Senior Development Manager

At Places for People, we hire People, not numbers! Experience and track record are important, but we're more interested in hiring someone that embodies our People Promises. That's someone that does the right thing, is enthusiastic and motivated to grow, believes in Community spirit, is respectful and enjoys their work. As the UK's leading Social Enterprise, we don't discriminate based on any protected attribute. In fact, we're dedicated to creating inclusive and thriving Communities for both our Customers and Employees.

As a Senior Development Manager, you will play a key role in delivering our regional development programme, supporting the wider business plan and long-term growth strategy. You will be responsible for managing a varied portfolio of projects, including large-scale mixed-use and multi-tenure developments, affordable housing schemes, joint ventures, and commercial opportunities. Day to day, you will identify and secure new business opportunities, appraise land and property opportunities, and manage projects from acquisition through to delivery. You will lead on negotiations, oversee planning applications and agreements, and work closely with internal teams and external partners to ensure schemes are viable, well-managed and aligned to our strategic objectives. You'll also manage internal and external consultant teams, monitor financial performance through detailed appraisals, and ensure projects deliver both financial and social value. Building strong relationships with stakeholders, local authorities, funding bodies and partners will be a key part of your role, alongside mentoring more junior colleagues to support their development.

Essential Criteria

• Proven track record of independently delivering complex residential or mixed-use development schemes
• Strong financial and commercial awareness, with experience preparing and managing project appraisals
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to negotiate effectively
• Ability to manage multiple projects and priorities in a fast-paced environment with minimal supervision
• Experience within the new homes sector

You enjoy working collaboratively across teams and bring strong influencing skills to build effective relationships both internally and externally. With a keen eye for detail and a commercial mindset, you're comfortable working with financial models, managing budgets and ensuring projects remain on track. You're also passionate about developing others, sharing your knowledge and supporting junior colleagues to grow within the team. Ideally, you'll have or be working towards a relevant professional qualification and have a solid understanding of the housing and development sector.

Benefits

• Competitive salary with regular annual review
• Company car/car allowance
• Pension with matched contributions up to 7%
• Bonus scheme
• 35 days holiday (including bank holiday) with option to buy or sell days
• Healthcare cashback plan for everyday medical costs - up to £500 savings per year
• Access to wellbeing support such as counselling and flu jabs
• Private GP and health support services available
• Access to a rewards platform with retail and lifestyle discounts
• Savings on groceries, travel, shopping and home products
• Ongoing training and development opportunities
• Access to professional qualifications and career progression
• Internal development programmes and learning support
• Recognition schemes such as Star Awards and Colleagues Awards

If you meet the criteria and are ready to make the next step in your career then click apply. You will be redirected to our careers site where you can discover more about the role, read a full job description and apply directly to us. As part of our commitment to diversity and inclusion, we offer a guaranteed interview to candidates who are disabled, neurodiverse, or have served in the Armed Forces, provided they meet the essential criteria for the role. If you would like to be considered under this scheme, please indicate this in your application. We are dedicated to creating a supportive and accessible recruitment process for all.

We understand the importance of a supportive and inclusive work culture so please talk to us at interview about flexibility you may need. We can't promise to give you exactly what you want, but we promise not to judge you for asking. For this role we are open to discussing the possibility of reduced hours, flexible start and finish times or compressed hours.

Safeguarding

At Places for People, safeguarding is everyone's responsibility. We are committed to creating safe communities for our customers and colleagues by protecting children, young people, and adults at risk from harm, abuse, and neglect. We follow robust safeguarding policies and procedures, ensuring all employees, volunteers, and contractors uphold the highest standards of safeguarding and accountability. Our recruitment process includes pre-employment checks, including Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks where applicable, to promote a safe and secure working environment. By joining Places for People, you are expected to contribute to our safeguarding culture, following our policies and reporting concerns to protect those in our communities.