Development Surveyor

TDM Recruitment is working exclusively with an established, financially backed land promotion business to recruit a Development Surveyor for their Leeds office.

This is a hands-on land and development role within a business managing a large and growing portfolio of promotion sites across Yorkshire. The portfolio spans residential schemes from 100 to 2,000 units, commercial and employment land, energy projects, and surplus land disposals — so the work is varied in a way that most housebuilder or agency surveying roles simply aren't.

The team is small, experienced, and operates with a high degree of autonomy. You'll manage your own projects from appraisal and acquisition through promotion, consent, and disposal. No layers of approval. No waiting for someone else to make a decision. Direct access to directors and senior managers who trust their people to get on with it.

If you're in a PLC land team processing appraisals that go nowhere, or in an agency where you never see the commercial outcome of your work, this is a different model entirely.

Responsibilities:

• Managing development projects through the full lifecycle — land appraisal, acquisition, promotion, consent, and disposal
• Conducting site appraisals, residual land valuations, and development viability assessments for new opportunities
• Negotiating and managing option agreements, planning promotional agreements, and conditional contracts with landowners
• Running the disposal process for consented sites — preparing marketing particulars, managing competitive tenders, negotiating terms with housebuilders and developers
• Coordinating external consultant teams (planning, legal, engineering, environmental) and managing programme delivery against milestones
• Managing an existing portfolio of surplus land and property, identifying development potential and progressing disposals
• Preparing financial appraisals, cashflow models, and investment papers for new site acquisitions
• Undertaking due diligence on new land opportunities — title, access, infrastructure, environmental constraints, planning history
• Building and maintaining relationships with housebuilders, developers, land agents, and landowners across the region
• Reporting project status, financial performance, key risks, and disposal outcomes to senior management
• Supporting contractual and legal matters — instructing solicitors, reviewing heads of terms, managing completion processes
• Contributing to emerging workstreams in energy, infrastructure, and environmental land management

Experience & Skills:

• MRICS qualified (or close to completing APC) with 4–5 years' post-qualification experience
• A background in one or more of: housebuilder land team, land promotion, development consultancy, property consultancy (development/agency), or public sector / utility estates and land management
• Experience with development appraisals and residual land valuations — comfortable with the numbers and the assumptions behind them
• Working knowledge of option agreements, conditional contracts, or promotion agreements — or at minimum the commercial and legal principles involved
• Track record of managing multi-disciplinary consultant teams and delivering projects against programme
• Confident negotiating with landowners, agents, housebuilders, and legal teams
• Commercially sharp — you understand how land value is created through the planning and development process and can articulate it
• Strong written and verbal communication — you'll be preparing marketing materials, investment papers, and board reports
• Proficient with standard appraisal tools (Argus Developer, bespoke Excel models, or equivalent)
• Self-motivated, well-organised, and comfortable working independently within a small team
• Full UK driving licence

Desirable

• Experience with surplus land or property disposal — particularly utility, public sector, or institutional portfolios
• Knowledge of the Yorkshire housebuilder and developer market and active land agents in the region
• Exposure to energy or infrastructure land transactions (renewables, data centres, battery storage)
• Experience with Biodiversity Net Gain, natural capital, or environmental land management schemes
• Rural practice, estate management, or compulsory purchase experience