Director of Project Development

About GraphyteGraphyte is a climate tech company on a mission to deliver the world's lowest-cost, highest-durability carbon removal. We compress and bury agricultural and timber biomass, locking away carbon that would otherwise return to the atmosphere, and sell the resulting carbon credits to buyers who need permanent, verifiable removal. We are a small team operating our first site and building the pipeline to scale to many more. The science is proven. We are storing biomass and selling credits. The challenge now is execution. The RoleGraphyte's projects don't start in a conference room. They start in a county, with biomass supply to map, landowners to earn the trust of, permits to secure, and a community that deserves straight answers about what we're building and why it's good for them. As Director of Project Development, you own that work. You'll identify and evaluate new project opportunities, secure land, build community and stakeholder support, drive permitting strategy, and structure the local agreements (land, biomass feedstock supply, logistics) that turn a promising region into a construction-ready, financeable project. You'll work alongside a fellow Director of Project Development, dividing a growing portfolio between you, and coordinating daily with our engineering, finance, and operations teams to keep every project moving on its critical path. This is a senior individual contributor role reporting to our Chief Commercial Officer. You'll carry real ownership from day one: named sites with financing timelines attached, and new regions where you are the first Graphyte person anyone has met. What You'll Own: Site origination & screening.Find and evaluate new project regions against techno-economic criteria you'll help build: biomass supply, land, logistics, permitting complexity, community fit, and cost-per-ton impact.Land acquisition.Negotiate purchases, leases, options, and easements directly with landowners across active and prospective regions.Community & stakeholder engagement. Be Graphyte's face in the counties where we build. Earn and keep the local trust that our multi-site strategy depends on.Permitting.Own permitting strategy and execution across local, state, and federal jurisdictions for a first-of-its-kind storage category, managing environmental consultants and counsel.Commercial development.Structure the biomass supply, hauling, and community benefit agreements that make each project real and financeable. What We're Looking For7-10 years developing physical infrastructure or industrial projects (renewables, waste,agriculture-industrial, or similar land-intensive categories), including taking projects fromgreenfield through permitting to construction readiness or FIDLand acquisition experience: you have personally negotiated agreements with privatelandowners, not just managed a land agentCommunity engagement experience in rural communities, including public processes andhandling real local concernsPermitting ownership: you've built and executed permitting strategy, ideally where theregulatory pathway was novel or ambiguousFinancially fluent in project development: you can defend site economics with a finance teamand produce development materials that survive diligenceComfortable with early-stage pace and ambiguity: you build the playbook, not inherit itStrong PlusExperience with timber and agricultural regions in the southeast and western North AmericaCarbon markets, CDR, or biomass supply chain familiarityExperience developing projects in a novel or emerging asset category What This Is NotThis is not a desk-bound strategy role. You will spend real time in small towns, at kitchen tables, in county buildings, and on project sites, and the relationships you build there will determine whether Graphyte scales. If you're energized by owning hard, tangible problems end to end and you're ready to jump in the deep end and build something real, local, and climate beneficial, this might be your dream job. Compensation & LogisticsSalary range is market rate with meaningful early-stage equity.Standard benefits.Full-time, remote.Start date: ASAP. We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.