Permitting Manager

Confidential Posting; United States; Remote; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Confidential Posting is seeking a seasoned Permitting Manager to lead regulatory strategy and manage complex permitting and utility coordination for capital-intensive developments. You will translate project requirements into actionable submittals, align across disciplines, and drive schedule milestones while engaging with regulators, utilities, and external advisors.

The role requires 12+ years in environmental permitting and strong leadership, communication, and risk-management skills.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science, Environmental or Civil Engineering, Planning, Public Administration, Construction Management, Law, or a related field or equivalent relevant experience.
• 12+ years of progressive experience in environmental permitting, land-use approvals, utility coordination, regulatory affairs, infrastructure development, or capital-project delivery with leadership responsibility.
• Experience engaging state and local agencies, utility providers, consultants, legal counsel, technical teams, and community stakeholders.
• Working knowledge of environmental review, air and water permitting, wastewater and stormwater requirements, land-use and construction approvals, utility interconnections, and compliance obligations for major developments.
• Ability to work effectively in a remote environment and travel up to 50% domestically and internationally.

Responsibilities

• Translate evolving design, process, construction, utility, and operating requirements into timely permitting actions and agency deliverables.
• Facilitate alignment among engineering disciplines on air, water, wastewater, stormwater, wetlands, land use, building, fire/safety, transportation, and utility approvals.
• Ensure design changes are evaluated for permitting, compliance, utility, cost, and schedule impacts before implementation.
• Support inspections, testing, commissioning, and occupancy-related approvals as required.
• Own the permitting and utility workstream schedule and integrate milestones into the master project plan.
• Direct preparation, quality review, and timely submission of permit applications, studies, environmental documentation, and agency responses.

Skills

Leadership

Regulatory affairs

Project management

Communication

Risk management

Negotiation

Travel up to 50%

Education

Bachelor's degree in Environmental Science, Environmental/Civil Engineering, Planning, Public Administration, Construction Management, Law, or related field

Equivalent relevant experience

Job description

The Permitting Manager will translate technical and project requirements into clear submittal strategies, sequence interdependent approvals, manage agency and utility interfaces, and provide leadership with an accurate view of risks, commitments, decisions, and critical-path impacts.

The successful candidate will bring significant experience leading permitting and utility programs for complex industrial, manufacturing, semiconductor, energy, infrastructure, or other capital-intensive developments. This person must be able to work across technical disciplines, build credible relationships with public agencies and utilities, anticipate regulatory issues, and move multiple approval pathways forward without compromising compliance, transparency, or project readiness.

Core Responsibilities:

Permiting Strategy and Regulatory Roadmap

• Identify required federal, state, regional, and local permits, consultations, registrations, licenses, and approvals across the project lifecycle.
• Define approval pathways, sequencing, dependencies, decision points, submittal requirements, review periods, and schedule contingencies.
• Ensure permitting assumptions and commitments are reflected in engineering, construction, commissioning, startup, and operating plans.
• Develop long-term regulatory engagement strategies to support future site expansion and manufacturing growth.
• Influence public-sector partnerships that enhance project development outcomes and infrastructure readiness.

Utility Strategy and Coordination

• Lead coordination with electric, natural gas, water, wastewater, telecommunications, and other utility providers required to support the project.
• Align load forecasts, service requirements, interconnection studies, infrastructure scope, delivery dates, commercial milestones, and utility commitments with the project plan.
• Partner with engineering, construction, operations, finance, procurement, and legal teams to evaluate utility options, constraints, costs, risks, and long-lead dependencies.
• Track utility agreements, studies, easements, off-site improvements, and readiness milestones through completion.

Agency and Stakeholder Engagement

• Serve as the primary project interface with state and local permitting agencies and coordinate federal engagement when required.
• Establish a proactive agency engagement plan, including pre-application meetings, technical briefings, formal submissions, comment responses, hearings, inspections, and approval follow-through.
• Build credible, transparent relationships with regulators, utilities, community and regional stakeholders, and external advisors while protecting confidential project information.
• Coordinate project communications and commitments so agencies receive accurate, consistent, and timely information.

