Executive Pipeline
04
Assess
Evaluate leadership history, results, experience, motivation, alignment, and ability to execute the mandate.
Client Deliverable: Calibrated Shortlist
05
Appoint
Support interviews, references, finalist comparison, selection, offer strategy, negotiation, and closing.
Client Deliverable: Successful Appointment
98%+
Long-Term Executive Retention
Placements Built to Last
Completing the Search Is Not the Same as Making the Right Appointment.
More than 98% of Scion's placed executives remain successfully in their roles beyond the first year. That outcome reflects a search philosophy built around long-term leadership alignment rather than short-term placement activity.
Relevant experience matters. So do leadership capability, organizational context, motivation, stakeholder expectations, culture, and the executive's ability to deliver against the business mandate.
Confidential Executive Search
When the Search Cannot Be Public.
Some of the most consequential leadership searches require discretion. Scion can structure executive outreach around the confidentiality needs of the organization, incumbent leader, board, investors, employees, clients, and prospective candidates.
Incumbent Replacement
Quietly map and approach potential successors
before a leadership transition becomes public.
Founder Succession
Protect continuity and stakeholder confidence
while exploring external leadership.
Strategic Expansion
Recruit leadership for new markets,
business lines, acquisitions, or growth
initiatives before public announcement.
Organizational Change
Support restructuring, transformation,
or leadership redesign with controlled
executive-market communication.
Leadership Risk
A Critical Executive Vacancy Does Not Stay Contained to One Job Description.
A prolonged leadership gap can compound across the organization. The longer the position remains unresolved, the more pressure may shift onto the board, CEO, operating team, investors, employees, and customers.
Delayed Development & Project Decisions
Important initiatives can slow when executive
ownership or decision authority is unclear.
Capital & Investment Uncertainty
Financing, acquisitions, allocations,
and investment decisions may lose momentum.
Overloaded Existing Executives
Leadership gaps often force other executives
to absorb additional scope for extended periods.
Team & Talent Risk
Uncertainty at the top can affect employee
confidence, accountability, and retention.
Client & Investor Confidence
Key external stakeholders notice prolonged
gaps in consequential leadership positions.
National Recognition
Recognized Nationally. Trusted for Consequential Hires.
Scion's recognition reflects an ongoing commitment to client experience, candidate care, recruiting excellence, and successful search partnerships.
Recognized By & Featured Among
Forbes
ClearlyRated
Inc. 5000
Business Times
Business Journals
Employer FAQs
Real Estate & Construction Executive Search FAQs
Answers for CEOs, boards, investors, founders, owners, developers, HR leaders, and executives considering a retained search partner.
When should a real estate company use a retained executive search firm?
Retained executive search is particularly
valuable when the role is business-critical,
the strongest candidates are unlikely to apply
directly, confidentiality matters, internal
sourcing has been exhausted, or the organization
needs a comprehensive view of the relevant
leadership market before making a decision.
What is real estate executive search?
Real estate executive search is a targeted
process for identifying and recruiting senior
leaders across investment, ownership,
development, acquisitions, asset management,
property operations, capital markets, finance,
and related real estate functions.
What is construction executive search?
Construction executive search focuses on
recruiting senior leaders for general
contractors, specialty contractors,
design-build organizations, developers,
engineering firms, infrastructure companies,
construction managers, and related organizations.
How do you recruit passive real estate executives?
Scion maps organizations and leadership
populations where relevant experience is likely
to exist, identifies executives whose background
aligns with the mandate, and approaches those
professionals directly with a confidential,
targeted opportunity—even when they are not
actively looking for a new position.
Can an executive search firm confidentially replace an existing leader?
Yes. Confidential executive search can be used
when an employer needs to explore replacement
candidates before publicly announcing a
transition. Outreach, candidate communication,
and stakeholder involvement can be structured
around the confidentiality requirements of
the engagement.
How do you find construction executives with specific project experience?
Search criteria can be built around project
type, construction method, contract structure,
geography, project size, customer environment,
operating scale, safety requirements, margin
responsibility, and leadership scope. The
target-company map is then developed around
organizations where comparable experience exists.
What should I look for in a real estate executive search firm?
Employers should consider the firm's ability
to understand the leadership mandate, map the
relevant market, access passive executives,
assess candidates beyond résumé qualifications,
manage confidential outreach, support multiple
stakeholders, communicate consistently, and
stay accountable through successful appointment.
What executives can Scion recruit for real estate and construction companies?
Searches may include CEOs, Presidents, COOs,
CFOs, Chief Investment Officers, Chief
Development Officers, Heads of Construction,
Heads of Development, acquisitions executives,
capital markets leaders, asset management
executives, regional presidents, division
leaders, finance executives, people leaders,
legal leaders, and other senior positions.
Does Scion conduct executive searches nationwide?
Yes. Scion conducts executive searches across
the United States and can map relevant talent
by region, metropolitan area, competitor
organization, function, sector, and adjacent
leadership market.
Can Scion recruit across different real estate asset classes?
Yes. Searches can be structured around relevant
experience across multifamily, industrial and
logistics, office, retail, hospitality,
healthcare, life sciences, data centers,
senior housing, student housing, affordable
housing, self storage, mixed-use, infrastructure,
and other property environments.
Can Scion support private equity-backed real estate or construction companies?
Yes. For private equity-backed organizations,
executive profiles can be aligned with the
investment thesis, value-creation strategy,
growth plan, reporting environment, M&A
expectations, operating improvement priorities,
and anticipated transaction or exit horizon.
How does Scion evaluate executive candidates?
Candidate evaluation is customized to the
mandate and may include leadership capability,
industry and functional experience, operating
scope, achievements, strategic judgment,
financial acumen, stakeholder communication,
team leadership, organizational alignment,
motivation, and evidence of delivering results
in comparable environments.
Does Scion support boards and search committees?
Yes. Scion can help boards and search committees
align around the leadership profile, calibrate
candidate expectations, structure interviews,
compare finalists, coordinate references,
support selection, and maintain candidate
engagement through closing.
What happens after we contact Scion about a search?
The first step is a confidential conversation
about the role, organization, leadership
challenge, business context, geography, and
desired timing. Scion can then help define the
position strategy, executive profile, target
market, engagement structure, and search launch.
Start a Confidential Executive Search
The Executive You Need May Never Apply. We Know How to Find Them.
Tell us the role, business mandate, location, and timing. Our executive search team can help define the search strategy, map the relevant leadership market, directly recruit proven active and passive executives, and manage the engagement through successful appointment.
What Happens Next
01
Tell us about the position and what the
organization needs this leader to accomplish.
02
Speak confidentially with our executive
search team about the market and mandate.
03
Align around the executive profile,
target market, and search strategy.
04
Launch market mapping and direct
executive outreach.