Development Manager

About The Role

The successful candidate will report to the Land Director and will be a key member of the regional Land team, responsible for a range of residential projects from inception to completion. A significant part of the role will encompass multi-site programme management in the form of creating key date schedules and overall management of Site Information Database and monitoring performance against targets. The role requires effective coordination of pre-development programmes and management of departmental interdependencies, including QA, risk identification and recommendations for corrective action where necessary.

Key Responsibilities & Duties

• The Development Management role will embrace all functions of the business (ie; Land, Sales, Commercial and Technical). You will help drive and support the pre-development project teams improve project management across all the key development sites.
• Working within the Land team in the successful administering of Land contracts with a key focus on (i) effective forward planning to ensure that all contractual obligations are duly met and (ii) making key sites effective (ie; ready to start) within a pre-agreed pre-development programme that recognises key Legal Contract timescales.
• Working successfully across all functions of the business (ie; Land, Sales, Commercial and Technical) to ensure that the Land & Planning strategy recognises both the Political and Statutory Landscapes (ie; planning).
• Taking a lead role in the Land Department to achieve commercially optimised planning consents, which will include working with internal project teams, external architects, engineers, planning consultants and other consultants providing bespoke services.
• To play an effective ambassadorial role to consolidate, promote and build upon CALA’s reputation with key industry stakeholders as the premier residential developer of choice, trusted to deliver.

About You

The candidate must have a strong background in residential development, preferably professionally qualified in either planning or project management, with experience of managing development projects of varying sizes and complexity including submitting, negotiating and obtaining planning and all other statutory consents.

The role would ideally suit someone with experience of Programme/Project Management/ Surveying.

Knowledge

• Have experience in playing a lead role in analysing and delivering large scale residential projects from inception to site completion;
• Be able to demonstrate experience and an ability to work effectively within the Planning System;
• Ability to demonstrate a high degree of commercial awareness in relation to maintaining site/project viability as the development solution evolves;
• Project Managing multi-disciplinary internal and external teams;
• Excellent communication, problem solving, negotiation, and inter-personal skills;
• Excellent analytical skills with outstanding attention to detail;
• Broad knowledge of the residential development sector and the key industry stakeholders therein with an ability to build good relationships and reliable networks.

Skills

Key skills and experience required:

• Programme and project management
• Ability to assess and review feasibility and detailed residential layouts
• IT proficient, especially in the use of project management software
• Negotiating planning consents
• Commercial awareness of design decisions

In addition to the above, to be successful, the candidate must be able to demonstrate they possess strong interpersonal skills, negotiating skills and confidence in interacting with other professionals both internally and externally.

About Us

The Cala Group is a major UK housebuilder and leading provider of desirable new homes across Scotland, the South of England & Midlands. Driven by a mission to create vibrant and sustainable new communities, our homes are characterised by exceptional design and sector-leading build quality, and we have a passion for providing our customers with a great home buying experience. This is an exciting time to be at Cala. Our approach to sustainability and technology is undergoing a dramatic transformation, and we’re aiming to create an industry-leading experience for both our staff and customers. At Cala, you can expect to be part of an environment which allows you to do meaningful work, while offering opportunities for personal growth. Our goal is to be the favoured employer in our industry and beyond. We encourage applications from those who want to be part of a culture where they can thrive, feel a sense of belonging and be comfortable being themselves at work.