Development Manager (Quantity Surveyor) — Residential & Commercial Refurbishment

Tailor Your Resume for this Job

ABOUT BUILDING FUTURES

Building Futures is a residential and commercial development and refurbishment platform founded by Garrett Peers and Ian Bower. The group owns 350 doors across the Dublin & UK market, with a clear path to scale the owned portfolio to 1,000 doors.

Current Dublin pipeline includes Trident House (12-unit apartment refurbishment), Church Road (pub conversion to 10 units under SI 75), Blessington Street (SI 75 conversion), and a wider portfolio of 80 doors across Protected Structures and Living City Initiative projects in the south and north Georgian cores. The platform is entering an accelerated delivery phase.

THE ROLE

We are hiring a chartered Quantity Surveyor to take ownership of the construction and development process end-to-end, from feasibility, cost planning, procurement, delivery, and handover. This is a senior commercial seat: you will work directly with the founders, run the consultant teams and contractors, and own the commercial outcomes on every live project.

This is not a measurement role. We need someone who can interrogate a build cost plan, run a tender, manage a contract, and report to lenders and the board across multiple live projects simultaneously.

In your first 12 months you will take 8–12 active projects from feasibility through delivery, build out the group's commercial governance infrastructure, and prepare the platform for its next funding round. As the platform scales, this role evolves into a wider Head of Operations function.

WHAT YOU'LL OWN

› Feasibility & cost planning — Build cost plans and development appraisals from heads-of-terms through to fixed budget. Variance reporting, contingency control, monthly cost reports to the board.

› Procurement & contracts — Tender packs, contractor selection, RIAI / JCT / bespoke fixed-price contracts. Variation management, payment certification, and final account.

› Consultant team management — Appoint, brief, and drive architects, structural and civil engineers, fire consultants, PSDP/PSCS, and planning agents. Chair team meetings, run decision logs, hold the programme.

› Planning & delivery — SI 75 conversions, Protected Structure works, Living City Initiative compliance. Site delivery oversight, contractor coordination, handover and snagging.

› Commercial governance — Reporting to founders, lenders, and investors. Drawdown packs, cost-to-complete reporting, board-level commercial dashboards. SOP and template build-out as the platform scales.

ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS — HARD FILTER

If you do not meet these criteria, please do not apply.

› SCSI / RICS chartered Quantity Surveyor (MRICS / MSCSI). Working towards chartership considered only at the strongest end of the experience scale.

› Minimum 5 years post-qualification QS experience in the Irish building sector.

› Demonstrable track record on residential or commercial refurbishment, conversion, or multi-unit refurbishment projects — not infrastructure, not fit-out, not new-build civils.

› Build cost plan and development appraisal experience at the acquisition stage not just measurement and variation management on appointed projects.

› RIAI contract administration experience. Working knowledge of SI 75 conversion process.

› Based in Dublin or willing to be Dublin-based and on-site as required. This is not a remote role.

STRONGLY DESIRABLE

› Protected Structure or Living City Initiative project exposure.

› Client-side or developer-side experience (Cairn, Glenveagh, Quintain, Hines, Avestus, Marlet, Park Developments, Castleforbes, or equivalent SME developer).

› Experience reporting to lenders on construction drawdowns.

› Comfortable in an SME / founder-led environment — happy to own decisions, escalate only what genuinely needs it, and build the systems you need rather than wait for them.

WHO THIS ROLE IS NOT FOR

› Site managers, project managers without QS qualifications, or general construction managers.

› Fit-out, joinery, MEP, or subcontractor-side QSs without main-contractor or developer-side exposure.

› Infrastructure, civils, or industrial QSs without building-sector residential or commercial refurbishment experience.

› Anyone needing to be told what to do next.

COMPENSATION

€85,000–€115,000 base depending on experience, plus performance bonus. Partnership-track role with direct line to founders.

Benefits: On-site gym, on-site parking.

HOW TO APPLY

Send your CV and a short note (no more than half a page) covering three things:

• Your three most relevant refurbishment or conversion projects (residential or commercial), with build values and your specific commercial responsibility on each.
• Why do you want to move client-side / developer-side at this stage of your career?
• Your notice period and availability.

Applications without the cover note will not be reviewed.

Pay: €85,000.00-€115,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Company car
• Gym membership
• On-site gym
• On-site parking

Application question(s):

• How many years of post-qualification Quantity Surveyor experience do you have in the Irish building sector?

• Are you SCSI or RICS chartered (MSCSI / MRICS)?
• Do you have demonstrable QS experience on residential or commercial refurbishment, conversion, or multi-unit refurbishment projects (not infrastructure, fit-out, or new-build civils)?

Work Location: In person