Pre-Construction Manager

Job Description

The Manager, Pre-Construction sits within the Development function and represents Development at the enterprise PMO level, reporting directly to the Head of Development.

This is a delivery-focused role responsible for coordinating and governing pre-construction activity across the APAC Development portfolio within the Zerra E2E Asset Delivery Model. The role manages programme schedules, permitting submissions, consultant coordination, risk registers, stage gate readiness, and development reporting across projects spanning Japan, India, Australia, and emerging markets.

The role maintains the integrated APAC portfolio view across all seven E2E delivery stages — tracking cross-project dependencies, schedule conflicts, permitting risks, ESG certification milestones, development sequencing, and capital deployment forecasts. It owns the Development decision log and produces stage gate submissions, Investment Committee papers, ExCom reporting, and portfolio dashboards that translate complex multi-market delivery activity into clear, decision-ready insight.

This role acts as the integrator between Development execution, enterprise governance, and capital deployment strategy — ensuring PMO standards, reporting discipline, and governance frameworks are consistently applied across every market and project.

Success in this role requires close collaboration across Design, Capital Project Controls, Finance, Legal, Operations, and ESG teams, alongside active coordination with consultants, utilities, authorities, in-market teams, and external advisors across APAC jurisdictions.

Responsibilities

1. Pre-Construction & Development Strategy

• Support the Head of Development in defining and implementing development strategy across APAC markets, translating business objectives and investment priorities into clear delivery pathways, readiness milestones, and execution plans.

• Create and manage the pre-construction programme from site selection through to construction readiness, maintaining integrated workplans across due diligence, design development, permitting, cost, and capital workstreams.

• Maintain the Campus Development Strategy and overall development readiness across the portfolio, proactively identifying programme risks, blockers, scope gaps, and cross-project dependencies before they impact critical path delivery.

• Coordinate cross-functional inputs across Design, Capital Controls, Finance, Legal, PMO, Operations, and in-market teams to ensure integrated planning, governance alignment, and execution consistency.

• Prepare and maintain portfolio reporting, Investment Committee materials, ExCom updates, and development records providing clear visibility of programme certainty, delivery risk, capital deployment, and key decision points.

• Engage early in the site selection and acquisition process to assess development risks — including planning feasibility, permitting complexity, infrastructure constraints, and programme assumptions — ensuring risk is understood and reflected in investment decisions before capital commitment.

2. Portfolio Programme Management & Delivery

•        Develop and maintain the consolidated APAC portfolio programme across active projects and markets, integrating key milestones, critical path activities, permitting timelines, utility interfaces, dependencies, and investment decision gates.

•        Identify and manage cross-project dependencies, sequencing conflicts, resource constraints, and programme risks, escalating issues early before they impact delivery certainty, customer commitments, or capital deployment objectives.

•        Monitor portfolio performance against approved baseline schedules, highlighting variance trends, delivery risks, and emerging threats to investment timelines and strategic business objectives.

•        Produce the Development function’s contribution to enterprise PMO reporting, including stage gate submissions, portfolio health dashboards, milestone updates, and decision logs aligned with PMO governance requirements.

•        Represent Development within enterprise PMO forums, ensuring accurate project reporting, alignment with enterprise programme standards, and visibility of Development-specific governance and delivery risks.

3. Development & Capital Integration

•        Work closely with Finance and Capital Controls to align programme schedules, permitting pathways, delivery sequencing, and project readiness with capital forecasting, cash-flow planning, and funding timelines.

•        Coordinate programme, scope, and cost inputs across active projects to support Investment Committee processes and capital deployment reporting, ensuring all outputs are accurate, programme-backed, and decision-ready.

•        Monitor pre-construction expenditure and programme certainty against approved budgets, proactively identifying variances and emerging threats to investment timelines or funding schedules.

•        Ensure development risks, regulatory dependencies, and market uncertainties are clearly communicated to Finance and executive leadership so forecasts, contingencies, and investment assumptions appropriately reflect project risk exposure.

•        Maintain development and programme data in structured, governance-aligned formats that support capital tracking, auditability, and integration with enterprise PMO and Finance reporting requirements.

4. Site Permitting, Approvals & Regulatory Compliance

•        Own and manage permitting programmes for assigned projects, tracking lodgements, referral agency responses, approval conditions, and outstanding actions against planned milestones.

•        Coordinate with in-market planning consultants, regulatory advisors, and authorities to prepare submissions, manage approval processes, and respond to information requests.

•        Maintain a portfolio-level permitting register providing clear visibility of approval status, regulatory risks, and programme exposure across all APAC projects.

•        Identify and escalate permitting or regulatory risks that may impact programme certainty, customer commitments, or investment timelines, providing schedule impact assessments and recommended mitigation strategies.

•        Support due diligence, feasibility assessments, and investment decision-making by providing accurate permitting status updates, programme forecasts, and regulatory risk summaries.

