Texas Community Watershed Partners seeks Urban Planner II/III

Urban Planner II/III – Project Manager II (5+ Years Of Exp.), Houston (Clear Lake City), TX. Full-time. Salaried. Onsite, optional two remote days.

Posted January 26, 2023. Position will be open until filled. Interviews will be scheduled on a rolling basis.

SALARY

Anticipated hiring range is $80,000-$93,000. Salary is commensurate with experience, education, skills, and responsibilities.

The Urban Planner II/III position will be a key member of Texas Community Watershed Partner’s Planning Team, working to sustain and further develop the resiliency program.

PROGRAM BACKGROUND

We provide planning consulting and extension-based programs for communities around the state, focusing on practices that foster collaboration and holistic solutions to reduce risks from floods and other hazards. Our program is home to CommunityViz software for GIS-based scenario planning, and we operate within the largest university-based extension agency in the nation. We have the advantage of strong partnerships with our sister state agencies and federal partners to ensure that our services are reaching communities ready to plan for a more sustainable future. Our staff coordinate tightly to make it all happen, and your effort and planning leadership will be felt directly by the communities that we serve.

YOUR ROLE

As a senior planner, you will work with a team of dedicated planning and GIS staff to undertake and successfully deliver professional planning activities. You will use your base of resilience planning knowledge and project management experience to support consulting work, scenario-planning efforts, and technical assistance activities. You and the team will continue to build programmatic partnerships with state and federal partners, communities, and professional associations. We welcome experienced, well-rounded applicants from a variety of professional backgrounds who will enhance our program’s impact and assist communities in identifying innovative approaches to achieving resiliency and risk reduction.

YOUR SKILLS & EXPERIENCE

Collaborative planning and participation are core to our work, and candidates who are passionate about this side of the planning profession will find this a unique and rewarding position. We are seeking a highly organized, solutions-oriented planning professional to prepare plans, engage communities, and advance the mission of the program. To be successful in this role, you need to have a strong portfolio of planning projects and a proven track record of teamwork. You are a collaborative problem solver who can bring out the best in our team and projects. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills will allow you to convey our mission, projects, and successes to various audiences.

BENEFITS

Two WFH days. Employees are eligible for a generous health insurance plan, including dental and vision. PTO starts at 12 personal days a year, 11 paid holidays, and 10 sick leave days. System contributes to retirement plan. Additional retirement savings available. Office culture is casual, but earnest about doing good work and helping communities improve their well-being through planning.

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead and prepare studies, plans, ordinances, GIS analyses, and other planning products for client communities.
• Organize and facilitate collaborative planning processes, meetings, and workshops with local officials, staff, and stakeholders from diverse backgrounds.
• Advise clients, boards, councils, and partner agencies about subject matter and plan implementation for a variety of planning functional areas, including long-term and comprehensive planning, development practices, hazard mitigation, and grant funding.
• Coordinate project work with team members; provide oversight for plan and document quality.
• Develop project scopes and project management plans; prepare project reports and update project tracking measures.
• Represent our programs in relationship-building efforts with communities, agencies, and professional associations.
• Contribute towards the strategic development of TCWP programs; provides input on project resourcing and budgeting.
• Attend project-related evening meetings.

COMPETENCIES

• Well-developed knowledge of one or more community resilience-related functional areas, such as development regulations, comprehensive planning, floodplain management, community economic development, or environmental planning;
• Knowledge of state and federal policies and resources for disaster recovery, hazard mitigation best practices, and culturally informed and equitable disaster recovery and community development strategies.
• Knowledge of participatory community engagement methods and participatory GIS;
• Knowledge of planning research and technical analysis methods;
• Knowledge of community engagement process design principles;
• Ability to draft development ordinances and plans;
• Excellent facilitation and interpersonal skills for community workshops, public meetings and project committees and working with a variety of stakeholder backgrounds;
• Strong oral, written, and visual communication skills for preparing reports and educating complex subject matter material to a variety of technical and non-technical audiences.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• 5 years of relevant and progressively responsible professional experience;
• A bachelor’s or master’s degree in urban planning or environmental planning, geography, emergency management, or allied discipline;
• A demonstrated history of effective collaboration with internal and external stakeholders;
• Experience managing project deliverables and schedules.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• A master’s degree in urban planning or environmental planning, or allied discipline;
• Experience developing and managing project scopes of work and budgets;
• American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) certification or Certified Floodplain Manager (CFM) certification.

OTHER REQUIREMENTS

Hire must be able to occasionally travel overnight for project work and meetings.

APPLICATIONS

Attach the following 3 items via email to our hiring coordinator Crystal, crystal.lugo@ag.tamu.edu: 1) A cover letter including which position you are applying for; 2) Your resume; 3) A three-page sample of your written work.