Job Description – Sr. Development Manager
Position: Full Time– Salaried, Exempt Position
Reports to: VP Development
Location: Long Beach, CA
Position Supervises: None
Position Summary
A renewable energy company is seeking a Sr. Development Manager to join our growing team in North America, focusing on the rapidly expanding renewable energy sector. This position supports greenfield development and project acquisition opportunities within the project development organization for Solar PV and hybrid (PV + BESS) projects. The role is primarily centered on development activities in the US Western markets. Responsibilities include providing analytical and project management support across the development lifecycle of greenfield, co-development, and acquired projects. This role involves interaction with internal team members and external project development partners to track and report on project schedules, budgets, expenditures, and other critical development matters. Additionally, this position involves conducting research, analyses, and supporting workstreams related to land, grid, regulatory frameworks, permitting regimes, local incentives, abatements, and facilitating necessary project filings. This role offers significant career growth opportunities within a start-up environment, working for a joint venture between two large multinational parent companies.
Responsibilities
Duties include but are not limited to:
- Support project development efforts, including greenfield initiatives in selected markets, by collaborating with team members on land, interconnect studies, contract administration, surveys, and other due diligence efforts.
- Assist GIS in prospecting analytics and project origination activities by researching and gathering critical data on markets, energy infrastructure, land, grid, regulatory frameworks, permitting regimes, and local/state/federal incentives and abatements to effectively screen and prioritize project opportunities.
- Create and review project reports, deliverable summaries, budgets, schedules, contracts, and other project documents.
- Coordinate with external project development partners to manage project deliverables under development agreements, including timelines, expenditures, project documents, and data rooms.
- Establish and maintain a project development and management platform to report on project and pipeline-level expenditures, progress, and critical issues.
- Serve as the project management liaison internally with Finance and Accounts to project pipeline spend projections, budgets, variances, project payment obligations, and associated management reporting.
- Maintain up-to-date project pipeline and project summaries to support Offtake and Financing activities.
- Collaborate with team members to create pipeline decision documents justifying incremental spend on each project and supporting ongoing project development strategy.
- Manage various project assumptions to ensure consistency and controlled updates rollout.
- Review project acquisition data rooms to understand project status, articulate investment commitments, identify key risks or incomplete development, and summarize project opportunities to support timely project appraisals for investment committees.
- Research, identify, and maintain a list of potential co-development partners, conducting outreach activities to support project origination and brand awareness.
Qualifications, Education, and Experience
- Bachelor’s degree in engineering, or a major in an energy-related field or Energy Development education and background.
- 5+ years of relevant work experience in the renewable energy project development environment.
- Hands-on experience in WECC and CAISO.
- Experience in creating, reviewing, and managing contracts, schedules, and budgets.
- Proficiency with MS Project, Oracle Primavera, or other project management and budgeting platforms like Monday.com, Smartsheets, Zoho, etc.
- Strong computer skills (MS Excel, Word, PowerPoint).
Competencies
Successful candidates should demonstrate the following skills, knowledge, and attributes:
- Efficient, diligent, and effective work ethic to accomplish key responsibilities promptly.
- Ability to thrive in a fast-paced start-up culture and contribute hands-on.
- Detail-oriented while managing multiple project tasks and deadlines.
- Excellent written and oral communication skills, as well as organizational abilities.
- Strong cross-cultural relationship building and influencing skills at all organizational levels.
- Flexible and cooperative with a well-developed team spirit and motivation for team success.
- Collaborative mindset, capable of working effectively within a team and supporting colleagues.
- Advanced computer skills with proficiency in various office software and the ability to effectively use spreadsheets, word processing, networking, and email programs.