Vice President of Development
AREY Group, LLC
Macon, GA
Role Summary
The Vice President of Development is responsible for originating, evaluating, negotiating, entitling, and advancing real estate development opportunities through pre‑development, culminating in land closing and a clean handoff to Construction. This role owns the front end of the development lifecycle—from market strategy and deal sourcing through underwriting, diligence, entitlements, design coordination, and capitalization support.
The VP of Development ensures that only well‑underwritten, executable, and strategically aligned deals move forward, teaming with the VP of Construction to oversee the construction execution of each project.
Key Competencies
- Strategic, analytical, and decisive real estate development leader
- Proven ability to originate and advance deals through complex pre‑development phases
- Strong market intuition combined with disciplined underwriting and risk assessment
- Skilled in managing consultants, municipalities, brokers, and capital partners
- Clear communicator capable of synthesizing risk, opportunity, and recommendations for executive decision-making
- Highly organized with strong ownership mindset and accountability
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
The essential functions include, but are not limited to, the following:
1. Market Strategy & Deal Origination
- Establish and manage target market strategy, including quarterly market screening, activation, and review cadence
- Lead all deal sourcing activities, including broker relationships, dirt dogs, market tours, digital campaigns, and direct outreach
- Maintain and continuously update the development pipeline as the single source of truth for all opportunities
- Ensure complete source attribution, stage tracking, and conversion visibility across the funnel
- Identify and elevate red-flag risks to the CEO and CIO early in the process
2. Underwriting & Investment Evaluation
- Lead initial underwriting, feasibility analysis, and deal structuring for all development opportunities
- Oversee creation and refinement of pro formas, ensuring assumptions align with market, design, and execution realities
- Prepare and present project prelims, including key risks, sensitivities, and recommendations
- Coordinate internal market studies, density studies, and site feasibility assessments
- Make clear go / no‑go recommendations to executive leadership
3. LOI, PSA & Land Control
- Lead negotiation of Letters of Intent (LOIs) and business terms with land sellers
- Coordinate PSA execution in partnership with legal counsel
- Manage deal economics, timelines, and conditions through diligence and closing
- Oversee negotiation and receipt of required easements, access agreements, and off‑site rights
4. Due Diligence & Entitlements
- Serve as development team lead during due diligence
- Coordinate and manage all third‑party diligence consultants (survey, environmental, geotech, civil, traffic, utilities, etc.)
- Lead evaluation of site investigation reports and present findings internally
- Manage entitlement strategy, zoning approvals, and municipal coordination in conjunction with legal and consulting teams
- Obtain zoning confirmations, will‑serve letters, impact fee estimates, and development approvals
5. Pre‑Development Design & Budget Leadership
- Establish and manage the pre‑development budget, tracking all invoices and exposures
- Lead formation of the pre‑development project team, including architects, engineers, and key consultants
- Oversee design visioning and early plan development to ensure alignment with underwriting and operational objectives
- Conduct and document pre‑development design meetings, action items, and decision logs
- Partner closely with the VP of Construction during SD/DD phases to ensure constructability and cost alignment
6. Capitalization & Closing Support
- Support CIO, investment and accounting teams in preparation of investment memoranda and lender materials
- Serve as point person for lender and equity diligence requests pre‑closing
- Lead the development closing process, ensuring all conditions, approvals, and deliverables are satisfied
- Finalize development agreements, budgets, schedules, and closing abstracts
- Ensure the deal is fully de‑risked and ready for construction execution
7. Transition to Construction
- Execute a clean handoff to VP of Construction at land closing / Notice to Proceed
- Deliver complete and organized project documentation, budgets, schedules, and assumptions
- Participate in construction kickoff and milestone alignment meetings as needed
- Remain available for strategic support without owning construction execution
Reporting & Systems
- Maintain standardized pipeline reports, market trackers, and deal dashboards
- Ensure consistent documentation, file structure, and meeting cadence across all deals
- Provide regular written and verbal updates to CEO and CIO on pipeline health, risks, and priorities
Requirements
Technical Competencies
- Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel and financial modeling
- Microsoft Word, CoPilot, Outlook, and PowerPoint
- Strong understanding of real estate development processes, zoning, and entitlements
- Ability to interpret site plans, surveys, and consultant reports
Personal Competencies
- Proven leader and mentor
- Strong negotiation skills
- Self‑directed with strong ownership mentality
- Clear communicator with executive presence
- Highly organized and process‑driven
- Ability to maintain sensitive and confidential information.
- Willingness to assume accountability and ownership.
- Ability to maintain sensitive and confidential information.
- Comfortable operating in ambiguity while maintaining discipline
Physical/Mental Requirements
- Able to walk job sites, discern construction issues, and develop creative solutions.
- Able to concentrate on plan reviews and interpret legal documents.
- Able to perform intensive analytical operations and prepare accurate reports.
- Able to run meetings and travel to multiple job sites (some overnight stays).
Education & Experience
- Bachelor’s degree in Real Estate, Finance, Business, Planning, or related field required
- Master’s degree preferred
- 10+ years of experience in real estate development, acquisitions, or related field
- Minimum 10–15 years in related field, experience in stick frame or garden style, ground-up construction/development.
- Demonstrated success sourcing and executing ground‑up development deals through pre‑development
- Salary is commensurate with experience
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the functions. While performing the duties of this position, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear. The employee frequently is required to use hands or finger, handle, or feel objects, tools or controls. The employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; sit; reach with hands and arms; climb or balance; and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The employee must occasionally lift not more than 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this position include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, and the ability to adjust focus. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.
Other duties
This job description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed by the employee(s) incumbent in this position. Employees will be required to follow any other job-related instructions and to perform any other job-related duties requested by any person authorized to give instructions or assignments. All duties and responsibilities are essential functions and requirements and are subject to possible modification to reasonably accommodate individuals with disabilities. To perform this job successfully, the incumbents will possess the skills, aptitudes, and abilities to perform each duty proficiently. Some requirements may exclude individuals who pose a direct threat or significant risk to the health or safety of themselves or others. The requirements listed in this document are the minimum levels of knowledge, skills, or abilities. This document does not create an employment contract, implied or otherwise, other than an “at will” relationship.
