Development Manager

MEA Energy; Lakeland, Northern (FL, KY); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

MEA Energy seeks a Development Associate / Manager to join its multifamily development team. The role works directly with ownership, moving projects from site planning through entitlements, design, permitting, preconstruction, construction, and turnover.

The candidate should bring a solid foundation in real estate development or related fields and be ready to take on significant responsibility, grow with the company, and drive projects to successful completion.

Qualifications

• 3–7 years of relevant experience in multifamily development or related fields.
• Bachelor's degree preferred in Real Estate, Civil Engineering, Construction Management, Architecture, Business, Finance, or related field.
• Experience coordinating with cities, planning departments, and consultants is desirable.
• Strong understanding of entitlements, zoning, and permitting processes.

Responsibilities

• Help lead entitlements, zoning, and permitting for multifamily developments.
• Coordinate with cities, counties, planning departments, utility providers, and agencies.
• Manage civil engineers, architects, surveyors, landscapers, and other team members.
• Drive schedules for entitlement, design, permitting, and preconstruction.
• Review plans for coordination issues before field problems.
• Track government review comments and respond to approvals.

Skills

Proactive

Accountable

Organized

Detail-oriented

Persistent

Curious

Practical

Challenging assumptions

Growth mindset

Education

Bachelor's degree in Real Estate, Civil Engineering, Construction Management, Architecture, Business, Finance, or a related field

Job description

About the Role

Our Client is seeking a Development Associate / Development Manager to join our growing multifamily development team. This individual will work directly with our clients principals and play an active role in moving projects from initial site planning through entitlements, design, permitting, preconstruction, construction, and turnover.

We are looking for someone with a solid foundation in real estate development, civil engineering, construction, architecture, or a related field who is ready to take on greater responsibility and grow with the company.

This is a hands‑on position. The right candidate will not simply track schedules and attend meetings. We want someone who takes ownership of projects, anticipates problems before they affect cost or schedule, holds consultants accountable, and continually looks for ways to improve the design and execution of our developments.

The position offers significant exposure to the entire development process and the opportunity to work directly alongside our clients ownership while learning our approach to developing multifamily communities.

What You’ll Do

• Help lead the entitlement, zoning, and permitting process for multifamily developments.
• Coordinate with cities, counties, planning departments, utility providers, and other governmental agencies.
• Manage and coordinate civil engineers, architects, surveyors, landscape architects, traffic engineers, environmental consultants, and other members of the development team.
• Drive entitlement, design, permitting, and preconstruction schedules and actively follow up on outstanding items.
• Participate in site planning and evaluate density, unit count, building placement, parking, access, stormwater, utilities, amenities, and overall site efficiency.
• Assist with architectural and unit design to improve functionality, marketability, constructability, and cost.
• Review civil, architectural, landscape, structural, and other plans for coordination issues before they become field problems or change orders.
• Track governmental review comments and coordinate timely responses through final approval.
• Work with general contractors during preconstruction on constructability, estimating, value engineering, scheduling, and procurement.
• Assist with development budgets, consultant proposals, contracts, change orders, and predevelopment expenses.
• Participate in project meetings, site visits, municipal meetings, and inspections as needed.
• Identify potential schedule, design, permitting, or budget problems early and help drive them to resolution.
• Maintain organized project records and provide ownership with clear updates on what is complete, what remains outstanding, who is responsible, and what could affect the project.
• Assist with the transition from development and permitting into construction and ultimately project turnover.
• Help develop and improve our clients internal development standards and processes as the company’s portfolio grows.

What We’re Looking For

The ideal candidate has approximately 3–7 years of relevant experience in multifamily development, land development, civil engineering, architecture, construction, or a related field.

Prior experience working for a multifamily developer is preferred but not required. Candidates coming from a civil engineering, architecture, or construction background who understand the development process are encouraged to apply.

Strong candidates will have experience with some combination of:

• Multifamily or residential development
• Florida land development and entitlement processes
• Site planning and civil engineering
• Zoning and governmental approvals
• Utility coordination
• Architectural and design coordination
• Permitting
• Preconstruction and constructability
• Development schedules and budgets
• Consultant management
• Construction plan review

A bachelor's degree in Real Estate, Civil Engineering, Construction Management, Architecture, Business, Finance, or a related field is preferred.

Who Will Be Successful:

We’re looking for someone who is:

• Proactive — doesn’t wait for someone else to identify a problem.
• Accountable — takes ownership of assignments and follows them through completion.
• Organized — capable of managing numerous consultants, deadlines, approvals, and moving pieces simultaneously.
• Detail-oriented — catches inconsistencies between plans and disciplines before they become expensive problems.
• Persistent — follows up until an issue is actually resolved.
• Curious — wants to understand why something is designed or built a certain way rather than simply accepting it.
• Practical — understands that good development requires balancing design, cost, schedule, constructability, and the end-user experience.
• Comfortable challenging assumptions — willing to ask consultants and contractors questions and push for better solutions.
• Eager to grow — wants significant responsibility and the opportunity to develop into a senior leadership role as we grow.

Why our client:

This position provides an opportunity that can be difficult to find at a larger development company: direct involvement with ownership and exposure to virtually every aspect of the development process.

Rather than being limited to one portion of a project, the Development Associate / Manager will participate in decisions involving site planning, entitlements, civil engineering, architecture, permitting, budgeting, preconstruction, construction, and turnover.

For the right person, this position is intended to grow alongside development pipeline, with a potential career path into Senior Development Manager and ultimately Director of Development.