About the Company 

California Gold Development Corp is a vertically integrated developer and owner focused on retail and commercial assets across California and the western United States. The team identifies, entitles, designs, builds, and manages high-performing single-tenant and shopping center projects for national brands.

We are a long-term owner-operator with disciplined investment, development, and property management. The company is value-driven, EOS aligned, and known for fast decisions, high trust, and accountable follow-through. The growth plan targets expanding from 500,000 SF owned and managed property today to 1,000,000 SF over the next decade.

Role Summary 

This role serves as the internal leader of design and entitlement strategy across California Gold’s development platform. The Civil Engineering Manager will oversee and coordinate civil, architectural, and consultant disciplines to compress timelines, reduce entitlement risk, and elevate the quality and functionality of site design across the portfolio.

This position is less focused on being a desk-based technical producer and more focused on leadership, communication, consultant oversight, and forward-facing representation of the company in public and municipal environments.

Success in this role means faster plan check cycles, improved consultant coordination, stronger relationships with municipalities, and well-executed retail layouts that balance engineering precision with customer experience and tenant requirements. Over time, this individual will help build and lead an internal design capability.

Key Performance Objectives 

First 30 Days

• Learn California Gold project types, tenants, internal standards and rhythms
• Meet outside consultants including civil, architectural, structural, and MEP partners
• Review recent entitlement efforts to identify friction points in communication and plan check response

First 60 Days

• Lead consultant coordination calls and establish accountability rhythm
• Produce or direct at least two preliminary retail site layouts for active projects
• Engage directly with at least one municipality or AHJ to understand review expectations

First 90 Days

• Serve as internal design lead on at least one active entitlement or pre-construction effort
• Improve clarity and organization of plan check response packages
• Document a repeatable consultant coordination process

First 12 Months

• Operate as the primary internal leader across all design disciplines
• Deliver measurable improvement in entitlement cycle time and plan check turnaround
• Lay groundwork for hiring or mentoring internal civil production or drafting support
• Represent the company in city meetings, public hearings, and tenant discussions

Key Responsibilities

Design Leadership and Consultant Oversight

• Lead and coordinate outside civil engineers, architects, structural and MEP consultants
• Set expectations around timeline, communication cadence, and design standards
• Review drawings and provide practical, development-focused feedback

Entitlement and Municipal Engagement

• Serve as primary liaison with planning departments and public works
• Present projects in city or planning meetings as needed
• Identify entitlement risk early and guide mitigation strategy

Preliminary Site Planning and Retail Layout

• Create or guide conceptual retail site layouts
• Evaluate circulation, parking, access, visibility, and tenant functionality
• Provide rapid feasibility feedback prior to formal consultant engagement

Due Diligence and Land Development Coordination

• Coordinate ALTA surveys, parcel maps, lot line adjustments, and related documentation
• Lead early-stage zoning and utility research
• Oversee consultant delivery of civil design packages

Internal Leadership and Team Development

• Serve as future leader of an in-house design function
• Mentor technical staff as team grows
• Partner closely with construction leadership to align design and field execution

Must-Have Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in civil engineering, architecture, or development project leadership within retail or commercial real estate
• Demonstrated experience leading or overseeing multi-disciplinary consultant teams
• Strong communication skills in client-facing and municipal environments
• Experience working with city planning departments and Authorities Having Jurisdiction
• Working knowledge of AutoCAD or comparable tools sufficient for layout review and markup
• Strong understanding of retail site planning fundamentals

Nice-to-Haves
• Professional Engineer license preferred but not required
• Architectural background with exposure to site coordination
• Experience working directly for a real estate development firm
• Experience in Nevada or Arizona jurisdictions
• Familiarity with ALTA surveys and entitlement documentation

Cultural Non-Negotiables

• Clear and confident communicator
• High accountability and follow-through
• Strong collaborator across disciplines
• Detail-oriented while maintaining big-picture perspective
• Grit, perseverance, and ownership mindset

Why California Gold Development

• High-impact leadership role shaping internal design capability
• Direct partnership with ownership and executive leadership
• Opportunity to build and lead a growing design function
• Vertically integrated model enabling fast decisions
• Exposure to repeat national tenant programs
• Clear growth runway as portfolio scales toward 1,000,000 SF