Supervisor, Land Management

Southern Company•Naperville, IL

About The Position

This supervisory position is responsible for hiring, leading, directing, and developing employees, contract workers, and leased workers involved in evaluating, acquiring, and preserving land rights for company assets. The position serves as a highly competent subject matter expert in land management and real estate practices and is responsible for assessing, reporting on, and improving department performance, practices, processes, and procedures. The role applies real estate practices and principles, including abstracts, appraisals, conveyances, eminent domain, property legalities, permitting, civil surveys, title, real property valuation, and zoning. It manages land rights investigations, document preparation, review of engineering designs, land-rights payments, encroachment requests, negotiations, cost and schedule estimates, risk assessments, and the department’s annual operating expense budget. The Supervisor represents the company at public forums, collaborates with internal stakeholders on natural gas pipeline projects, communicates land-rights issues to company leadership, and promotes best practices and continuous process improvement. The role involves occasional travel, office work, and periodic work in construction or industrial environments and outdoors.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree, or two years of college combined with eight years of real estate experience in pipelines, utilities, transportation, underwriting, title research, government, or similar right-of-way management experience.
Eight years of experience in pipelines, utilities, transportation, title research, or similar right-of-way management.
High competency and capacity in real estate practices, principles, and laws.
Proficiency in MS Office applications.
Proficiency in GIS applications.
Demonstrated capacity to supervise other professionals.
Competent business writing and oral presentation skills.
Ability to read and understand legal and engineering documents.
Ability to travel occasionally, up to 25%, by air and automobile, including overnight stays.
Ability to perform regular prolonged standing or traversing, sometimes in construction or industrial environments with moving mechanical equipment and parts.
Ability to reach regularly above shoulder level and to floor level.
Ability to lift 10–25 pounds.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Engineering, Law, Real Estate, or a related field.
Eight or more years of natural gas pipeline right-of-way experience.
One or more years of exemplary project supervisory experience.
Industry recognition as a land-rights subject matter expert.

Responsibilities

Hire, lead, direct, and develop employees, contract workers, and leased workers.
Apply real estate practices and principles, including abstracts, appraisals, conveyances, eminent domain, property legalities, permitting, civil surveys, title, real property valuation, and zoning.
Conduct real estate investigations to identify and describe property ownership, restrictions, and rights, including determining whether others are responsible for reimbursing company asset relocation costs.
Determine and prepare documents needed to meet legal requirements for real property management, including appraisals, easements, licenses, and plats of survey.
Examine engineering designs and drawings to preserve, acquire, communicate, or record land rights, easements, and permits.
Manage accurate and timely railroad, DOT, and other land-rights fee payments.
Manage reviews of requests to encroach on or cross company infrastructure, easements, or fee-owned property.
Prepare, monitor, and report on the department’s annual operating expense budget.
Lead or supervise negotiations for acquiring rights of way, real property, and permits.
Develop land-rights acquisition cost and schedule estimates for projects and assess associated risks and opportunities.
Manage performance and development of direct staff, leased workers, contracted services, and contracted workers.
Evaluate pipeline asset routing or locations in terms of land-rights cost, duration, and complexity, and recommend alternatives that reduce real estate requirements and permitting impacts.
Represent the company at public forums on land-rights matters.
Evaluate, route, and/or execute legal instruments for real estate transactions, including easements, plats, easement releases, vacations, encroachments, licenses, and purchase and sale agreements.
Serve as land-rights Track Lead, collaborating with internal stakeholders on distribution and transmission natural gas pipeline project teams.
Communicate land-rights issues, matters, and concerns effectively to company leadership.
Develop the capabilities of direct staff and contracted partners.
Continuously examine and improve department processes and practices.
Coordinate with business partners and stakeholders, including Asset Protection, New Business, System Integrity, Engineering, Construction Operations, and Legal.
Ensure department best practices are followed.