•        Ensure development activities comply with applicable zoning, environmental, and planning regulations across each APAC jurisdiction, liaising with Legal where statutory interpretation is required.

•        Coordinate with the Site Acquisition and Energy leads to maintain visibility of the utility connection thread — power, water, and fibre — from early feasibility through to delivery handover, ensuring connection timelines, authority approvals, and agreement milestones are tracked within the programme and risks are surfaced before they impact delivery certainty.

5. Portfolio Coordination, Governance & Consultant Management

•        Act as the primary coordination interface between Development and the enterprise PMO, ensuring Development activities, governance reporting, and portfolio updates are aligned with enterprise standards, reporting cadences, and approval requirements.

•        Manage development-stage consultants and due diligence workstreams across assigned projects — including planning, environmental, geotechnical, civil, heritage, and architectural advisors — ensuring deliverables, timelines, and outputs meet programme and governance requirements.

•        Maintain governance infrastructure across the portfolio including due diligence trackers, project records, reporting templates, document controls, and audit-ready development documentation.

•        Coordinate cross-functional inputs across Design, Finance, Legal, Capital Controls, Operations, PMO, Customer Success, and in-market teams to ensure alignment between programme delivery, procurement strategies, capital governance, and customer commitments.

•        Support GC and OSE procurement activities by coordinating pre-construction inputs, tender documentation, programme constraints, packaging strategies, and design deliverables.

6. Portfolio Risk, Issues & Analytical Insights

•        Maintain portfolio-level risk and issue registers across all APAC projects, consolidating inputs from programme, permitting, design, utilities, commercial, and procurement workstreams into structured, actively managed reporting.

•        Identify and assess project and portfolio-level risks — including cross-market patterns, systemic delivery threats, regulatory shifts, utility constraints, and programme dependencies —that may impact multiple projects simultaneously.

•        Prepare structured risk summaries and decision briefings that clearly define the issue, impact, recommended mitigation, decision pathway, and required approvals for Development leadership and governance forums.

•        Track mitigation actions, outstanding decisions, permit conditions, and governance commitments, ensuring accountability is assigned and issues are escalated before they impact delivery certainty or investment timelines.

•        Partner with Finance, Legal, and Capital Controls to ensure risks are accurately reflected in programme reporting, financial forecasts, and investment assumptions, applying lessons learned to improve future delivery planning.

7. ESG & Sustainability

•        Maintain ESG and sustainability milestone tracking across all active projects, including LEED, BREEAM, and Green Star certification pathways, ensuring commitments and submission timelines are integrated into the master programme.

•        Act as the coordination interface between Sustainability and the Development team during pre-construction, ensuring ESG deliverables and assessment milestones are embedded in project scopes, programmes, and consultant deliverables.

•        Monitor ESG programme performance and identify certification risks, milestone slippage, or scope changes that may impact sustainability commitments, escalating issues early through portfolio risk and governance processes.

•        Ensure sustainability commitments are measurable, consistently tracked, and visible in Development governance reporting throughout the pre-construction lifecycle.

8. AI, Digital & Productivity Enablement

•        Lead the implementation and continuous improvement of digital tools, dashboards, and reporting platforms that enhance programme tracking, portfolio governance, and decision-making across Development activities.

•        Build and maintain integrated portfolio reporting and programme management frameworks within MS Project, Smartsheet, or equivalent, ensuring project data is structured, current, and compatible with PMO, Finance, and Capital Controls requirements.

•        Drive adoption of standardised reporting formats, governance templates, and data management practices across all APAC projects and in-market teams, ensuring consistency and auditability across the portfolio.

•        Identify and implement automation and AI-enabled workflows that reduce manual effort, strengthen risk identification, and increase programme certainty across Development and pre-construction activities.

•        Act as the primary conduit between the Development function and Design, Technology, Finance, Capital Controls, and PMO teams, ensuring reporting needs, data standards, and workflow priorities are aligned.

9. People & Culture

•        Share pre-construction and PMO knowledge with junior team members, building capability in programme management, permitting, and governance practices across the Development team.

•        Contribute to a collaborative team environment by sharing project intelligence, process improvements, and lessons learned — treating portfolio knowledge as a shared asset, not a personal advantage.

•        Participate in resource and capacity planning discussions with the Head of Development, providing honest assessments of portfolio workload and delivery risk.

10. Safety Leadership (Injury & Incident Free)

•        Apply IIF principles consistently across all pre-construction site visits, consultant meetings, contractor interactions, and development activities regardless of project stage.

•        Review safety components of pre-construction submissions, permits, and consultant briefs to ensure compliance with applicable WHS legislation and Zerra standards.

•        Ensure early-stage design reviews and stage gate submissions incorporate constructability assessments and safety-in-design principles as standard deliverables.

•        Report all safety observations, near misses, or incidents immediately and support investigation processes as required.

•        Maintain awareness of site-specific safety requirements across all assigned projects and ensure all site access and inspection protocols are observed without exception.