Permitting Execution and Schedule Integration

• Own the permitting and utility workstream schedule and integrate approval milestones into the project’s master schedule and critical path.
• Direct preparation, quality review, and timely submission of permit applications, technical studies, environmental documentation, supporting data, and agency responses.
• Coordinate internal subject-matter experts, consultants, engineers, legal counsel, and contractors to deliver complete and defensible submittals.
• Develop recovery and sequencing options when approval timing, utility delivery, design changes, or agency requirements put project milestones at risk.

Compliance, Risk, and Commitment Management

• Maintain a consolidated register of permitting requirements, agency comments, utility dependencies, regulatory risks, commitments, conditions of approval, and required actions.
• Ensure all material items have accountable owners, due dates, supporting evidence, escalation paths, and closure criteria.
• Partner with Environmental, Health and Safety, Legal, Engineering, Construction, and Operations to confirm ongoing compliance with permits and agency commitments.
• Escalate emerging regulatory, utility, environmental, land-use, or schedule risks early with clear options and recommended actions.

Technical and Cross-Functional Coordination

• Translate evolving design, process, construction, utility, and operating requirements into timely permitting actions and agency deliverables.
• Facilitate alignment among engineering disciplines on air, water, wastewater, stormwater, wetlands, land use, building, fire and life safety, transportation, utility, and other applicable approval requirements.
• Ensure design changes are evaluated for permitting, compliance, utility, cost, and schedule implications before implementation.
• Support inspections, testing, commissioning, certificate-of-occupancy activities, and operational approvals as required.

Consultant and Team Leadership

• Lead internal permitting resources and external environmental, engineering, utility, land-use, and regulatory consultants.
• Define scopes, deliverables, budgets, schedules, quality expectations, and accountability for third-party support.
• Build a collaborative operating model that enables timely decisions across the project team, utilities, agencies, and advisors.

Performance Management and Executive Communication

• Provide concise, objective reporting on permit status, agency engagement, utility readiness, critical dependencies, commitments, risks, decisions, and schedule impacts.
• Establish measurable milestones and leading indicators that make permitting and utility workstream health visible.
• Prepare decision materials that clearly state the issue, regulatory or utility context, alternatives, implications, recommendation, and timing required.
• Maintain disciplined documentation and confidentiality appropriate to a complex, high-profile capital project.

Qualifications:

• Must be willing to relocate to the designated project site upon assignment.
• Must sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) prior to the interview process.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science, Environmental or Civil Engineering, Planning, Public Administration, Construction Management, Law, or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience.
• 12 or more years of progressive experience in environmental permitting, land-use approvals, utility coordination, regulatory affairs, infrastructure development, or capital-project delivery, including significant leadership responsibility.
• Demonstrated success developing and executing permitting strategies for complex industrial, manufacturing, semiconductor, energy, infrastructure, or other capital-intensive projects.
• Experience engaging state and local agencies, utility providers, consultants, legal counsel, technical teams, and community or regional stakeholders.
• Working knowledge of environmental review, air and water permitting, wastewater and stormwater requirements, land-use and construction approvals, utility interconnections, and compliance obligations relevant to major developments.
• Proven ability to integrate permitting and utility milestones into engineering, construction, commissioning, startup, budget, and risk-management plans.
• Strong judgment, negotiation, facilitation, written communication, and executive presentation skills.
• Ability to work effectively in a remote environment and travel up to 50% to project, agency, utility, partner, and stakeholder locations.
• Willingness to travel domestically and internationally as project needs require up to 50%.

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced degree or professional certification in environmental management, engineering, planning, project management, or a related discipline.
• Experience supporting a greenfield industrial site, semiconductor facility, advanced-manufacturing development, or multibillion-dollar capital program.
• Experience with electric and water utility capacity planning, interconnection processes, off-site infrastructure, easements, and long-lead utility programs.
• Experience overseeing environmental and permitting consultants, technical studies, public processes, agency negotiations, and conditions of approval.
• Familiarity with project scheduling, document-control, risk-management, geographic-information, or permitting-tracking tools.