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The Permitting Project Manager leads permitting and environmental development activities for projects across the MISO, SPP, and ERCOT regions. This role supports renewable energy, powered land, natural gas generation, data center, and related energy infrastructure projects from early-stage site screening through permit acquisition, construction handoff, and ongoing execution support. Working at the intersection of project development, environmental stewardship, and infrastructure delivery, this role offers the opportunity to help shape critical energy projects that support a more reliable and sustainable energy future.
The successful candidate will collaborate closely with development, real estate, engineering, interconnection, commercial, community relations, construction, and operations teams, as well as local, state, and federal regulatory agencies. This is an excellent opportunity for a permitting professional who thrives in a collaborative environment, enjoys solving complex challenges, and is motivated by the opportunity to influence project outcomes from concept through execution.
This position requires a practical understanding of environmental permitting, natural gas and renewable energy infrastructure, water and wastewater permitting, industrial NPDES requirements, land use approvals, and environmental due diligence. The ideal candidate is skilled at managing multiple priorities, identifying permitting and scheduling risks early, guiding technical consultants, and translating complex regulatory requirements into actionable development strategies.
Why Join Us
- Play a critical role in developing and delivering large-scale energy and infrastructure projects across key U.S. markets.
- Work on a diverse portfolio that includes renewable energy, powered land, natural gas generation, and emerging energy solutions.
- Collaborate with experienced multidisciplinary teams and industry experts.
- Gain exposure to projects across multiple jurisdictions and regulatory frameworks.
- Enjoy opportunities for professional development, mentorship, and career growth within a dynamic and expanding organization.
- Contribute to innovative projects that help meet growing energy and infrastructure demands while supporting responsible environmental development.
Principal Duties and Responsibilities
In this role, you will lead complex permitting initiatives, influence strategic project decisions, and provide environmental and regulatory guidance throughout the project lifecycle. Responsibilities include:
- Lead permitting and land use entitlement for new and acquired energy facilities across local, state and federal jurisdictions within MISO, SPP and ERCOT.
- Support powered land and data center development by evaluating site readiness, permitting pathways, environmental constraints, utility and infrastructure dependencies, and development sequencing.
- Manage permitting for natural gas-fired generation and related equipment, including combustion turbines, reciprocating internal combustion engines, fuel cells, emergency generators, boilers, cooling systems, fuel gas infrastructure and ancillary emission units, as applicable.
- Develop and execute project-specific permitting strategies, responsibility matrices, budgets and integrated schedules aligned with development gates, equipment procurement, construction and commercial-operation targets.
- Lead early-stage environmental due diligence and fatal-flaw screening, including review of air quality, water supply, wastewater discharge, wetlands and waters, threatened and endangered species, cultural resources, land use, zoning and community considerations.
- Direct air permitting strategy and application development, including emissions inventories and potential-to-emit calculations; federal and state New Source Review applicability; PSD and nonattainment NSR; minor-source and synthetic-minor pathways; Title V; air dispersion modeling; BACT, LAER and control-technology evaluations; emission offsets or credits; public notice; and construction-start constraints.
- Coordinate with engineering and equipment vendors to obtain and validate permitting inputs such as equipment configuration, fuel specifications, heat input, operating hours, startup and shutdown profiles, emission factors or guarantees, stack parameters, control technologies, monitoring requirements and construction schedules.
- Lead industrial wastewater and stormwater permitting, including NPDES or state-equivalent permitting for process wastewater, cooling tower blowdown, water treatment residuals, equipment-area drainage and industrial stormwater, as applicable.
- Coordinate development of wastewater characterization, flow and mass-balance information, treatment concepts, outfall evaluations, receiving-water assessments, effluent-limit reviews, sampling and monitoring plans, and permit application materials.
- Manage environmental studies and technical consultants; develop scopes of work; evaluate proposals; oversee quality, schedule and budget; review deliverables; and audit invoices.
- Coordinate with authorities having jurisdiction and regulatory agencies through pre-application meetings, application review, public-comment processes, hearings, permit negotiations and resolution of information requests.
- Negotiate project design, permit conditions and mitigation measures while balancing regulatory compliance, project cost, schedule, constructability and operational flexibility.
- Maintain clear permit registers, decision logs, risk summaries and status reporting. Escalate material risks, assumptions and dependencies with actionable recommendations.
