Principal Land Acquisition Manager - Powered Land

Microsoft • Washington, DC

2d

About The Position

Microsoft’s Cloud Operations & Innovation (CO+I) team is responsible for the full lifecycle of Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure, spanning site selection, development, and operations. Our global footprint includes more than 400 datacenters in 34 countries, supported by over 165,000 miles of fiber optic cable. These facilities form the backbone of Microsoft Azure and are central to our commitment to reliable, secure, and sustainable digital infrastructure.
We are seeking a Principal Land Acquisition Manager – Powered Land to lead the identification and securing of high-yield, "powered land" opportunities. In this role, you won't just be contracting land; you will be the architect of complex site entries, navigating the intersection of large-scale real estate, utility-scale power availability, and bespoke contractual frameworks.
The ideal candidate possesses a creative approach for site origination and a strategist’s mind for structuring deals with partner teams that de-risk power delivery in increasingly constrained markets.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Business Management, Real Estate, Project Management, or related field, AND 7+ years relevant experience.
• OR 10+ years equivalent experience.
• Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required for this role. These requirements include, but are not limited to the following specialized security screenings: Microsoft Cloud Background Check: This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.

Nice To Haves

• Bachelor's degree in Business Management, Real Estate, Project Management, or related field AND 10+ years portfolio management, real estate, or office management experience OR 15+ years equivalent experience.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence across senior leadership, external partners, and government agencies.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Site Origination: Proactively identify and secure greenfield and brownfield sites suitable for hyperscale and colocation data center development, with a specific focus on "path of power" proximity.
• Bespoke Contract Structuring: Lead the negotiation of complex site control agreements, including structured land acquisitions and options, alongside alignment with Microsoft Energy team inputs for power purchase agreements (PPAs) and interconnection agreements.
• Grid Interconnectivity Strategy: Familiarity with utility providers and energy consultants to discuss transmission capacity, substation proximity, and queue timelines to ensure site viability.
• Due Diligence Leadership: Knowledge of the end-to-end due diligence process, including environmental assessments, zoning/entitlement hurdles, and geotechnical constraints unique to high-density compute.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal