Manager, Permitting

Ezee Fiber•Elk Grove Village, IL

1d•$110,000 - $130,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Build your career with Ezee Fiber, proudly recognized by PCMag as the Best Overall ISP in the U.S. for 2026. At Ezee Fiber, you'll do more than build a career; you'll help shape the future of connectivity. Every team member plays a vital role in delivering reliable, high-speed internet and exceptional customer experiences. Whether in the field, in the office, or behind the scenes, you'll be part of a collaborative team that values innovation, professional growth, and making a meaningful impact in the communities we serve. At Ezee Fiber, our success is built on delivering Speed, Simplicity, and Service in everything we do. Guided by our core values of Integrity, Compassion, Accountability, and Collaboration, we empower our employees to do the right thing, support one another, take ownership of their work, and work together to deliver exceptional experiences for our customers and the communities we serve. The Manager, Permitting is a leadership role responsible for setting permitting strategy, directing execution, and ensuring permitting readiness across assigned fiber deployment markets. The Manager leads internal team members and external partners, establishes operating standards, removes jurisdictional and vendor barriers, and provides senior leadership with clear visibility into permitting risk, throughput, and forecasted impact to construction. This role operates with significant autonomy and is accountable for translating deployment priorities into scalable permitting plans. The Manager serves as a senior point of escalation for municipalities, utilities, engineering partners, construction leaders, and permitting vendors, while building a high-performing team capable of supporting rapid FTTH expansion.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Telecommunications, Construction Management, GIS, Business, or a related field preferred; equivalent relevant experience may be considered relevant professional experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.
Typically, 7+ years of progressive experience in OSP permitting, telecom engineering, utility coordination, infrastructure deployment, construction, or related work, including demonstrated leadership responsibility.
Demonstrated experience leading people, vendors, or multi-market permitting programs in a high-growth or production-oriented environment.
Advanced knowledge of FTTH/telecommunications design principles, permitting processes, rights-of-way, pole attachments, and multi-jurisdictional requirements.
Strong working knowledge of ArcGIS/ESRI products; experience with 3GIS, Smartsheet, or comparable tracking/reporting systems preferred.
Demonstrated ability to build productive relationships with municipalities, utilities, permitting authorities, and external partners.
Ability to exercise independent judgment, make high-impact decisions, manage competing priorities, and escalate material business risks appropriately.
Strong executive presence, written communication, presentation, negotiation, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
Valid Driver License
Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States and must not require current or future employment visa sponsorship.

Nice To Haves

Experience with 3GIS, Smartsheet, or comparable tracking/reporting systems preferred.

Responsibilities

Develop and lead permitting strategy across assigned markets, aligning permit sequencing and jurisdictional priorities with engineering and construction deployment plans.
Own permitting performance, cycle time, backlog, aging, risk, and escalation strategy; establish corrective actions when milestones are at risk.
Translate business growth objectives into permitting capacity plans, staffing priorities, vendor requirements, and measurable execution standards.
Provide executive-ready updates on permitting health, constraints, forecasted impacts, and decisions required to protect deployment schedules.
Lead, coach, develop, and hold accountable a team of permitting professionals; establish clear goals, performance expectations, and development plans.
Build team capability through structured training, cross-market knowledge sharing, succession planning, and consistent operating practices.
Assess workload and capacity, recommend staffing changes, and support hiring decisions as the permitting organization scales.
Create a culture of ownership, urgency, accuracy, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
Serve as a senior company representative with municipalities, counties, state agencies, utilities, pole owners, joint-use partners, and other authorities having jurisdiction.
Develop and maintain strategic relationships that improve permitting predictability, resolve escalated issues, and support long-term market expansion.
Lead complex negotiations and escalations involving rights-of-way, pole attachments, easements, design requirements, permitting conditions, and jurisdictional interpretation.
Partner with Legal, Government Affairs, Engineering, Construction, and Operations when permitting issues create material business or deployment risk.
Establish vendor scopes, service expectations, quality standards, reporting requirements, and performance measures for external permitting resources.
Review vendor performance against schedule, quality, responsiveness, and contractual commitments; implement recovery plans and escalation actions when required.
Ensure vendor-produced permit packages and designs meet Ezee Fiber standards and jurisdictional requirements before submission.
Establish standardized permitting workflows, governance, dashboards, KPIs, and reporting cadences across assigned markets.
Use data to identify bottlenecks, jurisdictional trends, recurring defects, capacity constraints, and opportunities to reduce permit cycle time.
Ensure accurate and timely permit data within systems such as 3GIS, Smartsheet, ArcGIS/ESRI, and other business platforms.
Drive process improvement, automation, documentation, and scalable controls that support growth without sacrificing quality or compliance.
Provide leadership on OSP/FTTH permitting requirements, utility pole attachments, rights-of-way, public utility easements, private property considerations, and applicable municipal or agency requirements.
Review and interpret site plans, maps, drawings, survey information, aerial imagery, geographic data, and technical documents affecting permit strategy.
Ensure permitting practices remain aligned with applicable regulatory requirements, company standards, and construction objectives.
Directly supervise one or more employees. Carries out responsibilities in accordance with the organization's policies and applicable laws.