---
title: 'Director, Powered Land Development at Redwood Materials'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/director-powered-land-development-redwood-materials-san-francisco-yzpcs7psqa12'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-19'
---

# Director, Powered Land Development at Redwood Materials

- **Company:** Redwood Materials
- **Location:** San Francisco, CA
- **Compensation:** $243k–$320k
- **Posted:** 2026-10-08
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-19
- **Apply:** https://boards.greenhouse.io/redwoodmaterials/jobs/6218514004?gh_jid=6218514004

## Job description

## About Redwood Materials

Redwood Materials was founded in 2017 by JB Straubel, co-founder and former CTO of Tesla, on a simple but radical idea: the critical minerals powering the energy transition already exist. They just need to come back. Today Redwood is the largest lithium-ion battery recycler in North America — recovering, refining, and redeploying critical minerals from end-of-life batteries back into the supply chain. On the energy side, Redwood has deployed the largest second-life battery project in the world, delivering power to AI data centers in months rather than years using proprietary energy architecture engineered entirely in-house. The company is profitable, the market it operates in is projected to grow 20 to 50 times over the next decade, and Redwood is the only company with the supply chain, the technology, and the operational scale to lead it.

Position Summary:

The Director, Powered Land Development is responsible for building Redwood Materials' powered land development function from the ground up: sourcing, evaluating, and advancing sites for Redwood Energy's solar and storage deployments. This role will focus on site selection, permitting and entitlements, local stakeholder and community engagement, and in some cases, interconnection and utility queue management. The role independently screens and diligences a wide range of prospective sites across target markets, negotiates site control with landowners and land agents, and builds the financial models, tracking tools, and repeatable processes needed to convert land opportunities into bankable, executable projects. Success depends on sound judgment operating with substantial ambiguity, comfort representing Redwood with landowners, counsel, and local officials, and the ability to build and lead the powered land development function while partnering closely with Engineering, Finance, and Legal.

## Responsibilities

- Source, screen, and evaluate prospective sites for Redwood Energy's solar and storage deployments across target markets, including land use, zoning, and site-level fatal-flaw analysis
- Lead entitlement and permitting strategy, engaging local, county, and state officials, community stakeholders, and land agents to advance project feasibility
- Support government affairs and community relations efforts tied to prospective sites
- Negotiate and secure site control (leases, easements, options, and related agreements) with landowners and land agents
- Represent Redwood with landowners, brokers, customers, and state and local officials throughout the site-selection process, including leading and negotiating agreements for local economic development, tax, and community agreements
- Develop and own financial and valuation models to evaluate site economics, development costs, and project returns
- Build and maintain tracking tools for land inventory, pipeline status, budgets, and schedules across active development sites
- Manage site-identification tasks against budgets and schedules, including coordinating internal and external technical support such as environmental consultants, engineers, and outside legal counsel
- Maintain disciplined pipeline tracking and reporting to keep leadership informed of site status, risk, and timeline

Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities

- Bachelor's degree in real estate development, engineering, business, planning, or a related field
- 10+ years of experience in energy project development, real estate development, or land acquisition, ideally including utility-scale solar, storage, or data center site development
- Demonstrated experience navigating local and county-level permitting, zoning, and entitlement processes
- Track record independently sourcing and negotiating site control agreements with landowners and land agents
- Working knowledge of financial and valuation modeling to evaluate project economics
- Experience engaging and building relationships with local government officials and community stakeholders
- Ability to independently build processes and tools for a function with limited existing infrastructure
- Ability to travel extensively to support site visits, diligence, and stakeholder engagement across target markets

In accordance with California pay transparency laws, the salary range for this position is listed below. Actual compensation may vary based on a variety of factors, including experience, education, and skills.

California Pay Range: $242,500—$320,000 USD

The position is full-time. Compensation will be commensurate with experience.

We collect personal information (PI) from you in connection with your application for employment with Redwood Materials, including the following categories of PI: identifiers, personal records, professional or employment information, and inferences drawn from your PI. We collect your PI for our purposes, including performing services and operations related to your potential employment. If you have additional privacy-related questions, please contact us at privacy@redwoodmaterials.com.

## About Redwood Materials

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Redwood Materials recycles lithium-ion batteries to recover critical minerals and deploys large-scale energy storage systems, building a domestic circular supply chain for batteries.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Late-stage; Series E closed at $425M in October 2025)
- **Headquarters**: Carson City, Nevada, USA (with campuses in Northern Nevada, South Carolina, and an R&D center in San Francisco)
- **Founded**: 2017
- **Founders**: JB Straubel (former Tesla CTO)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Battery recycling, critical materials production, and energy storage
- **Target customers**: B2B – automotive OEMs, data center operators, utilities, and grid-scale energy storage buyers
- **Mission/purpose**: “Securing U.S. critical materials. Powering America’s energy future.” – building a resilient domestic supply chain for batteries and enabling the energy transition.

