Utility Infrastructure Development Lead - Pre-Construction

Aquent; Town of Texas (WI); On-site; USD 135,000 - 145,000; Full time

Job summary

Aquent is seeking a Project Development Manager in The Woodlands, TX to lead early development and pre-construction phases for utility infrastructure projects. You will bridge Business Development, Engineering, and Construction teams, ensuring scope clarity, budgets, and schedules.

This role requires 5–10 years of experience in development or construction and strong knowledge of utility systems. Onsite work, with a focus on coordination across stakeholders and regulatory requirements, is

Qualifications

• 5–10 years of experience in project development, construction management, or related roles.
• Demonstrated experience with utility infrastructure planning and coordination.
• Strong understanding of pre-construction processes, permitting, and early cost modeling.

Responsibilities

• Lead project development activities from initial concept through construction handoff.
• Define project scope, baseline assumptions, risks, and execution strategy early in the lifecycle.
• Develop and manage preliminary budgets, cost models, and schedule development.
• Coordinate feasibility studies, site due diligence, and constructability reviews.
• Maintain development risk registers and drive mitigation strategies prior to mobilization.
• Serve as primary lead for utility infrastructure coordination, including electric power, water, wastewater, natural gas, telecom and fiber.
• Engage with utility providers, municipalities, and regulatory agencies.
• Support utility applications, service agreements, and infrastructure extension plans.
• Coordinate offsite utility scopes with civil engineers and internal construction teams.
• Manage permitting strategy and timelines across local, state, and utility authorities.
• Coordinate zoning, land use, environmental, and building permit requirements.
• Support entitlement approval processes and ensure compliance with jurisdictional requirements.
• Track permit status and critical path impacts.
• Support or lead early estimating efforts and cost validation in partnership with estimating teams.
• Help coordinate the development of project schedules and milestone dates.
• Ensure a clean, structured handoff to Project Management and Field Execution teams.
• Participate in turnover meetings to ensure scope, cost, and risk alignment.
• Act as a cross-functional integrator between Development, Engineering, Procurement, and Construction.
• Support client and stakeholder presentations during the development phase.
• Provide clear, executive-level updates on development progress, risks, and decisions.

Skills

Project development

Pre-construction

Utility coordination

Budget & schedule

Cross-functional leadership

Stakeholder communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree (Construction Mgmt / Eng / related)

Job description

Aquent is seeking a Project Development Manager in The Woodlands, TX to lead early development and pre-construction phases for utility infrastructure projects. You will bridge Business Development, Engineering, and Construction teams, ensuring scope clarity, budgets, and schedules.

This role requires 5–10 years of experience in development or construction and strong knowledge of utility systems. Onsite work, with a focus on coordination across stakeholders and regulatory requirements, is