Senior / Principal Planner

We are pleased to share a great opportunity for an experienced Development Director to join our high performing Investment, Development and Planning (IDP) team based in London.  

The Development Director role sits within an Acquisition Hub which comprise a blend of skillsets and experience including site acquisition, planning and technical expertise. Working as part of the Hub you’ll be part of a high-performing autonomous team, implementing Group Strategy in relation to the identification and appraisal of development opportunities while seeking to maximise the conversion of those opportunities into development projects. This is a managerial role which supports the Hub Leads in the identification and acquisition of development sites in line with key targets and performance metrics.

The position is based in our London office in Soho Square and will include travel to sites / clients as required.

About you

We’re looking for an experienced Development Director who can offer experience of working in the Construction / Development industry and has a strong knowledge of current trends, developments, and best practices within the profession. You’ll need to demonstrate excellent knowledge of construction principles and knowledge of residential sector planning processes. This is a senior position within the business where we expect the Development Director to have experience of maintaining networks of key contacts and working with multiple internal and external stakeholders.

IDP is a high performing team so the ability to work to tight schedule with competing priorities to deliver projects on time and in line with the design specifications / client requirements and be comfortable to hold accountability of significant workstreams and / or projects.

What we can offer you

Watkin Jones offers an in-house Learning & Development team to support you with personal and professional development including vocational qualifications, as well as a discretionary annual bonus, 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays (increasing after 2 years’ service by 1 day up to a max of 29 days per annum), a health cash plan, discounted gym memberships, exclusive shopping discounts and a contributory pension scheme.

Watkin Jones’ success to date has been based on our emphasis on building relationships of trust, our customer focus, and our forward-thinking structure. Our intention is to create ‘The Future of Living’, which to us means high quality rental homes, community focus and sustainably driven development.

About Us 

Watkin Jones Group is the UK’s leading developer, builder and manager of residential for rent homes, with 52,000+ homes developed and in-build across 135 schemes. Our operating arm, Fresh, manages over 20,000 units across 64 schemes, reflecting approximately £1.7bn of assets under management, giving us unique and unrivalled insight into what tenants and investors desire.

Our company was established in 1791 and has been building homes since 1927. More recently, we listed on the AIM market in 2016 with a market cap of £255m (current market cap c. £550m). In FY2020 we generated gross revenue of £354m and a Gross Profit of £75.9m. Our position in the market is based on a ‘capital light’ model, where we typically work with institutional forward funders.