Vice President, Data Center Pre-Construction

Giga Energy; United States; On-site; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Subsidized health, dental, and vision

Unlimited PTO

401(k) with 4% employer match

Healthcare and Dependent Care FSA/HSA

Equity (options) in a rapidly growing

Job summary

Giga Energy is seeking a VP, Pre-Construction to own site selection through shovel-ready delivery, embedded with a development team and local authorities. You will accelerate end-to-end entitlement, permitting, and utility coordination, balancing complex schedules under tight timelines.

This in-office role favors candidates in San Francisco, Long Beach, or Houston, with onsite work and limited exceptions for exceptional talent outside hubs. You will shape critical infrastructure projects.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Planning, Construction Management, or related field.
• Experience managing entitlements, permitting, and utility coordination simultaneously.
• Ability to create and manage detailed project schedules and critical path dependencies.
• Comfortable operating in fast-paced, ambiguous environments with shifting priorities.

Responsibilities

• Entitlements & Permitting: Build agency relationships early and drive zoning, land use approvals, and variances.
• Utility & Infrastructure Coordination: Lead negotiations with power providers and coordinate permit packages.
• Stakeholder & Community Engagement: Represent Giga Energy at public hearings and agency presentations.
• Process & Schedule Management: Create and maintain development schedules tracking every milestone.

Skills

Strong technical literacy

Relationship-building

Schedule management

Agile / fast-paced environment

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Planning, Construction Management, or related field

Job description

• The Pace: We’re building at a speed most companies talk about but never actually operate at. If you’ve been bored somewhere else, you won’t be here.
• The Impact: Every person at Giga touches the work that matters. No layers, no waiting for approval chains. You’ll see your fingerprints on what we ship.
• The Team: A team of operators defining the future of AI infrastructure. We recruit A-players from the most innovative companies in the world, and they choose Giga because the work here means more.
• The Moment: AI doesn’t run without power, and that’s us. Giga is the picks and shovels behind the AI revolution. This industry is about to explode, and you’ll be in the room where it’s already happening.

What you’ll do

As a VP, Pre-Construction, you will own everything that sits between site selection and construction. This is not a permitting coordination role — it is full-stack site delivery. You will be embedded with a development team and local jurisdictions to take end-to-end ownership of getting each site shovel-ready as fast as possible.

This role is ideal for someone who thrives under real schedule pressure, builds relationships with agencies and utilities before they are needed, and thinks in terms of parallel workstreams and creative problem solving rather than sequential checklists.

Where you’ll work

We are an in-office culture — velocity matters when you’re building physical infrastructure, and the best decisions happen in the room. This role is ideally based in our San Francisco, Long Beach, or Houston offices, with full‑time onsite expectations outside of bi‑weekly WFH Fridays.

That said, we will make exceptions for truly exceptional talent if you live outside one of our hubs. If you’re the right person for this role, we’ll have a conversation about what works.

Responsibilities

Entitlements & Permitting

• Build agency relationships before they are needed — not when you are already on the clock
• Drive zoning, land use approvals, conditional use permits, and variances through local and state agencies
• Identify and pursue parallel regulatory pathways to compress overall approval timelines
• Own permit schedule risk and communicate it clearly to development leadership
• Collaborate with Engineering and Construction teams to ensure the most efficient path to shovel‑readiness

Utility & Infrastructure Coordination

• Lead negotiations with power providers, water districts, and telecom utilities
• Coordinate with civil, structural, and electrical engineers to produce complete and accurate permit packages
• Manage Phase I/II environmental assessments, wetlands determinations, and other site constraints
• Engage environmental consultants and coordinate agency approvals through to clearance

Stakeholder & Community Engagement

• Represent Giga Energy at public hearings, neighborhood meetings, and agency presentations
• Build community relationships that support current and future projects

Process & Schedule Management

• Create and maintain detailed development schedules tracking every entitlement, utility, and permit milestone
• Track critical path items, elevate risks early, and proactively solve problems before they impact delivery

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Planning, Construction Management, or related field
• 10+ years delivering complex, multi‑agency development or infrastructure projects, bonus points for experience in Energy or Data Center development
• Demonstrated experience managing entitlements, permitting, and utility coordination simultaneously
• Strong technical literacy — able to hold substantive conversations with civil, electrical, and structural engineers
• Exceptional relationship‑building skills with government agencies, utilities, and community stakeholders
• Experience creating and managing detailed project schedules and critical path dependencies
• Comfortable operating in fast‑paced, ambiguous environments with shifting priorities

Bonus Points

• Background in hyperscale data center or other large‑scale industrial development
• Experience in oil & gas, LNG, or petrochemical — industries that drive large capital projects through permitting under real schedule pressure
• Track record compressing development timelines through creative regulatory strategies
• Previous experience on the owner's side of development
• Knowledge of utility interconnection processes and power provider negotiations
• Subsidized health, dental, and vision insurance
• Equity (options) in a rapidly growing startup
• 401(k) with 4% employer match
• Unlimited PTO
• Parental leave
• Healthcare and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) or Health Savings Account (HSA)
• Monthly team onsites where all offices come in–person to collaborate