Senior Land Manager in Maidstone

Ready to shape the next generation of residential development? At Dandara, land is where great developments begin. We are looking for an experienced Senior Land Manager to join our regional team, based from our Tunbridge Wells office, and play a key role in identifying, appraising and securing residential development opportunities that will drive our future growth.

This is a role for someone who knows the land market, enjoys building relationships and has the commercial confidence to turn opportunities into successful acquisitions.

The Opportunity

As Senior Land Manager, you will take ownership of opportunities from the moment they are identified through to acquisition, working closely with our Land, Technical, Commercial, Sales and wider leadership teams. You will have the opportunity to make a real impact by:

• Building and maintaining strong relationships with landowners, agents, developers, promoters and local authorities.
• Identifying both on-market and off-market land opportunities and keeping ahead of competitor activity, planning policy and market trends.
• Leading the financial and technical appraisal of potential development sites.
• Preparing and presenting residual land appraisals, viability models and development forecasts to senior management and Group Boards.
• Leading negotiations and securing commercially attractive land acquisitions.
• Managing opportunities through the full acquisition lifecycle, from initial identification through to exchange, completion and implementable planning consent.
• Developing and delivering divisional land acquisition strategies alongside senior leadership.
• Influencing Local Plans, planning applications and Section 106 agreements to help build a strong medium- and long-term land pipeline.
• Providing market intelligence and insight to support the division's growth strategy.
• Building strong relationships across the business and ensuring land decisions are aligned with technical, commercial and sales objectives.
• Supporting and mentoring junior members of the Land team.

What You'll Bring

We are looking for an established land professional with a strong track record in residential land acquisition and a genuine understanding of what makes a development opportunity commercially viable. You will ideally have:

• Proven experience securing residential land opportunities from initial identification through to completion.
• Strong financial and commercial acumen, with the ability to appraise sites, build viability models and identify opportunities to create value.
• Excellent knowledge of the planning system, Local Plan promotion and the political landscape surrounding residential development.
• A strong network of industry contacts and the ability to source both on- and off-market opportunities.
• Excellent negotiation skills and the confidence to secure commercially advantageous deals.
• The resilience and self-motivation to operate independently while working collaboratively with a wide range of stakeholders.
• Strong communication skills and the confidence to present recommendations and opportunities to senior management and Boards.
• RICS or an equivalent professional qualification would be advantageous.

Why This Role?

This isn't simply a role managing an existing land pipeline. You will be helping to identify where the business can grow next, building relationships in the market and taking ownership of opportunities that can shape the future development programme. You will have visibility with senior stakeholders, influence across multiple functions and the opportunity to make a tangible commercial impact through the land you secure. You will also play an important part in ensuring our developments support wider Environmental, Social and Governance objectives, including sustainability, Net Zero Carbon and social value initiatives.

Interested?

If you are an experienced residential land professional who enjoys finding opportunities, building relationships and making deals happen, we would love to hear from you. Reach out to our Head of Recruitment, Ross Davies on LinkedIn for a discreet chat.