Working in Development Management

Does anyone on the forum do development management? Would love to hear more about your day - I know this is pretty broad - I am looking at a job that is going to include Development Management as a large part of the day. So I am curious as to what you do most of the day, what your career growth may look like, and of course pay...Thanks for the help! 

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Got it. Just for some info, many development firms (mine included), use a rank structure of Analyst-> Associate -> Manager -> Director -> VP -> SVP/EVP -> C-Suite. So when looking/applying, keep that in mind if coming from the PE world (like VP at my firm has 15-20 exp at time of promotion/hire on average).

The role of Development Manager or Project Manager is very much a "workhorse" title at a lot of firms. You are typically assigned to one project (could be multiple if small enough, or at various stages), and will be point person for a set of tasks at hand. These like shift by phase of the projects. But typically go from acquisitions -> entitlements - design -> predev/precon -> construction ->leasing -> asset mngt -> disposition/recap/etc. Many of these overlap, some more than others. 

So, you "daily" life will be managing and seeing to the tasks of the day/cycle. A lot of coordination with contractors/vendors, internal/external capital, support and specialized teams in your firm (like marketing/leasing for example), dealing with city, etc. Additionally, you probably have some command of some parts of the project budget/P&L at that level. Depending on firm project size, you may have an associate or two reporting directly to you who can delegate tasks to. 

You likely report to a Director (sometimes called a Project Executive, or Project Lead), or that could be you and they are just a true "manager" (big projects could have multiple DM/PMs assigned with a Director/VP in command). Other shops the Directors/VP are more in charge of "deal making" (i.e acquisitions, financing, leasing, dispos) and have the associates/analysts assigned to them to support those tasks. 

Your question on DM vs. PM, is really different by company. We have "Development Managers", in part, because our firm also has in-house construction teams, and they use the "Project Manager" titles. The DM will work closely and coordinate with the PM on the construction side during construction. 

Hope that helps! 

 

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