Job Description
The Development Manager oversees the development of geothermal energy projects from inception to construction, managing site selection, permitting, stakeholder engagement, and project execution to ensure timely and within-budget delivery of renewable energy solutions.
Key Responsibilities
- Oversee a portfolio of greenfield geothermal projects from inception to start of construction, ensuring projects are completed on schedule and within budget.
- Identify and secure land rights, including geothermal rights and surface use rights, for project development.
- Lead all discretionary topside permit applications with support from relevant technical teams.
- Support obtaining interconnection rights and assist with commercial offtake agreements for geothermal projects.
- Coordinate with internal cross-functional teams and external stakeholders to develop strategies, improve processes, and ensure project execution.
- Engage with federal, state, and local agencies, landowners, contractors, and utilities to obtain project approvals and ensure compliance.
- Manage third-party consultants conducting site assessments, environmental surveys, cultural surveys, wetland surveys, and title reports.
- Track project timelines and budgets, holding responsible parties accountable for deliverables and deadlines.
- Ensure clear title of land and encumbrances necessary for project finance and insurance.
- Lead project diligence efforts for prospective offtakers and project financiers.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Science or Engineering or equivalent professional experience; advanced degrees and/or certifications are helpful.
- At least 3 years of experience in the energy or closely-related industry, preferably pertaining to utility-scale energy development in the western US.
- 3 years of experience negotiating commercial agreements and/or obtaining discretionary permits such as conditional use permits and NEPA applications for large infrastructure-based projects.
- Experience in utility-scale energy development, including identifying new commercially viable sites for geothermal projects, securing land rights including geothermal rights and surface use rights, and leading all discretionary topside permits with support from relevant technical teams.
- Ability to support in obtaining interconnection rights and assisting with commercial offtake for a portfolio of geothermal development projects.
- Strong leadership skills with internal cross-functional teams to build aligned strategies for streamlined processes, improved execution, and performance accountability.
- Experience building relationships with key stakeholders and third-party consultants with deep technical expertise to achieve successful project outcomes and mitigate risk.
- Ability to own the advancement and execution of projects with primary responsibility for schedule, budget, risk management, and milestone delivery.
- Proficiency in engaging directly with federal, state, and local agencies, landowners, contractors, and utilities to ensure compliance and obtain necessary project approvals or permits.
- Experience managing third-party consultants to conduct site assessments such as critical issues analyses, environmental surveys, cultural surveys, wetland surveys, and title reports.
- Ability to coordinate across technical teams and consultants to track project timelines and budgets, and hold responsible parties accountable to deliverables and deadlines.
- Experience ensuring clear title of encumbrances necessary for title insurance and project finance.
- Experience leading project diligence for prospective offtakers and project financiers.
- Strong project management skills to keep projects on-track despite challenges and constraints while maintaining high integrity and safety standards.
- Excellent communication skills to surface issues early and communicate effectively across multidisciplinary teams including subsurface resource geology, land, permitting, development, interconnection, and finance teams.
- Ability to build cross-functional alignment to dedicate internal resources for project development with increasing scale and speed.
- Innovative mindset to develop new solutions for accelerating project development and decreasing associated costs.
Benefits & Perks
Compensation/salary range: Full-time salaried position
Work schedule: Full-time hours
Work environment perks: Paid holidays, 15 days PTO, medical and dental coverage
Additional benefits: Growth opportunities in a growing startup environment, opportunity to make a direct impact in displacing carbon emissions
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