Economic Development Manager

Wabash Valley Power Alliance•Indianapolis, IN

4h•Onsite

About The Position

Headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, Wabash Valley Power is a not-for-profit electric cooperative and wholesale provider of reliable, affordable electricity to our 21 electric distribution member cooperatives. These cooperatives in turn serve more than 280,000 homes, businesses, and farms in Indiana and Illinois. As a not-for-profit co-op, we do things a bit differently—and that’s the point. Because we aren’t influenced by shareholders, we make our decisions with our members in mind. That means we value things like teamwork andputting families first. It also means a business model that’s designed for stability and growth. It’s a Deliberately Different approach to the energy industry, and that’s great news for the people who count on us. This role works closely with member cooperatives, Wabash teams, and external partners to collaboratively pursue and shape large load opportunities such as data centers and advanced manufacturing. It helps align sites, infrastructure, and decision‑making early, defining readiness, surfacing constraints, and coordinating inputs so opportunities advance transparently and responsibly. Serving as a connective point among co-ops, site selectors, developers, and internal teams, the role establishes shared expectations, clear process, and timely communication throughout pursuit and early structuring. The role works in close collaboration with the Community Development arm of the Wabash Economic Development team to strengthen long‑term cooperative relationships and community outcomes.

Requirements

Team player and service-minder professional
Experience in economic development, site development, large‑scale infrastructure projects, or related fields.
Demonstrated ability to coordinate across multiple internal teams and external stakeholders.
Strong communication skills with the ability to translate complexity into clear, decision‑ready information.

Nice To Haves

Economic development professional credentials such as EDFP (Economic Development Finance Professional) or CEcD (Certified Economic Developer).
Experience working with electric cooperatives, utilities, or public‑power entities.
Familiarity with large load projects, site selection, or capital‑intensive, multi‑year developments.

Responsibilities

Lead early pursuit and pre‑development of large load opportunities through defined internal handoff.
Maintain a disciplined pipeline and alignment across member co‑ops, internal teams, and leadership.
Prepare decision‑ready framing for executives, including options, tradeoffs, risks, and timing considerations.
Coordinate site development strategy for greenfield, brownfield, and transmission‑ready sites.
Help define site “readiness” by aligning infrastructure, permitting, timelines, and partner expectations.
Build and manage relationships with site selectors, developers, and intermediaries.
Serve as a key coordination contact for Central Indiana large cooperatives involved in large load opportunities.
Coordinate complex, multi‑year pursuits involving power supply, transmission, legal, finance, regulatory, and communications teams.
Identify and elevate major constraints early to ensure appropriate governance and decision‑making.
Work closely with the Community Development team to align large load pursuits with local and long‑term community priorities.
Support shared event and engagement strategies that strengthen Wabash’s large‑load positioning.