- Provide permitting and environmental compliance requirements to execution teams at handoff and continue supporting construction and operations, including permit modifications, compliance plans and agency coordination.
- Represent the company in meetings with communities, elected officials, landowners, agencies and other external stakeholders in coordination with stakeholder and community-relations teams.
- Contribute to continuous improvement through lessons learned, standard scopes, screening tools, templates and training. Mentor analysts and other permitting team members.
Core Competencies
We are seeking a collaborative and solutions-oriented professional who brings:
- Exceptional organizational, communication, analytical, decision-making, problem-solving, and project-management skills.
- The ability to work independently while building strong partnerships across teams and stakeholders.
- A commercial and execution-focused mindset, with the ability to connect permitting decisions to project schedules, costs, design flexibility, and risk management.
- Confidence in technical discussions and the ability to communicate complex regulatory concepts clearly to diverse audiences.
- Strong leadership, accountability, and collaboration skills across disciplines and organizational levels.
- A commitment to safe, responsible, and sustainable project development.
Desired Skills and Experience
We recognize that valuable experience can be gained through a variety of career paths. If your background aligns with most of the qualifications below, we encourage you to apply.
- Bachelor’s or advanced degree in environmental science, environmental engineering, geology, planning, natural resources, or a related discipline.
- Typically 4-8 years of progressively responsible experience in permitting, environmental planning, or project development, ideally supporting utility-scale energy, industrial, powered land, data center, or natural gas generation projects.
- Demonstrated experience with state and federal air permitting for combustion sources, including emissions calculations, NSR and Title V applicability, air-quality modeling, control-technology evaluations, and regulatory agency coordination.
- Working knowledge of natural gas generation technologies and associated permitting considerations.
- Experience supporting or obtaining industrial NPDES permits or equivalent wastewater discharge permits.
- Knowledge of land use and siting processes, USACE permitting, USFWS permitting, state environmental approvals, and related federal and state permitting requirements.
- Experience managing environmental consultants, technical studies, budgets, schedules, and permit packages.
- Experience supporting project development, acquisition due diligence, construction handoff, or operational compliance activities.
- Ability to travel as needed to project sites, agency meetings, and company offices.
- Proficiency with Microsoft 365 and project-management tools; experience with ESRI ArcGIS, GIS-based screening tools, and Google Earth is a plus.
Preferred Qualifications
The following qualifications are beneficial but not required. Candidates with related experience are encouraged to apply.
- Experience permitting assets in multiple MISO, SPP or ERCOT jurisdictions, including Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico or other central-region states.
- Experience with major-source or complex minor-source air permitting for combustion turbines, reciprocating engines or other thermal-generation technologies.
- Familiarity with water sourcing, wastewater treatment, cooling systems, industrial pretreatment, discharge alternatives and water-availability constraints for large-load or generation projects.
- Experience with powered land, data center campuses, off grid or behind-the-meter generation, microgrids, reliability solutions or co-located energy infrastructure.
Measure of Success
Success in this role will be demonstrated through the ability to proactively identify permitting risks, deliver high-quality permit applications and technical analyses, support project execution, and build strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders while maintaining compliance and project momentum.
- Permitting risks and critical-path requirements are identified early enough to inform site selection, design and investment decisions.
- Applications and technical deliverables are complete, accurate, internally aligned and submitted on schedule.
- Permits preserve reasonable construction and operational flexibility while meeting regulatory requirements.
- Consultants, budgets and schedules are actively managed, with timely escalation of material changes.
- Execution and operations teams receive clear, usable permit conditions, commitments and compliance requirements at handoff.
Work Environment
This position is primarily remote and offers the opportunity to collaborate with teams, consultants, regulators, and stakeholders across multiple regions. Periodic travel is expected based on project and agency requirements. The role provides exposure to a broad range of infrastructure projects, regulatory environments, and cross-functional teams, creating significant opportunities for continuous learning and professional growth.
AES is an Equal Opportunity Employer who is committed to building strength and delivering long-term sustainability through diversity and inclusion. Respecting all backgrounds, differences and perspectives enables us to improve the lives of our people, customers, suppliers, contractors, and the communities in which we live and work. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and/or expression, race, national origin, ethnicity, age, religion, marital status, physical or mental disability, pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical condition, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected under applicable law. E-Verify Notice: AES will provide the Social Security Administration (SSA) and if necessary, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with information from each new employee's I-9 to confirm work authorization.
