General Manager, VP

CIM Group, LP•Los Angeles, CA

21d•$200,000 - $250,000

About The Position

The General Manager provides strategic, commercial, regulatory, and operational leadership for a groundwater banking asset and serves as its primary business representative. The role manages relationships with public agencies, water contractors, customers, consultants, community stakeholders, and industry organizations. During development, the General Manager focuses on stakeholder engagement, customer development, grant and agreement management, regulatory coordination, consultant oversight, and operational readiness. Once the water bank is operational, the role is responsible for storage and recovery activities, customer commitments, operating performance, compliance, maintenance coordination, and long-term asset management. This hands-on position combines executive-level relationship management with direct advancement of contracts, agency materials, consultant deliverables, budgets, and operational issues. It requires approximately 25% travel to local sites and agency offices, in addition to at least quarterly travel to the Los Angeles corporate office.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree.
At least 7 years of experience in the California water sector, such as agency, regulatory, or water storage experience.
Experience with grant management, preferably Proposition 1, and an understanding of how to optimize reimbursements.
Experience engaging with state, regional, or local water regulatory agencies, utility agencies, or control boards.
Experience in a problem-solving role exclusive to the water industry.
Ability to manage workload autonomously and effectively.
Strong commercial awareness and commercial judgment; inquisitive, detail-oriented, and self-motivated.
Excellent time management and ability to multitask.
Ability to work as a team player in a friendly but professional team dynamic.

Nice To Haves

Experience with water project construction and/or operation.
Creative and innovative approach to problem-solving, with initiative to improve asset operational and financial performance.
Self-starter who can contribute a broad range of skills and expertise in a small team without waiting for direction.

Responsibilities

Collaborate with stakeholders to develop and execute annual and long-term business plans, translating investment objectives, regulatory commitments, grant requirements, and customer needs into operating priorities, budgets, and milestones.
Maintain an integrated plan covering development, customer agreements, agency approvals, grant obligations, and operational readiness; identify risks and recommend actions to senior leadership.
Serve as the primary relationship manager with water agencies, watermasters, joint powers authorities, environmental agencies, and other governmental stakeholders.
Represent the water bank in agency meetings, public forums and hearings, technical working groups, industry associations, and community discussions.
Build and maintain relationships with State Water Project contractors, municipalities, irrigation districts, groundwater organizations, landowners, and prospective customers; monitor relevant water policy, groundwater regulation, and agency actions.
Lead customer outreach and business development for water storage, recovery, transfer, and related services; manage proposals, bidding processes, letters of interest, storage agreements, and other customer arrangements.
Partner with Investments, Legal, and Development to negotiate customer agreements and support development of pricing, service structures, operating terms, and allocation methodologies.
Manage compliance with funding agreements, grant milestones, reporting requirements, public-benefit commitments, and documentation requests; coordinate grant deliverables with internal teams and consultants.
Track eligible expenditures, grant budgets, deadlines, contractual obligations, and funding risks; support negotiation and completion of funding, public-benefit, operating, and regulatory agreements.
Partner with Development on feasibility studies, groundwater modeling, environmental review, permitting, engineering, construction, commissioning, and transition planning.
Represent customer and operational requirements in development decisions; support evaluation of wells, pump stations, conveyance infrastructure, turnout capacity, water quality, monitoring requirements, and put-and-take scenarios.
Develop an operational-readiness plan covering staffing, procedures, agreements, maintenance, monitoring, emergency response, reporting, and customer coordination, and lead the transition into active operations.
Direct storage, recharge, recovery, conveyance, and delivery activities once the water bank is operational; coordinate operating plans with customers, agencies, watermasters, operators, and consultants.
Monitor water balances, pumping performance, groundwater levels, water quality, system capacity, and customer commitments, and ensure compliance with agreements, operating rules, permits, monitoring plans, and reporting requirements.
Establish operating procedures, controls, escalation protocols, and emergency-response plans; coordinate inspections, preventive maintenance, repairs, testing, and capital-replacement planning.
Develop scopes of work, support consultant selection, negotiate terms, and monitor consultant performance against budgets, schedules, and deliverables; hold consultants and contractors accountable for quality, timeliness, cost, and issue resolution.
Develop and manage operating budgets, long-term forecasts, and business-plan assumptions; monitor expenditures, contract costs, funding availability, and budget-to-actual performance.
Review invoices and consultant charges within delegated authority; maintain reporting on approvals, customer activity, grant milestones, agreements, budgets, risks, and operational readiness.
Prepare updates and recommendations for leadership, investors, agencies, and governing bodies.
Maintain positive relationships with corporate support departments and carry out supervisory responsibilities in accordance with organizational policies and applicable laws.
Support personal and professional development for oneself and colleagues.

Benefits

Medical, dental, and vision benefit plans.
Health Savings Account with an employer contribution.
Company-paid life and disability insurance.
401(k) savings plan with company match.
Paid time off, including vacation days, 10 designated holidays, sick time, and bereavement leave.
Up to 16 hours of volunteer time off.
Up to 16 weeks of paid parental leave.
Ongoing professional development programs.
Wellness program with monthly and quarterly prizes.
Competitive compensation plan; bonus compensation may be a significant part of total compensation.