Project Developer

Job description

Vaulted is a waste management company that removes carbon. We take organic waste that can pollute our environment above ground and safely inject it ultra deep underground—permanently removing carbon from the atmosphere while protecting local land, air, and water. Vaulted is based in Houston, San Francisco, and Kansas. With a growing team of 70+ people across the country, Vaulted signed the second largest carbon removal offtake ever with Microsoft in July 2025 and is rapidly expanding to new sites. Vaulted's proprietary technology builds on decades of expertise to deliver safe, durable carbon and waste management solutions now, at scale. **Project Developer** *Reports to: Director of PMO | Location: Houston, TX | Level: Mid–Senior* **Position Summary** Vaulted Deep develops, constructs, owns, and operates deep well injection facilities that permanently remove carbon from the atmosphere by injecting organic waste — manure, treated sewage, paper sludge, and agricultural byproducts — below confining geology. The Project Developer coordinates a project through the stage-gate development process — from origination through Final Investment Decision — integrating the technical, commercial, permitting, land, and cost workstreams into a single, decision-ready view. The role owns schedule, budget tracking, and the project-economics inputs that management and the Investment Committee rely on. This is a project-integration and execution role, not a technical design function, although technical experience is preferred. The Project Developer does not own engineering or subsurface scope; they own that the project advances on schedule and on budget and that each stage gate is reached with complete, accurate deliverables. **Why This Role Matters** Every project in development needs an owner who holds the whole picture — cost, schedule, risk, and readiness — and drives it to each gate. This role makes stage-gate progression repeatable across a growing, multi-project pipeline: 10+ opportunities in origination, 3 in active development, targeting three-plus projects under construction within two years. The quality of the project overview and cost tracking at each gate determines whether management can make timely capital decisions. **Primary Responsibilities** - Coordinate a project through the stage-gate process from origination through FID and into construction handover - Build and maintain the integrated project schedule across technical, commercial, permitting, and land workstreams - Track cost against approved budget; identify and flag variances early - Maintain the project overview — status, economics, risks, decisions, and path to the next gate - Support project economics and investment-decision packages with Finance and the PMO - Coordinate stage-gate review materials and the deliverables required to clear each gate - Prepare forward-looking budget proposals and support procurement and EPC coordination - Track project risks and mitigations through close-out - Coordinate HSE, regulatory, constructability, and execution-readiness reviews. Operate and maintain project economic models, evaluate diff– development scenarios, and recommend the most feasible path based on risk-adjusted returns, explicitly highlighting key assumptions, trade-offs, risks, and downside exposure. **Leadership Responsibilities** Individual-contributor role reporting to the Director of PMO. Coordinates across Engineering, Geoscience, Permitting, Commercial, and Land without direct authority over those functions. Occasionally supports disciplines with external consultants and contractors on a project basis. Owns project development cost, schedule, economics and readiness at stage-gate and Investment Committee reviews. **Required Experience** - 5–10 years of project experience in an engineering or similarly technical discipline - Experience as a Project Engineer, Project Controls Engineer / Analyst, or project coordinator on small-to-medium capital projects - Demonstrated experience with budgeting, scheduling, and cost tracking on capital projects - Experience coordinating projects through one or more stage-gate or capital-approval processes - Bachelor's degree in engineering or a related technical discipline, MBA preferred **Preferred Experience** - Familiarity with EPC execution and civil / site-development projects - Exposure to project economics and investment-decision support - Experience with infrastructure, midstream, industrial, or energy capital projects - Working knowledge of scheduling and project-controls tools **Technical Competencies** - Project scheduling, critical-path management, and progress tracking - Cost estimating and budget-to-actual variance analysis - EPC execution and civil / site-development fundamentals - Reading and integrating multi-discipline engineering and permitting deliverables - Stage-gate / capital-approval process mechanics **Commercial & Business Competencies** - Builds and defends project-economics inputs (CAPEX / OPEX, schedule) for investment decisions - Understands how design and commercial maturity gate capital release (Origination -> Pre-FEED -> FEED/Permitting -> FID -> Construction -> Startup) - Translates workstream status into cost and schedule impact for management - Supports commercial term-sheet development alongside Commercial & Land