Supervisor, Land Management

Southern Company • Naperville, IL

5d • $88,850 - $139,621

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 role is also a subject matter expert in real estate and land-rights management and is responsible for assessing, reporting on, and improving department performance, practices, processes, and procedures.

The position oversees land-rights work for distribution and transmission natural gas pipeline projects, including real estate investigations, acquisition negotiations, review and preparation of legal instruments, coordination with internal stakeholders, and communication of land-rights issues to company leadership. It also manages department budgeting, fee payments, encroachment requests, contractors, and employee development.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree, or two years of college plus eight years of real-estate experience in pipelines, utilities, transportation, underwriting, title research, government, or similar right-of-way management.
• Eight years of experience in pipelines, utilities, transportation, title research, or similar right-of-way management.
• High competency and capacity in real-estate practice, principles, and laws.
• Proficiency in MS Office applications.
• Proficiency in GIS applications.
• Demonstrated ability to supervise other professionals.
• Competent business writing and oral presentation skills.
• Ability to read and understand legal and engineering documents.
• A combination of equivalent education and work experience may be considered.

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 survey, title, real-property valuation, and zoning.
• Conduct real estate investigations to identify and describe property ownership, restrictions, and rights, including determining whether costs to relocate company assets are reimbursable by others.
• Determine and prepare documents needed to satisfy 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 review 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 agents conducting negotiations to acquire rights of way, real property, and permits.
• Develop cost and schedule estimates for land-rights acquisition in support of projects.
• Assess risks and opportunities associated with land-rights acquisitions.
• Manage performance and development of direct staff, leased workers, and contracted services and workers.
• Lead and manage contracted and leased services.
• Evaluate pipeline asset routing or location based on the cost, duration, and complexity of land rights.
• Recommend alternatives that minimize real-estate requirements and permitting impacts.
• Represent the company at public forums concerning company land rights.
• 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.
• Recognize and develop the capabilities of direct staff and contracted partners.
• Continuously examine and improve department processes and practices.
• Collaborate and coordinate with business partners and stakeholders, including Asset Protection, New Business, System Integrity, Engineering, Construction Operations, and the Legal Department.
• Ensure department best practices are followed.

Benefits

• Competitive base salary.
• Annual incentive awards for eligible employees.
• Health, welfare, and retirement benefits designed to support physical, financial, and emotional/social well-being.
• Potential eligibility for additional compensation, such as an incentive program.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager