Senior Vice President of Development

• Develop and lead Lightedge’s long-term development strategy across site acquisition, power procurement, design, engineering, and construction.
• Drive alignment between infrastructure investments, commercial strategy, and technological trends in the data center sector to enable rapid market entry and capacity scaling.
• Partner with Sales, Finance, and Operations to prioritize development initiatives based on ROI, customer demand, and power availability.
• Report regularly to the CEO and Board of Directors on development progress, key risks, and strategic initiatives.

• Direct in-house and/or third-party design, engineering, and construction teams to deliver projects on time and within budget.
• Establish scalable design and construction standards to support consistent delivery across data centers of different sizes.
• Ensure all developments adhere to internal standards for quality, sustainability, compliance, and safety.

• Develop and execute strategies for securing reliable and cost-effective grid-connected power to support growing data center portfolio, structuring creative energy solutions where necessary.
• Negotiate and manage contracts with utilities for services, infrastructure, and grid interconnection. Advocate for favorable regulations for large energy users.

• Build and lead a high-performing, cross-functional team of real estate, power, design, engineering, and construction professionals and external contractors.
• Foster a culture of accountability, innovation, and continuous improvement.

• Partner with Finance to build and manage capital budgets.
• Lead strategic vendor partnerships and negotiation of commercial terms.

• Ensure appropriate risk management frameworks are in place for development activities, including regulatory, environmental, and financial risks.
• Partner with Legal to ensure governance across all jurisdictions and project types.

• Partner with strategic finance for end-to-end site acquisition process, including market analysis, feasibility studies, land procurement, entitlements, and incentives.
• Build and maintain relationships with brokers, municipalities, and developers.

• 10+ years of experience in data center development, construction, or infrastructure delivery.
• Proven track record of delivering data center development projects across the U.S.,with scale exceeding $100M per project.
• Deep understanding of electrical and mechanical systems, utility interconnects, permitting processes, and Tier III operational standards.
• Demonstrated experience in capital planning, vendor negotiations, and managing development budgets exceeding $100M annually.
• Strong knowledge of entitlements, incentive negotiations, environmental compliance, and land development lifecycle.

• Deep understanding of Tier III data center design principles, with fluency in Uptime Institute standards and redundancy configurations (N, N+1, 2N, etc.).
• Proficiency in mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) systems including:

• Experience implementing modular and prefabricated design solutions to enable speed-to-market and scalability.

• Advanced knowledge of utility infrastructure planning, including transmission and distribution design, substation integration, and dual-feed resiliency.
• Familiarity with energy service agreements (ESAs), power purchase agreements (PPAs), and utility interconnects.
• Understanding of thermal management strategies, such as free cooling, liquid cooling, and containment design for high-density deployments.
• Understanding of efficiency metrics like PUE, WUE, and their optimization through design and operations.

• Expertise with land due diligence, zoning, entitlements, environmental site assessments (Phase I/II), and local regulatory processes.
• Experience securing and managing development incentives (e.g., tax abatements, infrastructure grants, energy rebates) and managing public/private utility negotiations.
• Proficiency with GIS and power availability mapping tools to identify viable land in target markets.

• Familiarity with construction delivery models including design-bid-build, design-build, and CM at-risk.
• Proficiency in project management tools, managing construction schedules, Gantt charts, milestone tracking, and earned value reporting.
• Deep experience with construction budgeting, cost estimating (ROM to GMP), and value engineering.

• Understanding of:

• Familiarity with commissioning standards (Level1–5) and integrated systems testing (IST).

• In-depth knowledge of building codes, safety regulations, and permitting across U.S. jurisdictions.
• Experience working with environmental agencies, local utility commissions, and permitting authorities to meet development timelines.

• Comfort with dashboards and data visualization tools (PowerBI,Tableau) for executive and board reporting.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.