Development Planning Specialist

Job Overview

The Real Estate Development Planning Specialist plays a key role in assisting with the preparation, coordination, review, and monitoring of development plans and project schedules. This position supports senior staff to ensure alignment of development assumptions with master plans, financial feasibility analyses, market research, and project delivery criteria.

Key Responsibilities

• Contribute to updating and preparing real estate development plans, covering land use mix, phasing, plot scheduling, product configurations, area programming, and implementation strategies.
• Review master plans, concept designs, built-up area schedules, land usage tables, plot-specific data, and development briefs to verify alignment with established project assumptions.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to gather data for residential, hospitality, retail, commercial, and mixed-use assets and destination developments.
• Help develop assumptions used in feasibility studies, business planning, market evaluations, and site optimization assessments.
• Coordinate with Finance, Investment, Asset Management, Design teams, and external consultants to collect information related to costs, income, sales absorption, phasing, and delivery timelines.
• Assist in reviewing financial model inputs ensuring consistency with area programming, master planning, infrastructure needs, and estimated market demand.
• Monitor project milestones, deliverable submissions from consultants, approvals, and pivotal development decisions.
• Maintain trackers for development progress, action items, risks, issues, and prepare regular status reports.
• Facilitate coordination across Development, Design, Infrastructure, Delivery, Procurement, Finance, Legal, and Asset Management departments.
• Assist in drafting scopes of work for consultants, advisors, and technical experts and review their submissions thoughtfully.
• Manage consultants to ensure timely deliverable submissions and effective resolution of feedback.
• Support preparation of internal reports, management presentations, dashboards, meeting summaries, and updates.
• Help prepare approval documents, committee briefs, and progress reports to maintain thorough documentation of assumptions, decisions, and records.
• Identify planning risks such as changes in area plans, land use assumptions, infrastructure dependencies, market demand fluctuations, delays in approvals, cost escalations, and delivery timeline challenges.
• Participate in creating mitigation strategies and alternative development scenarios for evaluation by management.

Qualifications and Experience

• A bachelor's degree in Real Estate Development, Urban Planning, or a related discipline is required.
• At least 12 years of professional experience in real estate development, including development planning, master planning, feasibility analysis, project coordination, urban planning, or managing mixed-use projects.
• Background in sizeable projects across residential, hospitality, retail, commercial, waterfront, or destination developments is highly desirable.
• Experience collaborating with developers, master developers, consultants, government agencies, investment firms, or Public Investment Fund (PIF)-associated entities is advantageous.
• Comprehensive knowledge of the real estate development lifecycle encompassing master planning, feasibility studies, design coordination, approvals, procurement processes, construction interface, and project handover protocols.
• Ability to critically assess master plans, area schedules, GFA/BUA calculations, land use mixes, plot datasets, development briefs, and phasing plans.
• Strong understanding of feasibility parameters, including financial model inputs like IRR, NPV, cash flow, revenue and cost assumptions, as well as absorption rates.
• Exceptional coordination, follow-up skills with internal and external stakeholders.
• Proficient analytical capabilities, with solid reporting and presentation skills.
• Capability to generate precise meeting notes, maintain up-to-date trackers, create dashboards, and develop executive presentations.
• Meticulous attention to detail with an aptitude for detecting inconsistency in planning and feasibility assumptions.
• Advanced skills in Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, Word, MS Project, and other planning and reporting tools.
• Fluent English communication skills, both written and verbal.