Real Estate Development Manager

Overview

Our Client is an innovative, community-minded real estate development and investment firm based in Bethesda, MD, with a broad, national portfolio of private market-rate and affordable multifamily housing and large-scale, mixed-use public-private redevelopments.

Reporting to the Senior Director of Development, The Land Development Manager is responsible for overseeing the planning, design, entitlement, and delivery of land development projects from concept through project completion. This role is focused on managing the design process and coordinating project execution while working closely with senior development leadership on increasingly complex and sophisticated projects. The role will include additional Master Development responsibilities.

The position is well-suited for a technically strong land development professional who brings design/project management leadership today and is capable of taking on broader development responsibilities as project scale and complexity increase.

• Lead the design process from due diligence and concept planning through construction documents and close-out.
• Manage multidisciplinary consultant teams including civil, geotechnical, environmental, traffic, landscape, survey, and utility engineers.
• Review, guide, and integrate design deliverables to ensure consistency with project objectives, budgets, schedules, and regulatory requirements.
• Incorporate constructability, cost efficiency, and long-term operational considerations into design decisions.

• Manage land development projects through entitlements, permitting, construction completion and turnover.
• Develop and maintain project schedules, budgets, and risk mitigation strategies.
• Monitor progress and resolve design, permitting, and construction, and coordination issues as they arise, including coordination and management of the home builder
• Support procurement, bid review, and contractor coordination in collaboration with construction teams.

• Manage entitlement strategies and approvals with municipalities and regulatory agencies.
• Coordinate zoning, site plan, subdivision, and environmental approvals.
• Lead meetings with planning staff, governing bodies, utilities and community stakeholders.
• Support development budgeting, cost estimating, and financial tracking.
• Review consultant and contractor invoices, own the draw process, and manage change control.
• Contribute to feasibility analysis, due diligence, and early-stage project planning.
• Provide technical and design input to support investment and development decisions.
• Work closely with senior development and construction leadership, development partners and other stakeholders across the full project lifecycle.
• Serve as a primary point of contact for project-related matters.
• Contribute to the refinement of development standards, processes, and best practices.

• Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering, Architecture, Planning, Construction Management, or a related discipline.
• 5–10 years of land development/real estate development experience, with a strong focus on project management.
• Demonstrated ability to manage consultants and coordinate multidisciplinary design teams.
• Strong knowledge of entitlement processes, permitting, and site development practices.
• Excellent organizational, communication, leadership, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines simultaneously.
• Exceptional verbal, written, graphic, and presentation communication skills.
• Highly motivated, goal-driven self-starter with a positive, proactive attitude.
• Proficient in the Microsoft Office Suite.
• Experience with large-scale and/or multi-phase urban land development projects a plus.
• Interest in taking on increasingly complex and challenging development assignments.