VP, Head of Global Development

CloudHQ•Washington, DC

11h

About The Position

Cloud Capital is a Washington, D.C.–headquartered digital infrastructure investment firm that acquires, develops, and operates hyperscale and wholesale data center assets for institutional capital across the United States and Europe. It owns 31 assets across its fund vehicles and has historically relied on third-party developers. The firm is now building dedicated in-house development capabilities, with the goal of growing them into a full development platform. This is one of two initial hires for the build-out and offers the opportunity to help establish site selection criteria, power and entitlement strategy, and delivery methodology, with direct exposure to the senior executive team and Investment Committee. The VP of Development will own the full development lifecycle for Cloud Capital’s data center pipeline, from site identification through power procurement, entitlement, design, and construction delivery. Development underwriting—including land basis, power timeline, construction cost, and schedule—is a primary input to investment decisions and directly affects fund returns. The role works closely with the VP, Head of Leasing to align delivery schedules with tenant demand and lease timing, and serves as Cloud Capital’s principal technical and delivery counterparty with utilities, municipalities, general contractors, and EPCs. The VP will also lead technical due diligence for acquisitions, translate development risks and assumptions into Investment Committee-ready cases, and build the development function, including its processes, vendor relationships, reporting frameworks, standards, and team.

Requirements

10+ years of experience in data center or mission-critical development, with direct ownership from site selection through construction delivery.
Track record of executing hyperscale-scale developments of 25MW or more from land acquisition through energization.
Deep understanding of power procurement, utility interconnection processes, and entitlement and permitting across multiple U.S. and European jurisdictions.
Experience developing on behalf of institutional capital; GP-side, developer-side, or principal investor experience is preferred.
Fluency in how development risk informs fund-level underwriting.
Demonstrated ability to build a function from zero and operate without an existing team or platform.
Strong financial and construction-cost literacy, including the ability to build and defend a development budget to an Investment Committee.
Willingness to travel extensively across U.S. and European markets.
Bachelor’s degree in engineering, construction management, real estate, or a related field.

Nice To Haves

MBA or equivalent.

Responsibilities

Identify, evaluate, and underwrite development sites across target U.S. and European markets, with attention to power availability, timeline, and cost.
Lead utility engagement and power procurement strategy.
Build relationships with landowners, brokers, utilities, and municipalities to source and secure sites.
Manage entitlement, zoning, and permitting processes across multiple jurisdictions.
Oversee design development and value engineering with architects and engineers.
Own pre-construction budgeting and schedule development for Investment Committee underwriting.
Select and manage general contractors, EPCs, and key vendors; negotiate GMP and lump-sum construction contracts.
Own construction budget, schedule, and risk management across the active development pipeline.
Report cost-to-complete, schedule, and risk regularly to the senior executive team and Investment Committee.
Lead the technical due diligence process for acquisitions in collaboration with external consultants.
Translate land basis, power timeline, hard and soft costs, and schedule risk into Investment Committee-ready investment cases.
Communicate development risk assessments for go/no-go and capital deployment decisions.
Align delivery milestones with the VP, Head of Leasing to support tenant commitments.
Establish development processes, vendor relationships, and reporting frameworks from the ground up.
Build and structure the development team as the pipeline scales.
Establish development standards and specifications as Cloud Capital builds direct development capability.