## Products & Services
- **Critical Materials Production**: Recovers lithium, nickel, cobalt, and copper from end-of-life batteries (recycling) and produces cathode active material at scale. [redwoodmaterials.com](https://www.redwoodmaterials.com/)
- **Redwood Energy**: Designs, integrates, and deploys large-scale energy storage systems (BESS) for data centers and the grid, using both new and repurposed batteries. [redwoodmaterials.com](https://www.redwoodmaterials.com/)
- **Battery Bin**: Consumer-facing recycling program launched in December 2025 to collect end-of-life batteries. [redwoodmaterials.com/about/](https://www.redwoodmaterials.com/about/)

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: ~$6 billion (as of October 2025, per Wikipedia)
- **Key Metric**: Total funding raised >$1.4B (over $1B in 2023 plus $425M Series E in 2025). Annual revenue not publicly disclosed.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Partners include Volkswagen Group of America, Panasonic, GM/Ultium Cells, Volvo, Amazon, Toyota, Southern Company, BMW of North America, Crusoe, Lime, Caterpillar, Isuzu. [redwoodmaterials.com](https://www.redwoodmaterials.com/)
- **Growth Signals**: 
  - Opened South Carolina recycling campus (2025) and SF R&D center (2025)
  - Launched Redwood Energy storage division (2025)
  - Expanded into Europe (2022)
  - Recognized as Fast Company’s World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies (2024, 2026) and Time100 Climate (2024)
  - Active job postings: 79 (as of mid-2026), with monthly growth of +83.7% [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/redwood-materials)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Technology moat**: Recovers >95% of metals (nickel, cobalt, lithium, copper) from end-of-life batteries, creating a low-cost domestic source of critical materials.
- **Vertical integration**: Combines recycling, refining, cathode production, and energy storage deployment under one roof.
- **Strategic partnerships**: Deep relationships with nearly every major automotive OEM and energy companies, ensuring feedstock and offtake.
- **First-mover in U.S. battery circularity**: One of the largest domestic sources of critical minerals, reducing reliance on foreign supply chains.

## Strategic Focus
- Scale domestic battery material production and energy storage manufacturing to meet U.S. grid and EV demand.
- Expand Redwood Energy as a standalone business unit for utility and data center storage.
- Grow consumer recycling programs (Battery Bin) and deepen partnerships with automakers and energy companies.
- Continue R&D in advanced battery chemistries and recycling processes at the San Francisco innovation center.

## Why Work Here
- **Mission-driven culture**: Employees are motivated by building a resilient U.S. energy future and solving climate challenges.
- **Pioneering environment**: Described as “pioneers, innovators, and collaborators” working on chemistry, materials science, automation, and advanced equipment design. [redwoodmaterials.com/join/](https://www.redwoodmaterials.com/join/)
- **Locations**: Multiple campuses – Tahoe (Northern Nevada), Carolina (South Carolina), and downtown San Francisco R&D center.
- **Growth opportunities**: Rapid scaling with 79+ open roles across engineering, operations, EPC, software, and business functions. Top talent sources include Tesla (207 alumni), Panasonic, Rivian, and Chewy.
- **Work style**: Hybrid/office presence expected at campuses; culture emphasizes making difficult decisions and implementing design constraints to drive impact.

## Sources
1. [redwoodmaterials.com](https://www.redwoodmaterials.com/)
2. [redwoodmaterials.com/about/](https://www.redwoodmaterials.com/about/)
3. [redwoodmaterials.com/join/](https://www.redwoodmaterials.com/join/)
4. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/redwood-materials)
5. [wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redwood_Materials)

## Other roles at Redwood Materials

- [Senior Finance Associate](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-finance-associate-redwood-materials-san-francisco-pgkdjce6g6a5) — San Francisco, CA
- [Production Supervisor](https://feeny.ai/job/production-supervisor-redwood-materials-ridgeville-3fq33rfgk6ps) — Ridgeville, SC
- [Lead Material Flow Specialist](https://feeny.ai/job/lead-material-flow-specialist-redwood-materials-mccarran-ypnzwvs39g82) — Mccarran, NV
- [Head of Total Rewards and People Analytics](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-total-rewards-and-people-analytics-redwood-materials-mccarran-ntw51r40jx48) — Mccarran, NV
- [Director, HR Business Partner & Talent Management](https://feeny.ai/job/director-hr-business-partner-talent-management-redwood-materials-mccarran-r3tpbakdp140) — Mccarran, NV
- [Logistics Analyst (Inbound/Outbound)](https://feeny.ai/job/logistics-analyst-inbound-outbound-redwood-materials-mccarran-har1xn695e5r) — Mccarran, NV
- [Staff Power Electronics Engineer, Energy Storage](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-power-electronics-engineer-energy-storage-redwood-materials-san-francisco-wyp05pne7jk7) — San Francisco, CA
- [Electrical Engineer, Energy Storage](https://feeny.ai/job/electrical-engineer-energy-storage-redwood-materials-carson-city-nrtkpjxyqptb) — Carson City, NV / San Francisco, CA
- [Electrical Engineering Associate, Energy Storage](https://feeny.ai/job/electrical-engineering-associate-energy-storage-redwood-materials-carson-city-n0p70gpvy026) — Carson City, NV
- [Class A Driver](https://feeny.ai/job/class-a-driver-redwood-materials-ridgeville-28mmk0hdssdt) — Ridgeville, SC