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.