Management · Holland code ECI

Wind Energy Development Managers

Lead or manage the development and evaluation of potential wind energy business opportunities, including environmental studies, permitting, and proposals. May also manage construction of projects.

Also called: Business Development Director, Business Development Manager, Development Director, Development Manager, Project Development Leader, Renewable Project Management and Construction Director.

O*NET 11-9199.10

At a glance

US median annual pay: $141,900; Middle half earn $102,880 to $186,300. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: Bachelor's Degree; 67% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 4 of 5; Considerable preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

Coordinate or direct development, energy assessment, engineering, or construction activities to ensure that wind project needs and objectives are met.
Manage wind project costs to stay within budget limits.
Lead or support negotiations involving tax agreements or abatements, power purchase agreements, land use, or interconnection agreements.
Create wind energy project plans, including project scope, goals, tasks, resources, schedules, costs, contingencies, or other project information.
Supervise the work of subcontractors or consultants to ensure quality and conformance to specifications or budgets.
Develop scope of work for wind project functions, such as design, site assessment, environmental studies, surveying, or field support services.
Provide verbal or written project status reports to project teams, management, subcontractors, customers, or owners.
Update schedules, estimates, forecasts, or budgets for wind projects.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Critical Thinking4.0 / 5
Reading Comprehension3.9 / 5
Writing3.9 / 5
Speaking3.9 / 5
Active Listening3.8 / 5
Monitoring3.5 / 5

Knowledge areas

Administration and Management4.1 / 5
English Language3.8 / 5
Building and Construction3.8 / 5
Engineering and Technology3.7 / 5
Economics and Accounting3.4 / 5
Customer and Personal Service3.3 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic41
Investigative48
Artistic11
Social23
Enterprising95
Conventional64

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

power plant manager · DE Kraftwerksmeister/Kraftwerksmeisterin · FR directeur de centrale électrique/directrice de centrale électrique

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Quantity surveyors (2453)45,300 employed
Engineering professionals n.e.c. (2129)124,800 employed
Quality control and planning engineers (2481)35,700 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Managers”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Managers, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€96,629
Italy	€96,052
Germany	€90,192
Austria	€82,936
Netherlands	€69,857
Sweden	€60,369
France	€58,740
Ireland	€55,854
Spain	€54,121
Portugal	€39,189
Poland	€19,596

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the higher third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of +0.96. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (11-9199).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

Take the career interests test