Vice President Project Development - CO280

BLANKSLATE Partners•Houston, TX

8d•Hybrid

About The Position

CO280 is a leading developer of low-carbon industrial infrastructure projects, specializing in Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) and expanding into low-carbon power solutions for the data center market. The company has secured significant Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) offtakes and is leveraging its expertise in energy and CCS project development, along with established relationships and pre-qualified industrial sites, to address the power constraints hindering AI development. CO280 aims to build a platform that provides clean, practical, bankable, and scalable power solutions for the energy transition. The company fosters an entrepreneurial, collaborative, and transparent work environment.

Requirements

A proven track record developing large-scale energy infrastructure projects through final Investment Decision.
The entrepreneurial mindset to build a new business in a rapidly evolving market.
The commercial, financial and relationship-building capability to originate, structure and finance bankable infrastructure projects.
15+ years of relevant project development experience in power, energy infrastructure, or digital infrastructure, with a track record of taking projects from origination to FID and, ideally, to COD.
An established executive network across utilities, Independent Power Producers, OEMs, EPCs, infrastructure developers, investors, or hyperscaler infrastructure teams.
Demonstrated success originating and commercializing new infrastructure opportunities with sophisticated corporate customers and partners.
Deep experience developing utility-scale power infrastructure: generation, transmission, interconnection, permitting, and site development.
Strong commercial, financial and engineering fluency, with the ability to structure bankable infrastructure projects and communicate effectively with technical, commercial and investment stakeholders.
Demonstrated ability to contribute to term sheets and definitive agreements with sophisticated counterparties — hyperscalers, AI-native buyers, industrial hosts, midstream operators, or strategic investors.
Experience building and running a development team, with clear views on stage-gates, risk allocation, and development budgets.

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting hyperscale data centers is highly desirable but not essential.

Responsibilities

Build and lead CO280's low carbon power data center infrastructure platform, owning project origination, development strategy, strategic partnerships, and the project development organization.
Identify, originate, secure, and advance gigawatt-scale infrastructure opportunities from concept through Final Investment Decision (FID).
Build executive relationships with utilities, industrial hosts, hyperscalers, neoclouds, data center developers, OEMs, EPCs, gas suppliers, and strategic partners.
Negotiate contracts with project partners, working closely with project engineering, finance, legal, community engagement, and commercial teams.
Partner with the commercial team to map the hyperscaler and AI-buyer channel end-to-end, translating buyer needs directly into project design and the development roadmap.
Partner with engineering to develop technically robust, commercially attractive, and financeable projects, including coordinating studies and building relationships with OEM and EPC partners.
Align with finance to ensure projects are bankable, supporting project economic models and corporate/project financing activities.
Manage the operating cadence — stage-gates, risk registers, development-budget discipline, and project economic performance.
Build and lead the project development team: hiring, operating cadence, stage-gate process, and development budgets.
Shape CO280's long-term infrastructure strategy as a member of the executive leadership team, defining where the business plays, how it wins, and how it scales.
Serve on the executive leadership team and represent CO280 externally with customers, partners, investors, and industry stakeholders.
Drive new low-carbon power projects from origination through FID, then support the project engineering team commercially through construction to commercial operation.
Develop CO280's project origination strategy by matching industrial host sites with hyperscaler demand, transmission availability, fiber infrastructure and regional power market opportunities.
Own the development budget and project economics for each project through stage-gates to FID, including scenario and sensitivity analysis on key inputs.