Director of Business Development & Site Acquisition
2 days ago
Madrid
JDL Recruitment are delighted to be partnering with a fast-growing Middle-Eastern data centre platform expanding rapidly across Europe as they look to add a Director of Business Development and Site Acquisition, based in Madrid, Spain. This is a senior, permanent origination role responsible for growing the platform's European footprint, identifying and acquiring land and powered sites, structuring land and partnership transactions, and securing the grid capacity, permitting and local relationships that make a site developable. The primary focus is Spain and southern Europe, with scope into the Nordics and Central Europe as the platform scales. Responsibilities: • Support the definition and execution of the European expansion strategy, identifying priority regions based on power availability, demand, connectivity and regulatory conditions, • Build and maintain a pipeline of land, powered land, powered shell and brownfield opportunities across target geographies, • Develop and maintain relationships with landowners, developers, brokers, utilities, grid operators and regional authorities across southern Europe, • Identify opportunities to combine data centre development with renewable generation, PPAs and energy storage where commercially relevant, • Lead land acquisition end to end, from initial approach through option agreements, exclusivity, negotiation and completion, • Structure acquisition transactions including outright purchase, options, ground leases, forward funding and staged payment structures, • Secure grid connection capacity, power reservations, substation arrangements and utility agreements essential to site viability, • Coordinate technical, environmental, geotechnical and title due diligence with internal teams and external advisers, • Originate and structure platform acquisitions, corporate transactions and portfolio deals to accelerate market entry, • Structure joint ventures, development partnerships and co-development arrangements with local partners, • Lead commercial negotiation of shareholder agreements, development agreements and partnership economics alongside legal and investment teams, • Establish the planning, zoning and environmental permitting pathway during origination and coordinate with development and delivery teams through to handover, • Build and lead a European origination team as the pipeline scales, reporting progress to the executive team and Board Requirements: • Bachelor's degree in Real Estate, Engineering, Business, Law or a related field; postgraduate qualification an advantage, • Minimum 12 years of relevant experience in data centres, energy, infrastructure, industrial real estate or large-scale development, • Significant direct experience in site origination and acquisition and power-related development in European markets, • Proven track record of acquiring land or powered sites and taking them through to secured, developable status, • Strong working knowledge of grid connection processes, power procurement and permitting regimes in Spain and at least one other European market, • Demonstrable experience structuring land transactions, options, joint ventures, partnerships or platform acquisitions, • Established network among landowners, utilities, developers, brokers and authorities in southern Europe; Nordic or Central European coverage an advantage, • Fluency in English and Spanish required; an additional European language is an advantage, • Willingness to travel extensively across Europe
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8 Calle de Juan Antonio Bardem, Villa de Vallecas, 28031, Madrid
