Project Development Manager – Power & Water Utility

About the role

Cooper Fitch is seeking an experienced Project Development Manager to join its Generation function. You will provide technical and engineering expertise across the full lifecycle of power and water assets, from bid development and M&A due diligence to construction, commissioning, and operations.

Key responsibilities

• Lead technical due diligence, configuration analysis, resource estimation, and degradation modeling for projects under development.
• Review and finalize technical proposals from EPC contractors and support the appointment of owners’ engineers and lenders’ technical advisors.
• Negotiate and renegotiate key project agreements, including power/water purchase agreements, EPC contracts, and LTSAs.
• Prepare budget plans and provide technical inputs to financial models throughout the project and O&M lifecycle.
• Ensure seamless handover from project development to operations and maintenance teams.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with EPC contractors, OEMs, and technical consultants.
• Support commercial and revenue management, including tariff and pricing strategy input.

Required profile

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (Master’s preferred).
• 8+ years of experience within power and water plants or a similar role (10+ years preferred).
• Proven experience in technology selection, configuration analysis, and basic engineering for thermal power generation and desalination.
• Strong contractual knowledge of power/water purchase agreements, EPC contracts, and LTSAs.
• Experience developing international and GCC‑level projects.
• Understanding of financial business models is a plus.

Required skills

• Commercial and revenue management
• Technical due diligence
• Technical and engineering support
• Tariff and pricing strategy
• LTSAs
• Configuration analysis
• EPC contracts
• Technology selection
• Resource estimation
• Desalination
• Degradation modeling
• Technical inputs to financial models
• Basic engineering for thermal power generation