Real Estate Lead, Data Center Site Acquisition

About the role

You will own the end-to-end land acquisition strategy and site-control execution for OpenAI's next-generation data center portfolio across the United States. This role operates at the forefront of infrastructure delivery, converting market intelligence and broker relationships into credible, shovel-ready positions that satisfy power, land, permitting, and expansion criteria. You are not a traditional transactional real estate function; you will proactively shape where OpenAI can build, secure land positions early, and structure defensible commercial terms. The position requires coordinating legal, technical, and development workflows to move opportunities from sourced lead to controlled site and finally to readiness handoff. You will manage market prioritization and portfolio-level acquisition strategy across target geographies while running multiple negotiations in parallel. Finally, you will translate site-control work into executive-ready acquisition recommendations that balance speed, scale, risk, and long-term development flexibility.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Own market prioritization and portfolio acquisition strategy across target geographies, including scenario analysis for speed, scale, expansion potential, and risk-adjusted economics.
• Proactively source and evaluate land parcels at scale to support long-term data center growth across priority markets using structured pipelines and intelligence.
• Build and manage a national pipeline of site opportunities through broker and developer relationships, direct land-owner outreach, utility intelligence, and rigorous market mapping.
• Lead commercial site-control strategy and run multiple negotiations concurrently across LOIs, option agreements, PSA structures, BTS, lease, or alternative site-control pathways aligned with strategic objectives.
• Coordinate cross-functional diligence encompassing zoning, entitlements, title and ALTA reviews, environmental assessments, power and water infrastructure, site access, offsite improvements, and easement requirements.
• Partner closely with Utilities, Land Development, Environmental, Economic Development, and Community Affairs leads to ensure acquisition strategy reflects real development readiness and risk.
• Negotiate transaction structures that preserve OpenAI flexibility while actively managing execution risk, schedule exposure, and downstream development constraints.
• Prepare transaction approval packages, financial analyses, and executive summaries that translate site-control decisions into clear investment recommendations and board-level narratives.
• Build repeatable playbooks, templates, and decision criteria to enable faster site screening, closing, and ongoing portfolio management across markets.
• Establish durable external relationships with brokers, spec developers, land owners, consultants, and local market participants to sustain deal flow and optionality.
• Monitor national and regional land markets, pricing shifts, policy changes, and community dynamics to anticipate impacts on acquisition risk or strategic fit.
• Evaluate site-control alternatives and trade-offs, recommending pathways that align with OpenAI's technical requirements, timeline, and commercial discipline.
• Synthesize complex due diligence findings into concise risk assessments and recommendations for cross-functional and executive stakeholders.
• Drive site readiness activities in coordination with internal and external partners to ensure smooth handoff to implementation teams.

Requirements

• 8+ years in commercial real estate acquisition, site selection, or corporate development, ideally within data center or hyperscaler environments.
• Proven success identifying and closing large-scale land deals, typically involving 500+ acre parcels, under tight and aggressive timelines.
• Deep understanding of data center site selection drivers, including power availability, grid interconnectivity, fiber access, zoning, entitlement pathways, and environmental constraints.
• Demonstrated ability to manage complex due diligence scopes, such as surveys, title and ALTA reviews, environmental studies, zoning overlays, and access rights analysis.
• Strong negotiation skills and familiarity with LOIs, PSA terms, option agreements, closing mechanics, and related site-control instruments.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with comfort presenting complex portfolios and recommendations to executive leadership.
• Strategic, data-driven thinker capable of translating market intelligence, trend analysis, and scenario modeling into acquisition strategy and portfolio decisions.
• Travel readiness to prospect and close on-site acquisition deals across the United States, including time in market environments and stakeholder engagements.

Nice to have

There are no preferred items listed in the SOURCE for Nice to have qualifications.

Practical notes

The engagement is full_time. The position requires travel to prospect and close on-site acquisition deals across the United States. There is no mention of hours, visa sponsorship, or application deadlines in the SOURCE text.