Senior Pre-Development Lead, Data Centers

QTS Data Centers; United States; Remote; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

QTS Data Centers is seeking a Director of Pre-Development to lead all pre-development activities across designated regions. You will coordinate with Corporate Real Estate, Investment, Development, Technology, and Data Center Operations to align project readiness with business objectives.

The role requires strong experience in site selection, permitting, environmental and technical due diligence, and budgeting. Travel up to 50% will be required to manage multiple projects.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Science, Engineering, Finance, Real Estate, or related field, or equivalent experience.
• 8+ years in commercial development including due diligence, entitlements, permitting, and project delivery.
• 8+ years leading direct reports and teams; talent development.
• Advanced knowledge of MS Office, esp. PowerPoint for exec updates and Excel for budgets.
• Willingness to travel up to 50%.

Responsibilities

• Lead enterprise-level real estate due diligence for prospective land banks and properties with cross-functional partners.
• Develop and execute planning and permitting strategies for new sites within regulatory timelines.
• Establish and manage preliminary investment budgets for design and construction across properties.
• Direct regional teams and external consultants through design, zoning, entitlement, and permitting phases.
• Ensure designs adhere to QTS standards and identify optimization opportunities.
• Provide strategic leadership to internal design teams and governance of documentation.

Skills

Leadership

Real estate due diligence

Stakeholder management

Budgeting

Planning & permitting

Cross-functional collaboration

MS Office (Excel/PowerPoint)

Travel up to 50%

Education

Bachelor's degree in Science, Engineering, Real Estate, or related field

MBA preferred

Tools

Microsoft Excel

PowerPoint

Job description

QTS Data Centers is seeking a Director of Pre-Development to lead all pre-development activities across designated regions. You will coordinate with Corporate Real Estate, Investment, Development, Technology, and Data Center Operations to align project readiness with business objectives.

The role requires strong experience in site selection, permitting, environmental and technical due diligence, and budgeting. Travel up to 50% will be required to manage multiple projects.