Senior Manager, Data Center Permitting- Data Center Engineering

Do you want to work with high-caliber professionals in a dynamic and growing company? Are you entrepreneurial, hard-working, and collegial? Join us at SB Energy, a leading infrastructure company backed by SoftBank Group and Ares Infrastructure, pairing cutting-edge innovation with best-in-class execution. Our mission is to deliver reliable and secure data center and power infrastructure to strengthen America's future.

Founded in 2019, SB Energy is a SoftBank Group company headquartered in Redwood City, California. In 2026, SoftBank Group and OpenAI announced a $1 billion investment to support SB Energy as their leading development and execution partner for data center campuses, while Ares Infrastructure continues its long-standing support of the company's growth. SB Energy develops, builds, owns, and operates some of the largest and most technically advanced energy and data center infrastructure projects in the United States. Since its founding, the company has rapidly grown into a top-tier integrated platform with more than 3 gigawatts (GW) in operation and a multi-GW pipeline of energy and data center infrastructure nationwide.

SB Energy also leverages a strong culture of innovation to identify and integrate new technologies into its projects, including its AI-based digital platform, delivering energy infrastructure that is local, reliable, and matched to load. We are building the energy and infrastructure future—today.

Come join us in accelerating the energy and infrastructure transition!

Basic Function:

SB Energy is seeking a Permitting Senior Manager dedicated to the Data Center team.

In this role, you will lead building, civil, fire and life safety, and operational permitting for SB Energy’s data center campuses and supporting facilities. You will organize complex approval workflows, establish clear responsibilities, and integrate permit schedules with phased construction, occupancy, and operational readiness across projects and jurisdictions.

This role requires strong management skills, disciplined follow-through, and the ability to hold multidisciplinary teams and consultants accountable for timely, complete deliverables. You will own the Data Center team’s permitting execution and partner with Development, Real Estate, Legal, and environmental specialists on related land-use, site-control, and environmental approvals.

Responsibilities:

• Lead building and civil permits for data centers and support facilities, including site development, grading, drainage, roads, utilities, foundations, core and shell, interiors, and coordinated trade permits.
• Establish and maintain a consolidated permit matrix identifying jurisdiction, scope, applicant, responsible owner, prerequisites, submission dates, review durations, approval milestones, conditions, and expiration dates.
• Integrate permitting activities with design and construction schedules; identify critical dependencies, required design maturity, agency review cycles, and sequencing for early works and phased permit packages.
• Lead recurring coordination meetings with clear agendas, decisions, action owners, and due dates; track commitments through closure and resolve handoff gaps between teams.
• Direct permitting consultants and coordinate architects, civil engineers, contractors, and internal stakeholders; establish scopes, resource plans, deliverable expectations, and accountability for performance.
• Manage application readiness reviews, submission logistics, fees, agency comments, and resubmittals; confirm packages contain coordinated drawings, calculations, forms, and required supporting studies.
• Lead fire and life safety permitting with design professionals, fire marshals, and building officials, including fire protection systems, fire alarm, access, and applicable fuel-storage and hazardous-material approvals.
• Maintain controlled records application versions, agency correspondence, and approvals so teams work from consistent information.
• Assess permitting impacts of changes to building locations, utility routes, access roads, staging and laydown areas, and construction phasing; coordinate amendments before affected work proceeds.
• Partner with Development, Real Estate, and Legal to align submissions with verified site control, parcel boundaries, ownership information, easements, access agreements, and parcel consolidation or subdivision requirements.
• Support Development-led environmental permitting by coordinating design inputs and schedules for wetlands and streams, stormwater, air, species, and cultural-resource reviews, as applicable.
• Maintain risk and issue registers; flag missing inputs, overdue decisions, and potential delays early, and present recovery plans, options, and leadership decisions needed.
• Develop repeatable processes, dashboards, templates, and lessons learned; coach contributors and strengthen permitting execution across the portfolio.

Qualifications/Requirements:

• 10+ years of experience in permitting, land development, design management, or construction delivery, including substantial responsibility for building and civil approvals on complex projects.
• Demonstrated management experience leading multidisciplinary teams and external consultants, establishing ownership, allocating resources, resolving conflicts, and driving commitments to completion.
• Proven ability to organize simultaneous permitting workstreams across multiple buildings, parcels, phases, and jurisdictions under demanding schedules.
• Strong working knowledge of building, civil, fire and life safety, and operational permitting, including agency reviews, inspections, occupancy approvals, and recurring permit requirements.
• Experience building integrated schedules, permit matrices, responsibility assignments, action logs, risk registers, and concise leadership reporting.
• Ability to read architectural and civil drawings, site plans, surveys, permit boundaries, and technical reports and identify missing information or conflicting assumptions.
• Strong written communication, meeting facilitation, negotiation, and stakeholder-management skills, including effective engagement with permitting authorities.
• Proficiency with project tracking and scheduling tools, Excel, document-control systems, and drawing-review platforms such as Bluebeam.
• Data center or mission-critical campus experience preferred; experience with phased construction, Section 401/404 coordination, construction stormwater permits, and complex land assemblies is valuable.
• Professional credentials such as PMP, AICP, PE, or RA preferred but not required

Location: Redwood City, CA or Denver, CO or San Diego, CA or Remote

Base Pay:  $150,000-$200,000

The pay range mentioned above is a guideline. We tailor each offer based on your unique skills, experience, location, and market benchmarks—while ensuring internal parity across our teams. The compensation range provided reflects base pay. Total rewards may also include performance-based bonuses, equity grants, and a market leading comprehensive health and wellness benefits package. Final details will be discussed during the later stages of the hiring process.

Our Health & Wellness Benefits

At SB Energy, we invest in our people and their families with benefits designed for flexibility, support, and peace of mind. Full-time employees enjoy:

• 100% Company-Paid Medical, Dental & Vision (for employees and dependents)
• 401(k) with Company Match
• Generous Paid Time Off + 11 Paid Holidays
• 12 Weeks Parental Leave
• Life, AD&D & Long-Term Disability Coverage
• Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) for Medical, Dependent Care, Transit & Parking (with company contributions)
• Mental, Physical & Social Wellness Support (with company contributions)
• Flexible Work Arrangements & Hybrid Office Setup Benefits
• Monthly Reimbursement for Phone, Internet & Data
• Optional Legal & Pet Insurance Plans
• Device Purchase Support

At SB Energy, the success of our projects is driven by a desire to see our projects benefit as many people as possible. We work to serve local communities through volunteering, fundraising, and much more. For example, we’re proud to support access and opportunity in engineering and clean energy through impactful mentorship programs and workforce training. When you join SB Energy, you can become a part of these efforts, collaborating with team members who share a vision of building a better future now! 

SB Energy is built on a foundation of collaboration and inclusion. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, sex, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, citizenship, or any other legally protected class.

To learn more about us, visit www.sbenergy.com.

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