Director, Site Acquisition

Director, Site Acquisition

The energy industry is entering one of the most significant periods of growth and transformation in its history. Meeting the nation's growing demand for reliable electricity will require new ideas, new infrastructure, and talented people committed to building for the future.

At Cypress Creek Energy, we're meeting that challenge by developing and operating the energy infrastructure needed to power communities, support economic opportunity, and strengthen resilience. We believe our responsibility extends beyond the grid and that how we build matters just as much as what we build.

That same commitment extends to our employees. We invest in professional growth, encourage collaboration across teams, and provide opportunities to take ownership, expand your expertise, and advance your career. Our culture is grounded in safety, accountability, respect, and a shared commitment to deliver results. Join us and help meet one of the most important energy challenges of our time while building a rewarding career.

Cypress Creek Energy (CCE) is seeking a motivated candidate for a Director level role to lead our Site Acquisition Team position as an integral part of our Project Sourcing team. The Site Acquisition Director will be at the core of Cypress Creek's project pipeline growth and business development strategy and will be primarily responsible for new project formation work including screening regions and prospective sites for strategic fit and execution probability, developing and managing land campaigns, managing subcontractors for infrastructure, land and other support capabilities, crafting strategic partnerships with large land partners, and negotiating real estate contracts.

The intent of this role is to lead our Site Acquisition team to manage our site due diligence and project formation work across the United States, serving as the primary coordinator between our development teams working in specific markets, our internal subject matter expert teams including the GIS team, and our external land partners to successfully acquire land to support transmission scale energy projects and large loads such as data centers. The position offers a unique opportunity to join a well-funded and rapidly growing energy company at the forefront of our development business, driving the expansion of our project pipeline in support of our medium and long-term growth strategy.

An effective candidate will demonstrate excellent organizational habits, comprehensive communication skills, a desire to solve complex problems, enthusiastic initiative, negotiation acumen, team management capabilities, and an excellent ability to work with others across multiple teams in the company.

Responsibilities

• Working with Project Sourcing and CCE partner teams to shape and execute project and pipeline formation and structuring strategies
• Familiarity with early and late stage development requirements for powered land for large loads, as well as solar+battery projects. Experience with natural gas-fired generation and gas infrastructure requirements is preferred.
• Coordinating with Development and Geo-analytics GIS teams to identify prospective sites
• Coordinating with subject matter expert teams, including our revenue, interconnection, and modeling teams, to determine site suitability
• Lead Site Acquisition team in day to day activities
• Performing desktop diligence on prospective sites to determine site suitability for greenfield development
• Manage land acquisition vendors, varying from singular landman to corporate land acquisition companies, and consider suite of options for each potential campaign
• Understanding value proposition of target sites to inform and prioritize negotiations
• Negotiating ground lease and purchase agreements
• Negotiating terms and conditions for collection and transmission lines, access roads and right of way easements
• Managing data sets and customer relationship management platform to track leads
• Vetting and onboarding new land acquisition vendors

Education & Experience Required

• 6+ years working experience in land acquisition or real estate development work, with preference for experience in energy and/or industrial related land acquisition
• BA degree preferred, with focus on real estate, energy, or business a plus
• Ability to travel approximately 10-25% of the time
• Team supervision experience
• Strong work ethic and ability to self-start in a fast-paced environment
• Results driven and solutions oriented
• Strong organization, communication skills and attention to detail
• Excellent negotiation, and influencing skills
• A self-starter with ability to work under limited supervision that seeks help when needed
• Embrace and live by the mission and values of Cypress Creek Energy

The preferred location for this role is one of our office locations: Asheville, NC; Durham, NC; Chicago, IL or San Francisco, CA. Our team operates on a hybrid schedule, with in-office schedule of three days per week.

The salary range for the position is $170,000-$210,000 plus bonus and benefits. Compensation may vary outside of this range depending on a number of factors, including a candidate's qualifications, skills, competencies and experience, and location.

Comprehensive package including medical, dental, vision and health insurance, 15 days of Paid Time Off, accrual up to 20 days, 11 observed holidays, 401(k) Match, wellness stipend, family planning stipend, and generous parental leave, tuition reimbursement, phone bill reimbursement, company swag.

Cypress Creek Energy is an equal opportunity employer and considers all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, or veteran status. We are committed to providing a workplace that is inclusive and values diversity, and we encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply.