Project Developer

Location: Chicago, IL or Geneva, IL with travel

Type: Full-Time

Compensation: Competitive Base Salary + Discretionary Bonus + Comprehensive Benefits

Are you passionate about renewable energy and eager to have a meaningful impact through your career? Sun Vest Solar, LLC (“Sun Vest”) is a rapidly growing, renewable energy platform, headquartered in Chicago with assets across the country. We are expanding our team and seeking aProject Developer to play a pivotal role in supporting the development needs of our growing portfolio of renewable energy projects.

As a leader in solar development with a robust project pipeline, Sun Vest offers an exciting opportunity for individuals looking to thrive in the dynamic world of renewable energy.

Sun Vest’s mission is to cultivate access to renewable energy for America. We are a rapidly growing leader in renewable energy with expertise across the energy transition value chain, including development, construction, financing, and operations. Sun Vest is advancing an industry-leading pipeline of nearly 2 gigawatts of development projects, with a growing portfolio of assets under management expected to reach 300 megawatts in 2026.

Sun Vest is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, in the Loop neighborhood. For more information, visit

Sun Vest’s Development team is responsible for generating new land opportunities for ground and roof top solar arrays as well as battery storage in preparation for our construction department. These positions may rotate between the two departments based on the cyclical demands of the solar industry.

As a Project Developer based in either our Chicago, IL office (HQ) or Geneva, IL (satellite office) with substantial travel, you will be responsible for concept to construction development of distributed-scale solar and stand-alone Battery Energy Storage System ("BESS") projects including, securing site lease agreements, building relationships with local stakeholders, including landowners and local governments, securing local, state, and federal permitting, and tracking and managing development expenses to a project budget.

• Identifying ground mount PV project and BESS sites and assessing their viability by putting them through a pre-determined screening process
• Contacting landowners to determine interest in entering into long-term lease or purchase option agreements that allow for the development of solar energy or BESS projects
• Negotiating long-term solar or BESS leases or purchase agreements
• Engage and manage third-party service providers and consultants
• Developing and managing project development budgets
• Attending zoning and permitting meetings and/or hearings and providing testimony or giving presentations about the projects with some of these meetings occurring during evening hours.
• Submitting and managing interconnection applications and studies.
• Sourcing key assumptions and working with the project finance team to develop a project level financial model
• Monitoring legislative and policy issues impactful to community solar, BESS, and off-take opportunities
• Supporting team members responsible for financing, construction and/or sales of projects

• A minimum of 5 years of experience in the development of ground mounted photovoltaic and stand-alone BESS systems, preferably distribution interconnected systems.
• Willingness to travel up to 50% of the time.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced entrepreneurial environment and consistently meet challenging deadlines.
• Strong critical thinking skills with the ability to work independently.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to understand factors impacting project economics.
• Commercial real estate prospecting and business model…