Planning Manager

Planning Manager – Pre-Construction

Plan the pathway from development and approvals to construction for the future buildings at Western Downs Digital Park.

Location Brisbane, Queensland, with regular travel to Dalby

Reports to Project Controls Leader – WDDP

About Zerra DC

Zerra DC develops and operates hyperscale data centre campuses across Australia, Japan and India, delivering capacity at scale into markets being reshaped by cloud and AI. Zerra DC is part of AGP Sustainable Real Assets, a global infrastructure and real assets business.

Western Downs Digital Park

Western Downs Digital Park is a major new hyperscale data centre campus in Queensland. Its first building is in delivery, while the remaining campus and future buildings move through design, approvals, procurement and development. Each phase needs a credible route to financial close and construction mobilisation.

The role

The Planning Manager – Pre-Construction will own the integrated pre-construction programme for the future buildings and shared campus infrastructure. You will connect development applications, permitting, design, procurement and financial close milestones into a clear plan for each building and for the campus as a whole.

Working across Development, Design, Site Permitting, Legal, Finance and commercial teams, you will give leadership an accurate view of progress, dependencies and emerging risks. As each building reaches financial close and mobilisation, you will lead a structured programme handover to the construction delivery planning function.

What you will lead

• The integrated pre-construction master programme across future buildings and shared campus works.
• Milestones for approvals, design freeze, permits, contractor and equipment procurement, financial close and mobilisation.
• The sequencing of common infrastructure and dependencies between individual building programmes.
• Progress tracking, schedule risk analysis and recovery planning where critical dates come under pressure.
• Programme governance, consultant coordination, action tracking and leadership reporting across the development pipeline.
• A live approvals and permitting tracker that reflects statutory timeframes and conditions.
• Repeatable, complete handovers of schedules, risks and outstanding actions into construction delivery.

What you will bring

You will have planned complex projects through development and pre-construction, bringing structure to multiple consultants, approvals pathways and interdependent workstreams. Experience across major infrastructure, property development or mission-critical facilities could be relevant.

• At least six years in planning, programme management or project controls during the development or pre-construction phase.
• Experience integrating design, approvals, permitting and procurement into a master programme.
• An understanding of the milestones and reporting required to support financial close.
• Strong Primavera P6 or MS Project capability and the ability to produce clear, decision-ready reporting.
• Confidence coordinating planning, permitting, design and procurement advisers across concurrent phases.
• Familiarity with Queensland approvals processes is advantageous; data centre experience is highly regarded.

The opportunity

You will bring visibility and discipline to the next stages of WDDP, helping future buildings progress to construction with their dependencies understood and their programmes ready for delivery.

Apply

North Search is Zerra DC’s recruitment partner for Western Downs Digital Park. Apply through LinkedIn or contact North Search for a confidential discussion.