Manager, Site Development

rowan; United States; Hybrid; USD 125,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Rowan Digital Infrastructure in Denver, CO, is seeking a Manager of Site Development to drive origination and development across our data center portfolio. You will shape Rowan's development strategy, evaluate sites, and advance them through due diligence, entitlements, and into leasing and construction pipelines in line with business goals.

The ideal candidate has a proven record delivering complex data center projects, strong negotiation and communication skills, and a disciplined, proactive

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field.
• 5–7 years leading large-scale site development projects.
• Proven experience negotiating land purchases and development agreements.
• Experience working with AHJs, utilities, and economic development agencies.
• Strong cross-functional leadership and budgeting experience.
• Ability to travel up to 40% for sites and meetings.
• Comfort leading with ambiguity in a fast-paced environment.

Responsibilities

• Lead site development activities from origination to construction readiness.
• Manage due diligence contractors, schedules, and budgets.
• Negotiate land acquisitions and development agreements.
• Coordinate cross-functional evaluation with power, engineering, legal teams.
• Oversee land use, entitlements, permitting and pre-construction workstreams.
• Provide clear updates to leadership and stakeholders.
• Help establish diligence practices and scalable development processes.

Skills

Site development

Negotiation

Cross-functional leadership

Due diligence

Budget management

Education

Bachelor's degree

Job description

At Rowan Digital Infrastructure, we are transforming data center delivery for speed and scale. Our mission is to deliver best-in-class data center solutions to hyperscale customers who share our commitment to sustainability, and to do so with an unwavering focus on efficiency, quality, and flexibility. Our data center solutions are tailored to our customers' needs and delivered by our exceptional end-to-end team. Rowan is assembling a strategic portfolio of data center sites in Tier 1 markets across the United States at various stages of development, and we're looking for incredible and passionate people to help us advance our company and our commitment to building a more sustainable future.

Rowan is backed by Quinbrook, a leading investor in the energy transition, and Blackstone, the world's largest alternative asset manager.

Role Summary

Rowan is seeking a Manager of Site Development to lead the origination and development of data center development activities across our project portfolio. This role is integral to shaping and executing Rowan's development strategy and rapid expansion-determining which sites to pursue, advancing them through due diligence and entitlements, and delivering them into the leasing and construction pipeline in alignment with business objectives. The ideal candidate brings a strong track record of delivering complex data center projects, has experience in early evaluation of power/energy availability in various regions, exceptional negotiation and communication skills, and can succinctly and accurately provide senior leadership-level updates across their project portfolio. Success in this role requires comfort with ambiguity, a highly organized and proactive approach, and the ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, cross-functional environment.

Travel: Ability to travel up to (40%) for company gatherings or to project sites.

Location: Denver, CO (hybrid in-office role)

Compensation: $125 - $150K (Offers Bonus)

Essential Responsibilities

• Collaborate with senior-level deal leads, supporting site development activities for a portfolio of data center projects-from site origination up to construction commencement. Responsibilities include initial site screening, pipeline management, site due diligence, title curative actions, and risk management
• Independently manage site due diligence contractors for early-stage projects, overseeing contract management, onsite activities, schedules, and budgets
• Support senior level deal leads with key agreement negotiations, including land acquisitions, development agreements, and other commercial contracts that support risk mitigation and project advancement
• Coordinate cross-functional evaluation of potential sites by collaborating with a multidisciplinary team of subject matter experts across power/energy, engineering, legal, planning, and other domains
• Support the advancement of all development activities, including managing complex land transactions, land use and entitlements, permitting, physical and legal due diligence, and other pre-construction workstreams, and relay the impact of these on key investment metrics
• Collaborate with internal teams-including energy, fiber, finance, water & wastewater, legal, and economic development-to identify and address key project risks and ensure long-term viability
• Represent the project internally and externally, providing clear, concise updates to project teams and leadership
• Contribute to team growth and scalability by helping establish strong diligence and reporting practices and continuously improving development processes and systems

Education, Skills, and Experience

Bachelor's degree in a relevant field (e.g., business, real estate, environmental management) and 5-7 years of experience leading large-scale, complex site development projects or portfolios in the data center or commercial real estate industry

Demonstrated experience negotiating commercial agreements, including land purchase agreements, energy, water/wastewater service, and economic development agreements

Demonstrated ability to work with external stakeholders, including authorities having jurisdiction (AHJs), utilities, and economic development agencies to advance complex infrastructure projects

Strong experience leading cross-functional initiatives, with responsibility for project strategy, budgets, schedules, and risk management

Demonstrated trust-based leadership, with the ability to lead cross-functional teams and influence outcomes without formal authority

Proficiency in real estate development due diligence, permitting, and entitlements for large-scale developments

Fueled by Excellence & Collaboration
At Rowan, we are a distributed team united by a common mission to transform data