Director, Finance - Real Estate Finance

Crusoe•San Francisco, CA

2d•$235,000 - $275,000

About The Position

Crusoe is the AI factory company, on a mission to accelerate the abundance of energy and intelligence. Crusoe designs, builds, and operates vertically integrated AI infrastructure — from energy generation and land acquisition to AI-optimized data center campuses and Crusoe Cloud, its AI cloud platform. With a development pipeline exceeding tens of GWs across multiple U.S. campuses, real estate, land, and power siting decisions sit at the foundation of every project Crusoe brings to market.

Requirements

8+ years of experience in real estate finance, land acquisition, project finance, or corporate development, ideally within data centers, energy, industrial, or infrastructure sectors.
Demonstrated experience leading financial due diligence on land or real estate transactions, including modeling acquisition and lease economics.
Working knowledge of ground leases, purchase options, easements, and real estate/economic development incentive structures (tax abatements, PILOTs).
Understanding of how real estate/land structures interact with project financing (debt sizing, financeability, credit requirements) — ability to partner effectively with capital markets and structured finance teams.
Strong financial modeling and analytical skills; comfort building models from scratch under time pressure.
Experience managing a portfolio of assets over a multi-year lifecycle, not just single-transaction execution.
Excellent cross-functional collaboration and negotiation skills; able to work directly with Legal, Development, and external counterparties (landowners, utilities, municipalities).
Bachelor's degree required

Nice To Haves

MBA, JD, or equivalent a plus.

Responsibilities

Lead financial due diligence on prospective land acquisitions, ground leases, and site control agreements — evaluating cost basis, tax implications, entitlement risk, and site-level economics.
Partner with Legal, Real Estate, and Power teams to assess title, easements, zoning, utility access, and environmental factors that affect deal viability and financing.
Build site-level financial models (acquisition cost, ground lease economics, property tax, incentive/abatement value) to support go/no-go TCO investment decisions.
Partner with Real Estate, Legal, HR and others on our international strategy.
Advise on and help negotiate land purchase agreements, ground leases, option agreements, and related real estate instruments, ensuring terms align with Crusoe's financing strategy and return requirements.
Structure deals to optimize for financeability — working with capital markets/project finance teams on how land ownership vs. lease structures affect debt sizing, credit packages, and investor requirements.
Support negotiation of economic development incentives, tax abatements, and PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) agreements with local and state governments.
Own ongoing financial tracking of each land/real estate asset across its lifecycle — from acquisition through construction, operations, and any eventual disposition or refinancing.
Maintain a portfolio-level view of land and lease obligations (payment schedules, escalators, renewal options, purchase options) and ensure accurate reflection in forecasts and reporting.
Partner with Accounting on proper treatment of land, leases (ASC 842), and related capital costs.
Serve as the finance point of contact for Real Estate, Development, Power, Legal, and Project Finance teams on all land- and lease-related matters.
Provide financial analysis and materials for board, investor, and lender due diligence related to real estate holdings and site pipeline.
Build scalable processes and tools as Crusoe's land portfolio grows across multiple simultaneous campus developments.