Zerra develops and operates hyperscale data centre campuses across Australia, Japan and India, delivering capacity at scale into markets driven by the growth of cloud and AI. Zerra's flexible campus developments support hyperscale and neocloud organisations, enabling some of the world's fastest-scaling technology businesses to grow with certainty and ambition.

At Zerra, we empower exceptional people to challenge convention, drive innovation and make a real impact in digital infrastructure. Our culture fuses entrepreneurial agility with global expertise, enabling our teams to deliver results that matter.

We believe that diverse perspectives, inclusive leadership and equitable opportunities are essential to building stronger teams and better outcomes. We are committed to fostering a workplace where everyone feels respected, supported and empowered to thrive.

Zerra is part of AGP, an independently owned investor and asset manager that develops and operates real assets across the energy, digital and real estate sectors.

Western Downs Digital Park

Western Downs Digital Park (WDDP) is a master-planned digital and energy precinct in regional Queensland, developed and operated by Zerra. Planned across multiple delivery phases, WDDP brings together AI-ready data centres, energy infrastructure and a purpose-built campus workplace.

Located close to major power infrastructure within the Western Downs Special Industry Area, WDDP represents a major investment in Queensland's digital future and an opportunity to help deliver the critical infrastructure supporting the continued growth of cloud computing and artificial intelligence.

Job Description





The Planning Manager – Pre-Construction owns the integrated pre-construction programme for WDDP’s future-building pipeline and shared campus infrastructure, from current design and approvals status through procurement, financial close and construction mobilisation. This is a project-planning role and does not own the technical town-planning or permitting function.

This role owns the integrated pre-construction programme across all future buildings and shared campus infrastructure, the governance cadence that runs it, and the tracking systems that make DA, permitting, design, and procurement status visible across a pipeline rather than a single project.

Scope covers the remaining digital park and every future building from current status through design freeze, GC/OSE tender and procurement, and financial close — with each building handed to the Planning Manager – Construction Delivery function individually as it reaches construction mobilisation. The role reports to the Planning Leader – WDDP, working daily with teams across the Development Strategy, Site Permitting, Legal, Finance, Design, and Capital Project Controls.

Success is a future-buildings pipeline that leadership can see clearly at every stage — each building tracked on its own path to financial close, shared campus infrastructure sequenced sensibly across them, and a clean, repeatable handover into construction delivery each time a building is ready to mobilise.

Responsibilities





Safety Leadership (Injury & Incident Free)

- Ensure safety requirements for early site activities (geotechnical investigation, survey, early access) are built into each future building’s pre-construction programme, not treated as an afterthought.
- Confirm safety-in-design principles are tracked as a programme milestone through design development for every future building, not left to construction to resolve.
- Support Site Permitting and Legal in ensuring statutory safety and environmental conditions are reflected in the programme and tracked to closure across the pipeline.
- Flag any pre-construction schedule pressure, on any future building, that risks compressing safety-in-design review time.
- Model safety-first behaviour in all site visits and consultant interactions.

Portfolio Programme Management & Delivery

- Build and maintain the integrated pre-construction master programme for the remaining digital park, covering DA determination, design development, permitting, and GC/OSE procurement for each future building.
- Track each future building’s progress against its own financial close target, flagging variances early and coordinating recovery plans with workstream owners.
- Maintain milestone trackers for design freeze, tender close, and permit issuance across the pipeline, providing early warning on any building at risk.
- Sequence shared campus infrastructure (masterplan-level works, common infrastructure, external works) across multiple future buildings so no single building’s programme is compromised by another’s dependencies.
- Own the structured handover of each future building’s programme to the Planning Manager – Construction Delivery

📌 Planning Manager – Pre-Construction (Western Downs Regional)
🏢 Zerra DC
📍 Western Downs Regional