Managing Director - Development & Acquisition

Job Description

Our client is a family-backed real estate investment and development platform focused on advanced manufacturing and critical supply-chain infrastructure, with approximately $500M in active and planned projects.

The platform is addressing a structural gap in industrial real estate, where legacy assets are increasingly unable to support robotics-enabled, AI-driven, and infrastructure-intensive manufacturing users.

The business operates as a long-term capital sponsor, investing in and developing highly technical, mission-critical facilities in partnership with experienced local developers and best-in-class contractors. The platform emphasizes disciplined capital deployment, downside protection, and strategic asset positioning rather than self-performing construction.

Representative projects include:

• Build-to-suit headquarters and advanced manufacturing facility for a next- energy company
• Redevelopment of a former power site into advanced manufacturing and planned data center infrastructure
• Development of a rare-earth magnet manufacturing facility supporting strategic domestic supply chains

The Role

The platform is seeking a Managing Director with a strong background in real estate private equity or institutional sponsorship to support execution and oversight of multiple technically complex projects across the Southeast and broader United States.

This is a sponsor-side position with direct exposure to capital partners and senior leadership. The role will serve as the bridge between investment strategy and project execution, ensuring underwriting assumptions, return targets, and risk parameters are maintained throughout the development lifecycle.

The remit spans the full lifecycle — from raw land acquisition through construction, commissioning, and transition to stabilized operations.

Key Responsibilities

Sponsor & Capital Representation

• Act as ownership representative across multiple active development projects
• Ensure alignment between investment underwriting, capital strategy, and execution
• Monitor projects against return thresholds, risk parameters, and capital deployment timelines
• Support reporting and communication to capital partners and senior stakeholders

Investment & Underwriting Support

• Assist in site selection, acquisition analysis, and development underwriting
• Evaluate feasibility, infrastructure constraints, entitlement risks, and cost assumptions
• Stress-test project budgets and schedules against original investment theses
• Contribute to investment memoranda and capital approval materials

Development Oversight

• Oversee projects from feasibility and entitlement through construction and operational handoff
• Synthesize reporting from development partners, consultants, and contractors
• Represent ownership interests in project meetings and key decision forums
• Monitor budgets, schedules, risks, and milestone delivery across complex assets

Risk & Portfolio Management

• Identify and mitigate development, entitlement, construction, and infrastructure risks
• Maintain disciplined oversight of cost escalations, change orders, and contingency management
• Balance long-term asset positioning with near-term execution priorities

Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate will bring a combination of financial, technical, and execution expertise within complex real estate or infrastructure environments.

Key requirements include:

• 12+ years’ experience in real estate private equity, institutional development, or sponsor-side platforms
• Strong understanding of development underwriting, capital structuring, and return metrics
• Experience overseeing industrial, infrastructure-heavy, mission-critical, or advanced manufacturing projects
• Background within a private equity real estate firm, family office, institutional investor, or sophisticated development sponsor
• Construction or general contracting experience is advantageous, particularly when combined with capital-side exposure
• Ability to operate confidently in capital-driven environments and represent ownership in complex decision-making scenarios
• Strong financial acumen and ability to translate technical development issues into investment implications
• Highly organized, with the ability to manage multiple large-scale projects simultaneously

Location & Travel

• Key office locations include major U.S. financial and Southeast markets
• Open to remote candidates given the geographic dispersion of projects
• Active projects located across the Southeast and broader U.S.
• Travel required to project sites as needed

Why This Opportunity

• Opportunity to join a family-backed investment platform at an early stage of growth
• Direct exposure to capital partners and investment decision-making
• Sponsor-side role with full lifecycle visibility from acquisition through stabilization
• Ability to shape processes, underwriting discipline, and platform strategy
• Exposure to highly complex, next- industrial and mission-critical assets