Project Development Manager / Director
About the job
- A higher-education background in engineering, business school, urban planning, or environmental law.
- Experience managing or developing real-estate projects with a degree of autonomy.
- Ability to interact and negotiate with demanding stakeholders, including municipalities, local authorities, and prefectures, and secure project acceptability.
- Ability to align varied internal teams without necessarily having direct hierarchical authority.
- Ability to explain data-center complexity to non-specialists and address environmental, social, and urban-planning concerns.
- Ability to analyze land-use constraints, including local urban plans, easements, environmental and political issues, project acceptability, and fiber and electrical connection options.
- Knowledge of project-development stages, including feasibility studies, obtaining authorizations, construction, and commissioning, and of urban-planning procedures.
- Ability to connect technical, real-estate, financial, and commercial constraints in a holistic approach.
- Ability to update and defend the business plan using inputs from all teams, including capital expenditure, operating expenditure, and revenue data.
- Ability to present risks and opportunities and support committee decisions on spending authorizations.
- Interest in technology assets or the data-center sector, including data-center types and location criteria such as energy, land, and connectivity.
- Ability to identify project strengths, develop persuasive messaging, maintain a customer orientation, and translate technical issues into commercial arguments.
- Professional English is appreciated.
- Prepare and coordinate permit and authorization applications, including building permits, environmental authorizations for classified installations, impact studies, public participation, and prefectural approval in Île-de-France, and follow them through final approval.
- Prepare and maintain communications with elected officials, government services, and local residents, including materials, meetings, and minutes.
- Contribute to analysis of land opportunities and capacity studies that define target data-center computing power and size connection demand, taking client requirements and site constraints into account.
- Define with the commercial department the type and market positioning of the data center to develop.
- Coordinate with the technical department on connection requests to RTE or Enedis through the connection agreement and track the schedule for power availability.
- Maintain the business plan, development schedule, and budgets, and prepare materials for committee review.
- Coordinate internal and external contributors, including engineering consultancies, advisors, and architects, and contribute to responses to tenders, questionnaires, and client data rooms.
- Coordinate and steer the project with internal departments and external partners from project acceptability through delivery of the asset.
- Professional English proficiency.
About the company
Altarea is a real estate company focused on low-carbon urban transformation in France. It designs and manages a broad portfolio including retail spaces, housing, offices, and digital and energy infrastructure. Its products are built and operated as mixed-use urban projects, with active management of properties and ongoing investments in photovoltaic infrastructure and large data center campuses to support digital growth, including AI. What sets Altarea apart from competitors is its intentional diversification across three main property markets (retail, residential, and offices) combined with a strategic shift toward sustainable, low-carbon development and energy infrastructure, rather than sticking to a single asset class. Its goal is to shape resilient, sustainable cities by delivering energy-efficient buildings while expanding into high-growth sectors that support modern life and the digital economy.
Company Size
1,001-5,000
Company Stage
IPO
Headquarters
Paris, France
Founded
1994
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- H1 2026 FFO rose 39.2% to €86.6 million, driven by residential recovery.
- Altarea secured 1,883 billion euros liquidity and refinanced €275 million RCF for five years.
- Retail leasing stayed strong in 2026, with 97.1% occupancy and rising footfall.
What critics are saying
- Citadel launches only after end-user contracts; Vantage partnership still leaves execution hostage.
- Primonial litigation closed August 2026 after €10 million payment and €60 million preference shares.
- Revenue fell 9.1% in H1 2026, exposing Altarea to prolonged residential weakness.
What makes ALTAREA unique
- Altarea controls land, permits, and financing for 400 MW Bordeaux Citadel campus, February 2026.
- Altarea pairs French retail, housing, offices, photovoltaics, and data centers under one platform.
- Altarea kept S&P BBB- stable in March 2026, preserving investment-grade access.
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