Positions: Site Selection, Land & Development
Data Center Headhunters recruits critical facilities, data center operations, construction and delivery, commissioning, power and cooling, and executive talent for colocation, hyperscale and enterprise sites. We research the market, contact working people and qualify a shortlist for your opening. No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
11 titles in Site Selection, Land & Development, each with its own page.
This is what we do all day: recruit data center professionals.
No postings. No stacks of resumes. No chasing. You interview a short list.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
- No upfront fee
- Pay only if you hire
- Data centers only, construction to operations
- Local and 100% travel candidates
- Replacement guarantee on standard searches
Showing all 11 positions.
Site Selection, Land & Development 11 titles
- Site Selection ManagerYou need a site selection manager who can find land with power, fiber, water, and a path to approval, and who will tell you when a site is not worth chasing.
- Land Acquisition ManagerIf your best sites keep getting lost to a competitor or to a title problem found too late, you need a land manager who can assemble parcels and hold owners' trust at the same time.
- Development Manager, Data CenterWhen a project is approved on paper but stuck between the utility, the county and your capital partner, you need a development manager who can carry it through all three.
- Director of DevelopmentYou are hiring someone to turn raw land and utility promises into campuses your company can actually build, and the title alone will not tell you whether a candidate has carried that from first site visit to entitled, powered ground.
- Entitlements & Zoning ManagerIf a public hearing can sink your site, the person managing entitlements needs to know how to read a room as well as a code.
- Due Diligence ManagerThis is the person who finds out what is wrong with a site or asset before you sign, so you want someone whose reports have actually changed a deal, not just filled a binder.
- Development AnalystAn analyst gives your development team the numbers and maps behind every site decision, so the question is whether a candidate can build work that senior people will stake an option payment on.
- Economic Development & Incentives ManagerTax abatements, grants and utility rates can change whether a site pencils, so you need someone who has actually negotiated them with public bodies and kept the commitments afterward.
- Community & Government Affairs ManagerWhen neighbours, councils and regulators decide whether your project goes ahead, this person is your voice, and the wrong hire can turn a manageable meeting into a public fight.
- Capital Markets / Investment ManagerData center projects consume capital quickly, so you want an investment manager who has raised and structured it for real assets, not someone who can only describe it.
- Asset Manager, Data Center PortfolioOnce the buildings are running, someone has to make them earn, and you need an asset manager who has watched a portfolio of live facilities rather than only a spreadsheet of them.
Is the hire finding land, securing it or developing it?
Site selection managers compare markets and parcels. Land acquisition managers negotiate and close. Entitlements and zoning managers obtain approvals. Due diligence managers test risk before commitment. Development managers and directors run the whole process from land to ready site. Name the stage you need covered, because few people are strong at all five.
Data center site work turns on power availability more than on land price, so the best candidates in this family can talk about utility timelines as fluently as zoning. Ask what killed the last site they rejected and how early they knew.
Development analysts support the team with models and research. They are often a pipeline to development manager, and the brief should say whether growth is expected.
Where do incentives, community and capital roles fit?
Economic development and incentives managers negotiate tax and other incentives with state and local bodies. Community and government affairs managers maintain public support. Capital markets or investment managers raise and deploy capital. Asset managers oversee performance of built portfolios. Each faces a different audience, from councils to investors.
Community and government affairs has grown in importance as local scrutiny of data centers increases. The right person listens well, explains clearly and keeps commitments. Ask for an example of a difficult public meeting and what changed afterward.
Asset managers need operating literacy as well as finance. They should understand what drives cost and risk inside a live building.
What should a development brief say about stage and capital?
Say where your pipeline stands and how decisions are funded. A team still choosing markets needs explorers. A team with land under contract needs entitlement and diligence specialists. A team with capital committed and sites in approval needs development managers who can drive delivery. Candidates choose roles by stage as much as by title.
Approval authority matters too. Development candidates want to know who signs a land deal and how many layers sit between them and that signature.
Analysts joining a development team should hear whether the role is a stepping stone or a permanent research seat. Both are valid, but they attract different people.
Questions
Should I hire a development manager or a director of development?
A director usually leads multiple projects and people and holds approval authority. A manager runs one or a few projects end to end.
Is an entitlements manager a legal role?
Not usually. They manage the approval process and consultants, and work with counsel when needed.
What does a Site Selection, Land and Development search cost?
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire. The fee basis is written in the agreement before outreach starts.
How long does a Site Selection, Land and Development search take?
It depends on the title, level, location and your interview process. We agree a realistic plan at calibration and do not promise a date.
How do you handle counteroffers for Site Selection, Land and Development candidates?
We discuss motivation and likely counteroffers during live qualification and again before you make an offer.
What guarantee applies to Site Selection, Land and Development hires?
We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
What do you not do in a Site Selection, Land and Development search?
We do not post your role on job boards, send unscreened resumes or approach candidates before the brief is agreed.
How long did your last search take? How much did the empty seat cost while you waited?
An open data center seat holds up commissioning dates, stretches the people covering it and adds cost every week it stays empty. Put your own numbers into the cost-of-vacancy calculator, then compare that figure with a contingency search where you pay only if you hire.
Work out your cost of vacancyHow a search runs
How does The Six-Step Search work?
Every search runs the same six steps. We agree the brief with you, map where the people work, find direct contact routes, reach out personally and repeatedly, then qualify each candidate live. You only see a short list of people who fit, with notes on each, and we stay with you through offer and start.
- 01
Search Calibration
You get: A written brief you sign off on: scope, must-haves, pay band and who not to approach.
- 02
Market Mapping
You get: A map of the companies and projects where your future hire is working today.
- 03
Professional Contact Intelligence
You get: Verified direct contact routes to the people on that map, not job board replies.
- 04
Persistent Personalized Outreach
You get: Repeated, role-specific outreach to people who are not looking, in your words.
- 05
Live Candidate Qualification
You get: Each candidate is screened live against your brief before you hear their name.
- 06
Candidate Intelligence and Process Support
You get: A short list with candidate briefs, then support through interviews, offer and start.
Need this person?
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.