Project Development Associate

CATL; United States; Remote; CLP 88,322,000 - 127,576,000; Full time

Job summary

CATL is seeking a senior energy storage project development leader for the South America region. The role focuses on identifying opportunities, managing land acquisition, grid access, and permitting while coordinating with engineering, finance, legal, and operations to minimize risk and maximize project value.

The candidate will drive market analysis, stakeholder engagement, and development workflows from pre-RTB through RTB stages, with frequent travel within South America.

Qualifications

• Minimum 5 years in energy/power sectors with project development and M&A experience.
• Mastery of delivering projects from inception to RtB (ready to Build) stage.
• Fluent in English (written and spoken); additional languages are a plus.
• Willingness and ability to travel frequently within South America.

Responsibilities

• Monitor and analyze South America electricity market structures, pricing mechanisms and trends.
• Identify, screen and evaluate energy storage opportunities (greenfield, brownfield, co-location) in pre-RTB and RTB stages.
• Manage development workflows: site selection, land acquisition, grid access, permits, M&A inputs, and local coordination.
• Identify new potential utility-scale projects using data-driven approaches to target sites and land.
• Oversee land acquisition efforts and negotiate with landowners; manage external land agents.

Skills

Energy project development

Stakeholder management

M&A / asset rotation

Grid connection knowledge

Project management

Education

Master's degree

Job description

• Monitor and analyze South America region electricity market structures, pricing mechanisms, ancillary service demands, grid services and price trends.
• Identify, screen, and evaluate energy storage project opportunities (greenfield, brownfield, co-location) in pre-RTB stages and RtB stage.
• Manage key development workflows: site selection, land acquisition, grid access applications, environmental/planning permits, M&A activities, inputs into the Financial Model and local resource coordination.
• Identify new potential utility-scale projects through various sources including utilizing a data-driven software-based approach to identify projects and land to target.
• Oversee land acquisition efforts. Involvement in direct landowner negotiations, also managing external land agent partners.
• Represent the company to external/key stakeholders including local councils and government, officials, consultants, landowners.
• Manage all aspects of the project development process (grid connection, land acquisitions, permitting, environmental studies, leading public hearing processes, creating and maintaining relationships with local stakeholders, etc).
• Work closely with internal company departments (engineering, finance, legal, operations) to identify and minimize project risks. Implement solutions to maximize project value.
• Work with technical team and external consultants to assist with the grid connection process.
• Create and manage project budgets and schedules. This includes acting as project lead internally and overseeing external consultants.

Requirements:

• Experience: Minimum 5 years in energy/power sectors, covering project development, technical, project M&A activities, and engineering management.
• Skills:
• Mastery of delivering projects from inception, through development, and into RtB stage.
• Proven track record in South America region energy storage project development, M&A, or asset rotation.
• Fundamental knowledge of key determining factors for designing a constructable and bankable BESS project.
• Experiences of developing projects from RtB to FID and COD will be beneficial advantangeous.
• Communication: Exceptional negotiation and stakeholder management skills (technical teams, investors, legal, land owners and government agencies).
• Education: Master’s degree in Business, Engineering, or related fields.
• Language: Fluent in English (written/spoken); additional languages are a plus.
• Mobility: Ability to travel frequently within South America region.