Head of Permitting

Zanskar

Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

Posted on: 2025-10-03

Category: energy

Apply now

Please let Zanskar know you found this job on Work in Green. This will help us grow!

Apply to job

Employment type:

Full time

Experience required:

Intermediate

Salary

Salary not provided

About the company:

Powering the future with the Earth’s hidden heat.

Geothermal is carbon-free, always-on power but most of the world’s geothermal resources remain undiscovered and undeveloped.

Zanskar is changing that. We take a AI and data-driven, scalable approach to geothermal discovery and development combining modern geoscience and advanced field methods to identify and tap into overlooked or underutilized geothermal resources.

By making geothermal faster and more predictable to develop, we’re unlocking its potential to deliver gigawatts of clean, firm energy and to become a cornerstone of our future energy system.

Role Overview

Title: Permitting Manager

Hours: Full-time; Salaried

Location: Salt Lake City, UT (preferred), potential for hybrid

Benefits Eligible: Yes

Manager: Ryan McGraw

Mission – Why we exist and why we need you

Geothermal energy is the most abundant renewable energy source in the world. However, historically it’s been hard to find and expensive to develop. At Zanskar, we’re using better technology to find and develop new geothermal resources in order to make geothermal a cost-effective and vital contributor to a carbon-free energy future. We are revolutionizing the exploration process, setting new industry standards for discovery rates and finding new prospects at an unprecedented scale.The growing development team at Zanskar is advancing a multi-gigawatt portfolio of firm, carbon-free energy projects, and the time has come to kickoff key permitting efforts. In close coordination with the teams at Zanskar and expert third-party consultants, you’ll be working with Federal, State, and local agencies across the western US to prepare applications and ultimately obtain critical discretionary permits to allow Zanskar to begin construction on a vast pipeline of geothermal energy projects.

Outcomes - Problems you’ll solve

Success in this role includes strategizing and deploying a defensible permitting strategy that ultimately provides financeable discretionary approvals to develop, construct, and operate new geothermal projects on both public and private lands across the west. This requires creative thinking, engagement and partnership with internal and external subject matter experts, and top-notch communication skills across a wide range of project stakeholders.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Zanskar is an equal-opportunity employer and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local fair employment practice laws.

Competencies – What we’re looking for

The ideal candidate should demonstrate:

Excellent problem-solving skills

Strong project management, team leadership and technical writing/communications skills

Entrepreneurial and collaborative spirit with team-player mentality and ability to lead cross-functionally

A high degree of business acumen and experience with stakeholder engagement, particularly within the energy industry

Ability to effectively engage directly with federal, state, and local jurisdictions with authority and community leaders

Robust regulatory and agency expertise, including demonstrable success working through NEPA and county-level permitting requirements, in the western United States

Ability to work internally and with third-party consultants to avoid, minimize, and mitigate potential community impacts with the goal of accelerating construction of new geothermal energy projects while minimizing community impacts.

All candidates require:

BS in related field; Masters in a relevant subject area a plus

5+ years of relevant experience in; environmental consulting, in-house energy development, permitting experience, and/or agency employment in the western United States.

Experience permitting utility-scale energy projects in coordination with regulatory agencies