Development Manager
tdm recruitment
Job Description
Our client is a privately owned developer with a strong order book and solid funding behind it โ no PE pressure, no committee-driven decision making, just a business that's grown steadily and now needs to add capability to match its pipeline. Projects span care, retail and residential, running concurrently across the country.
They're looking for a Development Manager to take projects from early feasibility through to delivery, reporting directly to the MD. This is a genuinely autonomous role: you'll own your schemes end to end, not administer someone else's process.
The company
- Privately owned, financially stable, and not answerable to external investors
- Strong, well-funded order book with visibility on projects well into the future
- Growing deliberately rather than chasing scale for its own sake
- Flat structure โ decisions get made quickly, without layers of sign-off
The role
- Own projects from initial feasibility and appraisal through to practical completion
- Run a live pipeline across care, retail and residential schemes at the same time
- Report directly into the MD, with real day-to-day autonomy over how projects are run
- Take the lead on site appraisals, viability, and development strategy at the front end
- Instruct and coordinate consultants, contractors and design teams through delivery
- Manage risk, programme and budget across each scheme personally
- Represent the business directly with landowners, agents, funders and local authorities where required
- Travel nationally to sites, with a base in Leicester
What we're looking for
- Background in quantity surveying or project management (development, construction or consultancy side)
- Track record of taking schemes through feasibility, design and delivery stages
- Comfortable owning multiple projects and sectors at once without close supervision
- Someone who wants autonomy and is happy to be judged on outcomes, not hours at a desk
- Confident dealing directly with senior stakeholders, funders and external consultants
- Full UK driving licence โ national travel is a core part of the role
Why apply
- Real autonomy: you run your projects, the MD doesn't run them for you
- Backed by solid funding and a strong order book, not speculative growth
- Broad sector exposure: care, retail and residential in one role
- Direct line to the MD โ decisions get made in days, not months
- A business investing in growth, not maintaining the status quo