Assistant Land Acquisition Manager

Do you want to work to make Power for Good?

We're the world's largest independent renewable energy company. We're driven by a simple yet powerful vision: to create a future where everyone has access to affordable, zero carbon energy.

We know that achieving our ambitions would be impossible without our people. Because we're tackling some of the world's toughest problems, we need the very best people to help us. They're our most important asset so that's why we continually invest in them.

RES is a family with a diverse workforce, and we are dedicated to the personal professional growth of our people, no matter what stage of their career they're at. We can promise you rewarding work which makes a real impact, the chance to learn from inspiring colleagues from across a growing, global network and opportunities to grow personally and professionally.

Our competitive package offers rewards and benefits including pension schemes, flexible working, and top-down emphasis on better work-life balance. We also offer private healthcare, discounted green travel, 25 days holiday with options to buy/sell days, enhanced family leave and four volunteering days per year so you can make a difference somewhere else.

Job Purpose

The main purpose of the role is to assist property managers in securing land rights for solar & battery energy storage hybrid projects throughout the UK, though assisting with other areas of the business (wind/green hydrogen) may be required from time to time. These agreements will typically be secured by way of an exclusivity agreement, followed by the negotiation of heads of terms for an option agreement for a lease and then coordinating/instructing solicitors to negotiate satisfactory option and lease documentation. Communication and negotiation are key to this role, always ensuring landowners, their agents and legal representatives are kept up to date. Other duties will involve supporting with preparation of plans and drawings for land agreements, obtaining information from Land Registry and dealing with high level checking and interpreting potential title issues, identification of suitable land and obtaining contact information for landowners, making initial contact, setting up and attending introductory calls and/or meetings and site inspections, using websites and GIS systems to achieve this, requesting quotations from agents and solicitors, arranging purchase orders, instructing solicitors, organising payments to landowners when they become due and feeding relevant budgetary information as required from time to time. Direction and training will be provided for the role and for acheiving any relevant qualifications.
Reporting to the Project Manager UK & Ireland Solar, you will be responsible for co-ordinating internal and external resources as required to assist with securing the required agreements. The focus will be on securing land agreements on time, on the optimum commercial terms, managing risk for the business, reducing whole life costs, and adding value to the projects.

Key Accountabilities

• Providing support & assistance to property managers to enable efficient and effective negotiation to secure property agreements
• Supporting negotiation of terms which balance risk, quality and cost with the needs of the project
• Provide summaries to the Project teams communicating land related risks
• Co-ordinate with the CAD team to prepare suitable drawings for property agreements
• Develop positive relationships with landowners, landowner's solicitors and agents through initial contact, phone calls and arranging meetings when necessary
• Balance in-sourcing and out-sourcing of legal input to optimise costs
• Assist with instructing and managing RES’ external solicitors and agents
• Prepare heads of terms and negotiate or assist with negotiations to reach agreement
• Using internal software to manage agreements to monitor payments, expiries and agreement obligations
• Maintain an awareness of market rates, trends and influencing factors
• Provide support for project transactions including management of property due diligence during a sale process
• Ensure internal approvals are obtained for all property agreements prior to exchanging contracts
• In addition to the tasks described above, the job holder may be required to carry out other duties as may be required from time to time such as attending industry related events to build a positive perception of RES, develop contacts and attend project sites & community events.
  

Knowledge

• An understanding of the content and preparation of exclusivity, option and lease documentation in the UK & Ireland
• Have an understanding of property law, processes and associated documentation

Skills

• Good written and communication skills
• Good IT skills, including Excel, Power Point, Word, GIS etc
• Good team worker with a flexible approach to work
• Ability to work effectively in a busy environment as part of a team
• Strong organisational skills
• Happy to take the initiative
• Confident in dealing with landowners and have a confident telephone manner, enjoy problem solving, be able to multi-task and manage a busy workload
  

Experience

• Any experience in negotiation and administration
• Transferable skills will be beneficial

Qualifications

• Driving licence would be desirable and be able to travel to sites and external meetings
• RICS qualification is a preference though not a requirement though an interest in working towards it would be desirable
• Must be qualified or working towards a degree level in estates management or other relevant subject
  

At RES we celebrate difference as we know it makes our company a great place to work. Encouraging applicants with different backgrounds, ideas and points of view, we create teams who work together to solve complex problems and design practical solutions for our clients. Our multiple perspectives come from many sources including the diverse ethnicity, culture, gender, nationality, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, disability, marital status, parental status, education, social background and life experience of our people.

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