Senior Development Manager

Magna Housing Ltd; Dorchester; Remote; GBP 73,000; Full time

Job summary

Magna Housing is seeking a Senior Development Manager to lead residential development projects with a focus on land acquisition, negotiation, and delivering effective housing solutions. The ideal candidate will possess strong commercial acumen, exceptional communication skills, and a proven track record in managing complex developments and stakeholder relationships. This permanent, home-based role offers competitive pay and a comprehensive benefits package, encouraging applicants with a passion for community-focused projects.

Benefits

Company sick pay

Pension matched up to 8%

Learning and Development

Mileage and Agile working

Paid volunteer day

Health Care Cash Plan

Employee assistance

Discounts on entertainment and shopping

Progressive vacation entitlement

Qualifications

• 5+ years' experience in residential development.
• Extensive knowledge of land and planning regulations.
• Experience managing teams and fostering collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Develop land/property pipeline and negotiate contracts.
• Oversee planning applications and negotiations.
• Manage new opportunities and present business cases.

Skills

Commercial acumen

Negotiation

Networking

Problem solving

Creativity

Education

Degree level education or equivalent

Professional qualification (e.g., RICS)

Job description

Salary: £72,209 per annum plus benefits

Hours: 37 hours per week (Mon-Fri)

Home-based with occasional travel.

Permanent role.

The closing date for applications: 29.06.25 (Midday)

At Magna, our vision is to create great homes together. We have ambitious plans, and are seeking creative, aspirational, and talented people to join our fast-paced, adaptable, and highly collaborative environment.

As a Senior Development Manager for Magna Housing, you will bring extensive experience in residential development and affordable housing. You will handle complexities with detail-oriented precision and have a proven record in land acquisition and new business. You streamline processes to achieve results and consistently exceed expectations. Your strong networking abilities and established industry connections will help build relationships with developers, landowners, and stakeholders. Excellent communication skills enable you to engage diverse communities and partners. In this role, you will promote best practices in construction, development, and inclusivity, driving positive change within and beyond the organization. You will excel as a problem solver and negotiator, ensuring equitable outcomes and shaping the future of home and estate designs, supported by an inspirational leadership team, executive team, and progressive board.

Role requirements: A comprehensive Job Profile is attached to this advert:

• This growth-focused role requires excellent commercial acumen across various tenures, along with exceptional engagement, creativity, and negotiating skills. Your primary objective is to develop the land/property pipeline, negotiate deals, and conclude contracts to enable smooth transition to the Delivery Team.
• You will take ownership of Magna’s development pipeline to achieve growth targets, including sourcing sites independently and ensuring accurate and up-to-date growth data reporting.
• Manage new opportunities through our internal approvals process, presenting robust and diligent business cases for approvals at all levels within the organization, covering for the Head of Growth when required.
• Lead on the planning applications process through to consent and oversee negotiations of contracts for the development and purchase of land and properties.

What You Need To Be Successful

• You will possess extensive experience in land and property development, including a deep understanding of land and planning regulations and complex mixed-tenure regenerations. This may include (but is not essential) experience in implementing joint venture and partnership models, aligned with Magna's risk appetite.
• A solid working knowledge of development, planning, design, and construction processes, along with the ability to conduct feasibility studies, options appraisals, and financial appraisals effectively, and manage budgets (including professional fees).
• You will have great experience in managing teams and fostering a cohesive "one team" approach to new business initiatives, and proficiency in negotiation and coordination of land and build contracts to ensure successful delivery.
• Excellent commercial acumen along with exceptional engagement, creativity, and negotiating skills, as well as advanced networking abilities and an established network in the industry.
• Experience of successful partnership working with local authorities, developers, community representatives, and statutory authorities.
• Knowledge of grant funding bids, writing and presenting business cases, and procedures alongside drafting policies would be advantageous.
• Educated to degree level or equivalent qualification or experience, with a minimum of 5 years working experience in residential development. Professional qualification, for example RICS, would also be advantageous.

Applicants with transferable qualities are encouraged to apply.

Magna Benefits

We pride ourselves on providing an excellent working environment and great benefits. We look after those who work for us as we understand that without the commitment of our colleagues, we would not be able to provide the fantastic range of services to our customers.

We offer:

• Company sick pay.
• Pension matched up to 8%.
• Learning and Development.
• Mileage and Agile working.
• Paid day a year to volunteer.
• Wellbeing Portal and Colleague Voice.
• Rental / Stamp Duty Loan and Credit Union.
• Employee assistance & Health Care Cash Plan.
• Discounts on entertainment, high street shops, and grocery shopping.
• Competitive annual leave entitlement, which increases progressively with the duration of your service over the first five years.

Our full range of benefit details can be viewed on our website under each vacancy.

For an informal discussion about this post, please contact: Dani Davies – Talent Acquisition Lead at: [e-mail] or by mobile: [phone]

To apply please visit our website www.magna.org.uk, select Careers Tab / Current Vacancies / Role, or follow the link attached to this advert.

Magna reserves the right to close the vacancy early should sufficient applications be received. We therefore highly recommend that you submit your application early.

About Us

We’re Magna Housing, a customer-centred housing association, mainly working in Dorset and Somerset (our head office is in Dorchester), with a vision to create great homes together. We want to make sure that we constantly add value to the lives of our customers and colleagues, and we work hard to deliver this year on year.

Our vision of “Creating Great Homes Together” is fundamental to the work we do, and we have ambitious plans to be “beyond the best” over the next ten years.

Magna prides itself on being large enough to influence but small enough to care. We are on an exciting journey – one that requires agility in how the business develops over the next decade, and different, innovative ways of working as we explore new territory.

Inclusion is important to us here at Magna, and inclusion for everyone is our commitment to making long-term and deep change to become an organization known for being inclusive and welcoming for all. We won’t achieve our vision, mission, or strategy without being inclusive. It is the foundation of how we work, our culture, and our values, and how we adjust to make sure our customer and colleague experiences are welcoming and relevant.

Our successes come through an appreciation of difference – different perspectives, experiences, thoughts, actions, and skills. All of which add value and generate innovation. Embracing difference will enable us to get it right, first time, and offer the right homes in the right place for our customers.

For further information about Magna, please visit our website by clicking here.

Our Benefits

Generous holiday

This means the safety of our colleagues and our customers is always our main priority.

Competitive pension

This is our mindset and our team approach to putting customers at the heart of all we do.

Wellbeing support

This is about how we treat each other and how we go about our business.

Healthcare cash plan

This is about how we all take responsibility for all our actions every day.

Learning and development

This is about how we learn about each other, our customers, and our business. Learning helps make sure we all do the right thing, how we challenge convention, and look beyond existing boundaries.

Colleague voice

This is how we come together as #teammagna, embracing our diversity and recognizing that together we can achieve outstanding results.

For more details on our great range of benefits, please download the attachment which can be found at the bottom of this page.

Our values

Always safe

This means the safety of our colleagues and our customers is always our main priority.

All About Customers

This is our mindset and our team approach to putting customers at the heart of all we do.

Be kind

This is about how we treat each other and how we go about our business.

Own it

This is about how we all take responsibility for all our actions every day.

One team

This is how we come together as #teammagna, embracing our diversity and recognizing that together we can achieve outstanding results.

Be curious

This is about how we learn about each other, our customers, and our business. Learning helps make sure we all do the right thing, how we challenge convention, and look beyond existing boundaries.