Role: Director of Land Development

Location: Austin, TX

Engagement type: Full time (remote-flexible with frequent on-site presence)

Start date: ASAP

Compensation: $150k - $210k / mo

About us

Sanctuary is building a wellness-centered residential community in the Texas Hill Country focused on healthy homes, regenerative land planning, nature, and intentional living.

Across 135 acres, we’re developing a modern village designed around clean air, clean water, thoughtful architecture, and meaningful human connection.

We’re not building traditional suburban housing. We’re creating a new way of living.

About the role

We're looking for a Director of Land Development to own development outcomes across the portfolio: from acquisition close to construction readiness, on schedule, within budget, and in alignment with company objectives.

This is a strategic and hands-on role. You'll operate at both levels: setting direction across the portfolio while breaking complex projects into actionable plans, driving stakeholders to completion, and keeping everything moving. You'll work closely with Capital, Finance, Construction, Design, and Executive Leadership.

If you want a title and a process to manage, this isn't it. If you want to own outcomes and build something that matters, keep reading.

What you'll own

• Development strategy & project leadership

  • Lead the development function and the advancement of projects across the portfolio: building and maintaining roadmaps, identifying and mitigating risks, validating feasibility, and ensuring alignment across internal teams and external stakeholders.

• Entitlements, permitting & government coordination

  • Lead all entitlement and permitting efforts: platting, construction plans, site development approvals, septic approvals, utility approvals, development agreements, and all municipal, county, and regulatory approvals. Proactively manage agency relationships and approval pathways, anticipating and resolving obstacles before they impact schedules, while maintaining productive relationships with municipalities, reviewing agencies, utility providers, and regulatory stakeholders. Familiarity with the Central Texas / Hays County context is required.

• Consultant leadership & coordination

  • Oversee all development consultants: civil engineers, surveyors, land planners, environmental, geotechnical, and utility consultants, attorneys, district consultants, and other partners. Establish scopes, review deliverables, monitor budgets, maintain accountability, and lead them toward a shared project outcome.

• Utility & infrastructure planning

  • Lead the planning and coordination of project infrastructure: water, wastewater, electric, telecommunications, drainage, roadway systems, and off-site improvements. Translate strategic and technical requirements into actionable plans, coordinating with utility providers, municipalities, consultants, contractors, and internal teams so infrastructure delivery aligns with project schedules and financing assumptions.

• Development budgets & project economics

  • Own development budgets and financial assumptions across each project's lifecycle: infrastructure and consultant budgets, utility cost estimates, development forecasts, and feasibility analyses. Understand how schedule decisions, entitlement delays, infrastructure requirements, and scope changes impact project economics. Working with Capital, Finance, and FP&A, keep development assumptions accurate and give executive leadership clear visibility into risks and opportunities.

• Public financing & reimbursement programs

  • Lead public financing initiatives: Municipal Utility Districts (MUDs), Public Improvement Districts (PIDs), development agreements, reimbursement programs, and other infrastructure financing mechanisms. Coordinate closely with legal, engineering, financial, and governmental stakeholders so these initiatives support project execution and long-term value creation.

• Team leadership

  • Lead and develop the Land Development team, creating clear accountability structures, reporting systems, and project ownership. This includes leadership of Development Project Managers, Designers & Masterplanners, Architects, and future support functions as the portfolio grows. Build scalable systems, develop talent, and create a culture of ownership and execution.

Who you are

• You bring 8–10+ years in residential land development, including large-scale master-planned communities, and have run multiple simultaneous projects in Texas.

• You have a proven entitlement and permitting track record, with real MUD, PID, and public financing experience (TLAP and septic familiarity a plus).

• You know the Central Texas / Hays County landscape inside out (strongly preferred).

• You operate as an owner, not a manager, balancing strategy, execution, and economics while leading consultants and teams at scale.

• You're highly proactive and a clear communicator, surfacing risks with solutions up and across the org.

• You thrive in a lean, fast-moving, high-ambiguity environment, building scalable systems while executing in parallel.

Where this role lands in a year

By this time next year, you will have:

• Stood up portfolio-wide reporting and accountability systems that give leadership a real-time view of every project

• Built clear development roadmaps for every active project

• Raised consultant performance and accountability across all vendors

• Kept development and consultant budgets within approved ranges

• Made approval and permitting timelines predictable, with infrastructure commitments secured ahead of construction

• Put every active project on a clearly defined path to construction readiness

Ready to build the future of living? This role is open now. We move fast. Apply, and let's talk!