Senior Development Manager - Land Development

From Diligence to Delivery. Camber Real Estate Solutions, a subsidiary of Clark Construction Group, is a full-cycle development platform that offers turnkey development solutions to clients. We take complex projects from initial strategy and design through complete construction.

As a Senior Development Manager, you are the strategic driver of early-stage project success. You will lead our clients from initial vision through complex site selection, land acquisition, horizontal land development, entitlements, and preliminary engineering design across a broad portfolio of turnkey user types—including advanced manufacturing, private commercial enterprises, sports and entertainment franchises, and more. You will act as the client's fiercest advocate, translating their operational footprint and expansion goals into fully derisked, entitled, and pad-ready land assets ready for seamless vertical construction and delivery.

This is an onsite role based in our McLean, VA office.

Responsibilities

• Land Acquisition & Site Selection: Lead comprehensive site selection, land assembly, and property due diligence across target markets. Evaluate physical, environmental, topographic, and legal conditions to negotiate option agreements, purchase contracts, and site control strategy for complex industrial, commercial, and sports assets.
• Horizontal Due Diligence & Feasibility: Direct pre-acquisition horizontal feasibility evaluations—assessing raw land constraints, utility capacity/extensions (water, sewer, heavy power, gas), stormwater management, access/traffic impacts, and geotechnical conditions prior to land closing.
• Pro Forma Underwriting & Cost Control: Conduct rigorous land development financial modeling. Build and manage land assembly budgets, horizontal infrastructure hard/soft cost conceptual budgets, and overall development pro formas tailored to turnkey user specifications and corporate hurdle rates.
• Entitlements, Annexation & Public Incentives: Navigate Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJs) to secure zoning approvals, comprehensive plan amendments, annexations, utility district creations, and special use permits. Negotiate public-private partnerships (P3), infrastructure cost-sharing agreements, tax abatements, and economic development incentives with local and state municipalities.
• Civil Engineering & Infrastructure Design Management: Oversee civil engineering, environmental, and site planning consultants from preliminary land planning through final platting and civil construction documents. Drive Target Value Design to optimize mass grading, earthwork balance, site utility routing, and pad sizing for speed-to-market.
• Pre-Construction & Vertical Hand-Off: Lead contractor selection for bulk earthwork, utility installation, and site infrastructure development. Partner downstream with vertical construction teams to transition fully permitted, pad-ready site packages into active building construction and turnkey project execution.

Basic Qualifications

• Land Development & Cross-Industry Experience (Required): 8 to 10+ years of progressive real estate development experience, with a proven track record of directly managing land acquisition, horizontal land development, utility infrastructure, and complex entitlements. Experience delivering sites for advanced manufacturing, corporate facilities, sports facilities, or large-scale private enterprises preferred.
• Land Control & Incentive Fluency: Deep understanding of land acquisition mechanics, purchase contract negotiations, site control strategies, municipal infrastructure agreements, tax increment financing (TIF), and regional economic development incentive structures.
• The "Raw Land to Pad-Ready" Lens: Deep expertise in horizontal development (heavy earthwork, utility infrastructure extensions, environmental remediation, stormwater management, traffic mitigation, and rail/road access) paired with the ability to anticipate how early civil decisions impact vertical building costs and long-term facility operations.
• Strategic Translation: Exceptional communication skills with the ability to translate complex civil engineering constraints, zoning parameters, and land economics into clear strategic decisions for corporate executives, municipality leadership, utility providers, and private equity partners.
• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Real Estate, Civil Engineering, Urban Planning, Construction Management, or Architecture. Master’s/MSRE/MBA preferred.

The work environment and requirements described below are representative of those necessary for an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this role.

The Physical Side of the Role: Given that a good portion of your day will be spent at a desk, you should be comfortable with prolonged periods of focused work, whether it's collaborating with colleagues, analyzing data, or developing strategies. The role demands effective communication and sharp visual acuity for reviewing complex documents and performing detailed computer work. While there are times for quiet concentration, you'll also be expected to move actively throughout the office and travel occasionally to various locations, including dynamic construction sites, utilizing different modes of transportation. The ability to lift and move objects up to 10 pounds regularly, and up to 25 pounds on occasion (think a box of files or small office equipment), is also required.

Your Work Environment: Your primary workspace will be in our professional office, which has a typical, quiet-to-moderate noise and light levels. As part of your work, you may also be required to visit active construction sites. These environments are naturally more dynamic and can include exposure to outdoor weather conditions, louder noise, and moving equipment. Your safety is our top priority, and you'll be expected to follow Clark Construction's safety policies and procedures, and all applicable laws, at all locations.

Our High-Performing Culture: This is a demanding, high-performance environment. We are looking for candidates who are energized by challenge, thrive under pressure, and are prepared to do what it takes to achieve exceptional results. Success in this role requires significant commitment, including flexibility to work extended hours, especially during critical project phases or client deadlines. Beyond regular working hours, there will be occasions where business needs require your attention, particularly for time-sensitive matters or emergencies. You are expected to monitor and respond to communications (phone calls, emails, text messages) as required to address these situations effectively. Your ability to manage these expectations and be responsive when critical issues arise is key to your success in this role and our collective success as a team.

A Drug Free Workplace: Clark promotes a drug free workplace. A pre-employment drug “fitness for duty” screening is required, and the company conducts random quarterly drug “fitness for duty” tests.

Clark offers a total compensation package that includes base salary, bonus potential, and a comprehensive benefits package including health/dental/vision benefits, paid time off, retirement/401k, and Company Contribution plan. Additional benefits include life insurance, commuter benefit, short & long term disability, fitness reimbursement, FSA, tuition reimbursement, back-up daycare, tutoring & family support benefits, EAP/Work-Life assistance, and a holiday contribution program. For this role the base salary range is $150,000 - $250,000. Compensation may vary outside of this range depending on a number of factors, including a candidate’s education, experience, skills, and geographic location. Base pay is one part of the Total Compensation Package that is provided to compensate and recognize employees for their work.