Pre-Development Project Manager

Pre-Development Project Manager – Data Centre Campus Development (Germany) Germany | Up to 25% travel | Client-side Developer It’s not often a role comes along where you can shape the future of digital infrastructure before a single shovel hits the ground. I’m partnering with a global data centre developer and operator at the forefront of hyperscale and AI-driven growth. Backed by major institutional investment and delivering campuses across multiple international markets, they are now looking for a Pre-Development Project Manager to lead early-stage development activity across key German projects. This is a pivotal, front-end role; focused on due diligence, entitlements, permitting, and campus master planning, ensuring projects are fully de-risked and development-ready.

The Role You’ll take ownership of pre-development activities across one or multiple campus sites, working cross-functionally with engineering, real estate, design, operations, and external authorities.

Key responsibilities include: Managing due diligence, entitlements, and permitting for large-scale data centre campus developments Leading engagement with municipalities, utilities, regulatory agencies and AHJs Developing and maintaining campus masterplans, multi-phased development strategies and capital budgets Identifying permitting and regulatory risks, implementing mitigation strategies to protect programme and cost Preparing executive-level updates to support efficient, data-driven decision making Drafting scopes of work and supporting consultant selection, fee negotiation and contract award Establishing and managing schedules and budgets to ensure predictability across complex workstreams Supporting custom deal solutioning alongside sales and product teams

This is a highly visible position with regular interaction at senior stakeholder level.

What They’re Looking For 5+ years’ experience in commercial real estate development, land acquisition or property development Strong experience across due diligence, zoning, environmental assessments and permitting processes Understanding of infrastructure planning, utilities coordination and civil development principles Experience managing multi-stream projects across complex stakeholder environments Confident presenting to executive audiences (PowerPoint fluency essential) Strong financial acumen – budgeting, forecasting, capital planning Fluent German (additional European language advantageous)

Desirable: Experience within mission critical or data centre development MBA or relevant Masters qualification Exposure to large-scale, multi-phase campus developments

Why This Role? Join a globally backed, high-growth data centre platform Play a key role in enabling AI and hyperscale expansion in Germany Shape strategy at campus level — not just individual buildings Work in an organisation that combines scale with agility

If you’re currently leading pre-development activity and want to step into a more strategic, internationally backed platform — this is worth a confidential conversation.