Sr. Director - REPL

RWE Americas, LLC
To start as soon as possible, full time, permanent

Functional area: Legal / Compliance
Remuneration: Exempt

The Senior Director, Real Estate & Permitting Law (REPL), serves as a senior legal leader responsible for leading a REPL sub-function or portfolio across development, construction, and/or operational assets within RWE Clean Energy’s U.S. business.
Reporting to the Vice President of REPL or the General Counsel, the Senior Director partners with enterprise stakeholders to design and deploy legal frameworks, governance structures, and risk-management strategies that enable predictable project delivery across multiple business units within their area of responsibility.

This role manages a team of regional real estate attorneys and para-professionals as a player-coach.  The Senior Director anticipates and resolves complex risks that span projects, technologies, and development portfolios, and ensures alignment of legal processes, decision standards, and risk tolerance across cross-functional teams. 

The role sits at the core of cross-functional leadership forums and partners closely with Development, Government Affairs, Compliance, Structured Finance, and Legal leadership to align REPL legal strategy with enterprise growth objectives.

Role Responsibilities:

• Management Responsibilities
  • Sub-Function Leadership: Lead legal support for a designated REPL portfolio or functional area across development, construction, and/or operating projects
  • Risk Management Frameworks: Design and implement risk-identification and mitigation frameworks addressing land and permitting risks impacting multiple projects or business units
  • Governance & Policy: Oversee legal program design, governance models, and policy development within assigned REPL scope; coordinate implementation with REPL Operations
  • Enterprise Alignment: Champion alignment across Business Units and Legal sub-functions regarding legal risk tolerance, escalation pathways, and decision-making standards; Implement and maintain standardized documentation and risk thresholds
  • Strategic Partnership: Partner with the VP of REPL and the General Counsel in strategic planning and OKR development related to development pipeline execution and permitting strategy
  • Cross-Functional Integration: Collaborate with Development, Environmental, Regulatory, Tax, and Finance teams to integrate legal considerations into project planning and structured finance initiatives
  • Portfolio Oversight: Own legal support for one or more development portfolios, ensuring scalable, business-aligned delivery of REPL legal services
  • External Counsel Management: Oversee engagement of outside counsel for major transactions, litigation, or precedent-setting permitting matters
  • Enterprise Initiatives: Represent REPL Legal in enterprise-wide initiatives, including structured finance transactions, permitting innovation programs, and portfolio-level governance reviews
  • Talent Development:
    • Manage and develop a team of attorneys and/or legal professionals
    • Conduct regular performance reviews, provide coaching, and support career development for team members
  • Organizational Capability:
    • Build leadership bench strength and foster collaboration across Legal and Land Administration (LAT)
  • Continuous Improvement/Efficiencies:
    • Align legal processes and tools across projects or regions to improve efficiency, transparency, and delivery predictability
    • Establish consistent legal standards, workflows, and best practices across regions while allowing flexibility for local market nuances; Allocate resources and balance workloads across regions to support development timelines and priorities.
  • Meetings:  Organize and lead recurring monthly meetings to discuss hot topics, emerging risks, lessons learned, and best practices across regions to ensure alignment and continuous improvement
• Project Management and Oversight:  
  • Proactively manage a portfolio of large scale energy projects
  • Resolve real estate and permitting challenges by identifying practical, risk-mitigating solutions rather than merely escalating issues
  • Coordinate closely with engineering, development, procurement, and transmission teams to align project milestones, attending regular project meetings and providing updates on real estate and permitting risks
  • Support development team in connection with the negotiation of various real estate documents (including site control agreements, permit documents, and title curative instruments), analyzing counterparties’ positions related thereto, and developing pragmatic resolutions that balance business needs with risk management
  • Ensure timely acquisition of all required permits to support development, construction, and operation of renewable projects across multiple jurisdictions. Collaborate with external counsel and permitting consultants to identify permitting needs and support the development team in securing approvals

Job Requirements and Experiences:

• Juris Doctor (J.D.) from an accredited law school and active bar license in at least one U.S. jurisdiction
• Minimum 12 years of progressive legal experience, including at least 4 years in a senior leadership role managing a team or function in real estate, permitting, or environmental law within an energy or infrastructure sector
• Demonstrated experience managing legal support across complex project portfolios or geographies
• Experience leading legal teams or sub-functions within a matrixed or enterprise organization
• Proven ability to anticipate and resolve risks that cross projects, portfolios, or business units
• Experience designing governance frameworks, escalation pathways, or legal operating processes supporting project delivery
• Translates enterprise REPL strategy into portfolio-level legal frameworks and governance tools
• Leads cross-functional alignment on legal processes and risk tolerance across development portfolios to effectively manage priorities across the function
• Anticipates delivery risks spanning multiple projects and implements scalable mitigation approaches
• Develops leadership capability within assigned sub-function to reduce escalation dependency
• Aligns legal support models across Business Units to improve predictability and throughput
• Partners with VP/GC on OKR development and execution within REPL portfolio
• Influences cross-functional stakeholders to adopt standardized decision standards

Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States. RWE Americas is unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of employment visas at this time.

Benefits offered: Medical, Dental, Vision, Life Insurance, Short-Term Disability, Long-Term Disability, 401(k) match, Flexible Spending Accounts, EAP, Education Assistance, Parental Leave, Paid time off, and Holidays. Eligible employees also participate in short-term incentives, in addition to salary.

Apply with just a few clicks: ad code 91994.  Any questions? Contact HR:   rwe_americas_recruiting@rwe.com

We look forward to meeting you. Of course, you can find us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Xing, too.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, disability, veteran status, or other legally protected status.

RWE Americas, a subsidiary of RWE, is a US-based energy company that is helping to meet the growing demand for energy across the United States. Backed by RWE’s 125-year global legacy of managing diverse power assets, RWE Americas operates approximately 13 GW of power projects across 27 states. With a talented workforce of 2,000 employees, RWE Americas develops, constructs and operates wind, solar and battery storage projects that safely deliver affordable, reliable electricity to our customers. Committed to responsible development, RWE Americas invests in local and rural communities, creating jobs and partnering with stakeholders to support and strengthen the places where we live and work. Learn more about how RWE Americas is generating impact at americas.rwe.com.

At RWE Americas, we foster a culture defined by our Essential Behaviors – Have Courage, Create Impact and Actively Collaborate. We encourage bold thinking and continuous learning, and we value ownership, resilience and inclusion in everything we do. When you join us, you become part of a team that supports your development, respects your contributions and celebrates shared success. This is a place where you can grow your career and make a meaningful difference.