Associate or Associate Director - Strategy, Digital Infrastructure & Powered Land

About DESRI

DESRI (formerly D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments) is a market-leading owner and operator of renewable energy projects throughout the United States. We have acquired or developed approximately 13 gigawatts of contracted capacity across a portfolio of over 85 renewable energy projects in 24 states.

At DESRI, our culture is grounded in rigorous analytics and thoughtful risk-taking, with a strong emphasis on creativity, intellectual curiosity, and continuous improvement. We operate with lean teams that prioritize efficiency and minimize unnecessary bureaucracy, enabling individuals to take ownership and move quickly. We value open, constructive dialogue and believe it leads to better outcomes. Above all, we are driven to go the extra mile and support one another, fostering a collaborative environment built on accountability, integrity, and care.

About the role

DESRI seeks talented and highly motivated associates or associate directors (title and compensation commensurate with experience) to join its Strategy team, with a particular focus on digital infrastructure strategy and powered land development. The team is responsible for developing DESRI’s strategy, identifying attractive business opportunities, and providing analytical insights that inform investment, origination, and development decisions across the company.

This role will help shape DESRI’s strategy at the intersection of power markets, energy infrastructure, and growing electricity demand from digital infrastructure. You’ll evaluate opportunities where access to power, transmission infrastructure, land, and other critical resources can create attractive development opportunities and help advance DESRI’s powered land strategy.

You’ll conduct analysis across U.S. electricity and digital infrastructure markets, evaluate emerging demand and development trends, and work closely with teams across DESRI to translate those insights into actionable origination, development, and investment strategies.

What you'll do

You’ll support the development and execution of DESRI’s digital infrastructure and powered land strategy, with a focus on identifying markets, sites, and commercial opportunities where DESRI’s energy development capabilities can support large-scale power demand.

Responsibilities may include:

• Evaluate potential powered land opportunities based on access to power, transmission and interconnection infrastructure, land availability, development considerations, and other relevant market factors.
• Evaluate investment opportunities and identify key risks, potential upside, and value creation opportunities.
• Leverage digital infrastructure demand, market growth, customer requirements, geographic expansion trends and other key site characteristics to identify potential development and commercial opportunities.
• Assess the intersection of large-load demand and power supply, including opportunities to pair digital infrastructure development with renewable energy, energy storage, and other generation resources.
• Develop market frameworks and screening tools to prioritize geographies and opportunities for powered land development.
• Analyze transmission, interconnection, utility, regulatory, and competitive dynamics that may affect the viability and timing of digital infrastructure opportunities.
• Support the origination and evaluation of new powered land opportunities, including site-level analysis, commercial assessment, and strategic positioning.
• Monitor digital infrastructure market activity, including development pipelines, customer activity, competitive projects, transactions, and evolving approaches to power procurement.
• Evaluate new business models, partnerships, and commercial structures relevant to DESRI’s digital infrastructure strategy.
• Work closely with DESRI’s Development, Engineering, Transmission, Investment & Acquisitions, and other teams to advance digital infrastructure and powered land opportunities.
• Develop data-driven insights to inform site origination, development, investment, and commercialization decisions.
• Support transaction leads in structuring and negotiating acquisitions, financings, and opportunistic sales.
• Lead commercial and other due diligence and manage third-party deliverables through deal processes.
• Support DESRI’s M&A and financial underwriting processes through market research, analysis, and strategic perspectives related to digital infrastructure opportunities.
• Prepare analyses and materials for senior management on digital infrastructure markets, powered land opportunities, and related strategic initiatives.

Qualifications

• Candidates should have an undergraduate degree and at least two years of relevant professional experience for the Associate level, with additional experience expected for the Associate Director level.
• Strong quantitative and analytical capabilities, including experience working with large or complex datasets.
• Experience with digital infrastructure, power markets, energy infrastructure, real estate or land development, strategy, consulting, investing, market analysis, or related fields.
• Strong research skills and an ability to synthesize complex market, power, infrastructure, and commercial information into clear, actionable insights.
• An ability to evaluate opportunities across multiple dimensions, including power availability, transmission and interconnection, land, customer demand, commercial considerations, and development risk.
• A record of academic and professional achievement, well-developed communication skills, the ability to collaborate well with a small team, proven organizational acumen when working on multiple projects, and a high level of motivation are all vital to this role.
• Demonstrated interest in digital infrastructure, powered land development, energy infrastructure, and/or electricity markets in the United States.
• At DESRI, we consider a wide range of factors to determine your compensation. We rely on market indicators and consider your specific job family, background, location, skills, and experience. The expected annual base salary for this position is $130,000–$175,000.
• Our compensation and benefits package includes variable compensation in the form of a year-end bonus, guaranteed in the first year of hire, and benefits including medical and prescription drug coverage, 401(k) contribution matching, paid time off, wellness reimbursement, family building benefits, and a charitable gift match program.