Job Description
Data Center, Development Manager
Valor Front Executive Search has been exclusively retained to identify a Development Manager for a high-growth, nationally recognized urban data center platform. Our client is backed by one of the most well-capitalized investment firms in the infrastructure sector, with over $295 billion in assets under management.
Our client is entering an accelerated, multi-market growth phase through 2026–2028 and has a clear, immediate need for a front-end development leader to drive early-stage execution across a growing national pipeline. This role is intentionally positioned upstream of construction focused on program management, process, coordination, and executive visibility, not day-to-day build delivery.
About the Role
The Development Manager will serve as the central coordination hub for our client's front-end development pipeline. You will program-manage early-stage activities across multiple active and emerging markets simultaneously, build scalable workflows and reporting tools, and consolidate complex, multi-jurisdictional development work into clear executive-level visibility.
This role is a true inflection-point hire. With a half-dozen active development markets and more coming online, senior leadership needs a dedicated leader who can keep front-end initiatives moving in parallel and build the repeatable "playbook" for how development gets done across the platform.
What You Will Do
- Program-manage early-stage development activities across multiple active and emerging markets, keeping initiatives moving in parallel
- Coordinate front-end workstreams including site selection and land diligence, power entitlement and utility coordination, permitting and jurisdiction-specific development processes, and early pre-construction workflows
- Build and maintain standardized development workflows and reporting tools that scale across markets
- Track milestones, risks, and dependencies across the pipeline; surface issues early and drive mitigation plans
- Act as the primary coordination point between internal leaders and external partners including utilities, AHJs, engineers, consultants, and brokers
- Establish document repositories, templates, and process discipline so information is consistent and retrievable across all markets
- Provide leadership with clear, consistent visibility into progress, risks, and next steps — without adding meeting overhead
What You Bring
- 3-10 years of experience in front-end data center development or a comparable mission-critical or large-scale infrastructure environment (industrial, energy, utilities, telecom, or large-scale real estate development)
- Demonstrated ability to program-manage complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives across multiple sites or markets simultaneously
- Strong competency in process-building: creating workflows, governance, reporting structures, and execution discipline from the ground up
- Experience navigating multi-jurisdictional regulatory frameworks, permitting pathways, and external agency coordination
- Ability to translate complexity into concise executive-level reporting including dashboards, written updates, and milestone tracking
- Systems-oriented and highly organized; able to build order in fast-moving, growth-stage environments
- Preferred but not required: data center development experience (hyperscale, colo, edge, or enterprise), familiarity with early-phase utility power studies and substation concepts, PMP or equivalent certification
Location
Denver, CO strongly preferred. Remote candidates with the right background will be considered.
Why This Opportunity
Our client's leadership team has a track record of building and scaling national data center platforms from the ground up. The company's culture is grounded in servant leadership, integrity, empathy, and work-life balance, not just as stated values, but as operational practice.