Planning Manager – Development & Growth Enablement
Water, Wastewater & Recycled Water Networks
We are seeking an experienced Planning Manager with a strong development-sector background to lead the planning and delivery of developer-driven water, wastewater and recycled water infrastructure. This is a leadership role at the interface between the utility and the development industry, enabling sustainable growth across residential, commercial and industrial developments.
This role is ideal for a planning or infrastructure leader who thrives in fast-paced growth environments, understands development pressures, and can balance commercial outcomes with technical integrity and long‑term network performance.
The Opportunity
As Planning Manager, you will be the primary point of contact for the development sector, coordinating servicing strategies, growth infrastructure, and capacity planning to ensure developments are delivered on time, on budget and compliant. You will influence outcomes across councils, regulators, developers, consultants and internal stakeholders, ensuring network capacity stays ahead of growth.
Key Responsibilities
Development & Growth Leadership
- Act as the key interface between the utility and the development industry, providing clear, consistent and timely servicing outcomes
- Lead the planning, coordination and delivery of developer-funded infrastructure, including reticulation, augmentations and growth-driven upgrades
- Review developer reticulation and connection applications, designs and staging plans, issuing permits and approvals that protect asset performance and service quality
Planning, Capacity & Program Delivery
- Manage long-range capacity forecasting for treatment, storage and
network assets across multiple schemes
- Plan and schedule greenfield and brownfield upgrades, aligning
growth triggers, delivery timing and funding
- Administer Project Delivery Agreements (PDAs), including
forecasting, budgeting and capacity tracking (estimate vs design vs
actuals)
Commercial, Regulatory & Stakeholder Management
- Maintain strong controls over financial performance, forecasting
and funding requirements
- Manage regulatory approvals and compliance (EPA, IPART, Councils),
ensuring schemes remain fully licensed and audit-ready
- Represent the organisation professionally with developers,
councils, regulators and industry bodies
Leadership & Governance
- Lead with a strong safety focus, embedding WHS compliance across
all activities
- Establish and maintain fit-for-purpose policies, plans and
procedures
- Develop and mentor a high-performing team, building capability in
development servicing and infrastructure planning
What You’ll Bring
Essential Experience
- Proven experience working with property developers and major growth
projects
- Strong background in greenfield and brownfield utilities
infrastructure, ideally within water and/or wastewater networks
- Demonstrated capability in capacity planning, development approvals
and growth-driven infrastructure delivery
Qualifications & Background
- Engineering degree or 10+ years relevant industry experience
(wastewater and/or water networks)
- Utilities construction experience
- Utilities project management experience
- Strong stakeholder and commercial management skills
- Current driver’s licence
If you are a strategic planning leader with deep development experience and a passion for enabling growth through smart infrastructure, we’d love to hear from you.
Why Join Us?
- We are an innovator and look to solve problems no one else can
- Supportive leadership and clear development pathways
- Modern office in North Sydney with great transport access and end
of trip facilities
- Leadership that invests in coaching, not just metrics
- A team environment that backs each other during peak periods
- We value performance, ownership and collaboration and we reward
people who step up and contribute.
Apply now. Let’s have a conversation. We review applications as they come in so don’t delay.
