Data Center Site Selection & Development Manager

Crux AI

Palo Alto (CA)

On-site

USD 150,000 - 210,000

Full time

4 days ago

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Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, and vision

401(k) with company match

Bonus incentive compensation

Job summary

Crux AI in the United States is seeking an experienced leader for integrated AI infrastructure development. The role focuses on sourcing sites, negotiating leases, incentives, and interconnection with utilities while coordinating cross-functional teams to deliver build-ready opportunities.

Applicants should have 10+ years in data-center site development and a demonstrated ability to drive power-first economics.

Qualifications

10+ years in site selection, land acquisition, or infrastructure development for data centers or comparable capital projects.
Experience negotiating purchases, leases, incentives, and utility agreements.
Track record representing demanding counterparties to utilities and governments, with multi-party negotiations.

Responsibilities

Build and manage a site pipeline across channels with disciplined screening and a tracker.
Lead diligence on third-party offerings and negotiate LOIs, leases, and BTS agreements.
Lead first-party greenfield development including land control, incentives, and entitlements.
Underwrite sites on power-first economics and budget site conditions.
Prepare site recommendations and approval packages for executives.
Coordinate cross-functional deal teams from first screen to handoff.
Build durable relationships with utilities and communities for expansion.

Skills

Site selection

Land acquisition

Infrastructure development

Negotiation

AI agentic mindset

Job description

Built to set the gold standard for integrated AI infrastructure

Crux AI is a newly formed, U.S.-based integrated AI infrastructure company created to remove the physical and operational constraints on consequential AI ambitions. Crux brings together power, high-density data centers, TPU silicon, networking, orchestration software, and ongoing operations as one integrated system.

Crux is being capitalized to plan every layer together, develop each one to demanding standards, and operate the whole system with efficiency and reliability. That gives hyperscalers, frontier AI labs, sovereign customers, enterprises, and AI-native companies greater freedom to pursue the AI they are here to create.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

You will find and secure the sites Crux's capacity roadmap runs on — through both channels: third-party capacity (powered shells, build-to-suits, colo blocks, and turnkey partner deals) and first-party greenfield development (land, power, incentives, entitlements). You will run a live pipeline of opportunities, screen fast and kill fast, and take the survivors through diligence, negotiation, and internal approval. Power availability drives the map, so you will work hand-in-glove with the Energy Manager on interconnection reality, and with design, construction, legal, and finance to turn a promising site into a committed, buildable project.

In this role, you will:

Build and manage the site pipeline across both channels — sourcing from brokers, developers, utilities, economic development agencies, and direct landowner outreach — with disciplined screening criteria, a maintained tracker, and honest kill decisions.
Lead diligence on third-party offerings: verify power claims (queue position, study status, executed agreements), permits and entitlements, shell design AI-readiness, developer credibility, and delivery schedule — and negotiate LOIs, leases, and BTS agreements on terms that protect Crux.
Lead first-party greenfield development: land control and acquisition, utility engagement, incentive negotiations with state and local agencies, zoning and entitlements, and environmental review through to a shovel-ready site.
Underwrite sites on power-first economics: commission geotechnical investigation before commitment, budget site conditions and bridging power as base scope on power-driven sites, and factor corridor labor-market concentration into the cost picture.
Prepare site recommendations and approval packages for the executive team and investment committee — comparable economics, risk register, schedule range anchored on external dependencies (interconnection, permitting, easements), and a clear go/no-go.
Coordinate the cross-functional deal team — energy, design, construction, network/fiber, legal, tax, and finance — from first screen through closing and handoff to delivery.
Build durable relationships with utilities, municipalities, and communities that support current projects and future expansion options.

SIGNALS OF SUCCESS

After 60 days in this role:

Screening criteria and pipeline tracker is stood up and populated.
Every inbound deal in the funnel dispositioned with a documented rationale.
Diligence checklist (power, permits, geotech, design, sponsor) in use.

After 6 months:

Multiple sites are through full diligence to LOI or PSA/lease negotiation.
At least one credible option is secured per priority market.
Power claims on every advanced deal are independently verified with the Energy Manager.

After 1 year:

Site control achieved supporting the capacity roadmap across both 3P and 1P channels.
No committed site has surprised us on power, geotech, or entitlements.
Pipeline depth gives the business real optionality rather than forced deals.

EXPERIENCES, ATTRIBUTES AND MINDSET THAT INDICATE A GOOD MATCH

Experiences

10+ years in site selection, land acquisition, or infrastructure development for data centers or comparable capital projects, with hands-on negotiation of purchases, leases, incentives, and utility agreements.
Experience on both sides of the market — evaluating third-party developer/colo offerings and running first-party greenfield development — or deep enough on one side to speak the other’s language credibly.
Track record representing a demanding counterparty to utilities, economic development agencies, and local governments, and managing complex multi-party negotiations to close.

Attributes

Outcome driven and hands-on. You walk the sites, read the title work and the interconnection studies, and sit across from the county commission yourself — close enough to the deal to know when something is off before it reaches the approval memo.
Deal judgment over deal volume. You would rather kill nine deals fast and close one great one than nurse a pipeline of maybes; your recommendations come with the risks stated plainly, not sold past.

Mindset

High tolerance for ambiguity. Every site is a bundle of unknowns — queue timelines, entitlement politics, seller behavior. You absorb that, keep several paths alive, and still give the business clear dates and decisions.
Skeptical of every claim, respectful of every counterparty. 300MW available is a hypothesis until the study and the executed agreement say otherwise — and you verify without burning the relationship.
AI-agentic first. Fluent with AI agents — or committed to becoming so quickly — and you embed them as first principles in how you and your team work, defaulting to agentic workflows before adding headcount or process.

Nice to have (preferred, not required):

Hyperscale data center site selection experience, or development experience at a major colo/developer platform (QTS, Vantage, CyrusOne, Aligned or similar).
Working knowledge of interconnection processes and wholesale power markets across multiple US regions.
Experience negotiating economic incentive packages (tax abatements, sales tax exemptions, infrastructure grants).
Familiarity with environmental review, wetlands/floodplain issues, and geotechnical risk on industrial-scale sites.
Fiber/network route planning exposure for large campuses.

Salary Range Information

The annual salary range for this position has been estimated based on market data and other factors. However, a salary higher or lower than this range may be appropriate for a candidate whose qualifications differ meaningfully from those listed in the job description.

About Crux