We set a high bar, then we back you to clear it. If you’re the kind of person who takes ownership, moves fast, and does excellent work without needing to be managed, you’ll feel right at home here.
Interested in working here? We don’t always have open postings, but we’re always interested in meeting good people. Send a resume and tell us what you’re looking for.
We’re a lean team of ambitious people who trust each other to handle their own corner of the business. There aren’t a lot of check-ins or hand-holding moments. Most of us figured out early that the best way to succeed here is to pay attention, move fast, and own your results.
That said, we genuinely care about each other. We’ve watched each other grow, get licensed, earn designations, and close deals that matter. But if you need hour-long meetings to feel aligned, this probably isn’t the right fit. If you’d rather just get to work, you’ll fit right in.
CRE is still a relationship business. It always will be. The best people on our team are out meeting people, walking properties, and building the kinds of relationships that don’t get automated. In an industry increasingly shaped by AI and data tools, what we do in person is still what moves deals.
We started with two people and an idea. That spirit hasn’t left. You’re expected to think for yourself, find opportunities, and act on them without waiting for permission.
Additional compensation incentives tie individual results to company outcomes. When the firm does well, the people who helped make that happen share in it. That’s by design.
Sterling operates three distinct businesses under one roof. Brokerage, property management, or investment: each has a clear track and a real ceiling to grow toward.
The core of what we do. Our advisors work with owners, investors, tenants, and developers across every commercial asset class: industrial, office, retail, land, multifamily, and self-storage. Montana’s market is growing fast and underserved. Experienced CRE professionals have real impact here.
Potential career progression:
SterlingCMG manages millions of square footage of commercial property across Montana. Our property managers are in the field, building owner and tenant relationships that optimize portfolios. This is hands-on work where your presence and judgment matter more than any software platform.
Potential career progression:
SterlingCIG is where brokerage expertise meets capital formation. If you understand deal structures, love the analysis side of commercial real estate, and want to build something, this growing part of the firm is worth a conversation.
Potential career progression:
We’re a small team and we hire deliberately. The people who do well here are self-starters. They pick things up by paying attention and asking the right questions. They care about doing excellent work even when no one is checking.
The in-person dimension of this business matters to us. Our advisors and property managers are out in the community, in buildings, in front of clients. If your instinct is to default to a screen when a conversation would work better, that’s worth thinking about before you apply.
We’re also a firm that takes designations seriously. CCIM, SIOR, CPM: these credentials matter in our market and we actively support our people in earning them. If the professional side of your development matters to you, you’ll have resources here that most Montana firms don’t offer.
If that sounds like you, we’d like to meet you.
SterlingCRE is headquartered in Missoula with an additional office in Bozeman. That’s not an accident. Both cities are home to Montana’s largest state universities, have solid food scenes, live music, and no shortage of things to do. What really sells these communities is what’s outside.
Sterling Commercial Real Estate is named after Major Sterling “Stranger” Norton, USMC, a Marine F/A-18 pilot killed in the line of duty on July 28, 2016. This company exists because of who he was.
“Sterling was the best we have to offer as a nation, giving all that was required of him and more. He was reliable, faithful, even-keeled and unmatched in his profession. Sterling was the sort of person we all should aim to be more like, both personally and professionally.”
Matt Mellott, himself a Marine F/A-18 pilot, founded SterlingCRE in August 2017 after seeing a gap no one in Montana had filled: a firm built exclusively around CRE, with the rigor and client loyalty that Sterling implies.
That origin shapes everything from how we advise clients to how we run the office. The standard is high. The work is real.
