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Project Director
Pacific Charter School Development / Oakland, CA
Posted on: January 10, 2020
Application Deadline: 01/31/2020
Job Description
Project Director – Bay Area
Reports to: Bay Area Executive Director
Start Date: February 2020
GENERAL DESCRIPTION:
Pacific Charter School Development, Inc. or PCSD (www.pacificcharter.org), a California non-profit public benefit corporation, is the leading developer of charter school facilities nationally. PCSD was founded in 2004 with the mission to create affordable, high-quality facilities for charter schools with high academic results. PCSD works solely with non-profit operators of charter schools – and more than 40% of these operators report having stable, affordable facilities as a leading day-to-day issue and a major investment of their time. Together with operators, we are transforming public education across the country, making college readiness and achievement more tangible for all by allowing school leaders to invest their time and resources where they belong – educating students.
Since 2004, PCSD has developed $800M+ in total projects, leveraging philanthropy, private financing, and state funding to create 83 campuses serving over 37,000 students across multiple districts and municipalities. PCSD has grown to 25 employees across three regions – Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Washington State – and proudly serves a diverse base of the highest performing charter school networks as well as single-site operators, including KIPP Public Schools, Envision Education, Caliber Schools, Green Dot Public Schools, Bright Star Schools, Ednovate, and many more.
Over the years, PCSD has developed expertise in charter school lending, designing to meet school’s affordability requirements, and all other phases along the development lifecycle. Our clients include KIPP: Bay Area, Envision Schools, Caliber Schools, and many more.
PCSD is looking for a Project Director to oversee the development of new charter school facilities in the greater Bay Area. The Project Director will be based in or around Oakland, CA and he / she will be responsible for managing and/or overseeing projects at various stages of the development process including site selection, due diligence, design development, entitlements, financing support and construction through project closeout. The Project Director will also manage up to three (3) Project Managers. The Project Director will need to be able to operate independently as well as work as a team member and take direction from the home office in Los Angeles. The Project Director will report to the Bay Area Executive Director, but will work closely with the COO, CFO and PCSD’s Finance Team to execute on the day-to-day project management activities.
ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES:
The Project Director’s role will include direct day-to-day management of projects as well as oversight of the Project Managers. Previous real estate development experience is required. Demonstration of ability to quickly learn and solve problems is preferred.
While the Project Director will be responsible for managing Project Managers, some of the Project Director’s responsibilities will overlap with those of Project Managers. For reference, the Project Manager description can be found here: http://pacificcharter.org/careers/
In addition, the Project Director’s direct responsibilities may include but are not limited to the following:
Client Management:
• Develop and maintain a strong relationship with charter school client throughout all stages of project development
• Work with Finance to conduct initial underwriting of client and sites to determine ability for project size and timing
• Maintain strong understanding of development particulars and effectively communicate project updates to client
• Establish communication standards to ensure client satisfaction with PCSD services
• Develop creative solutions to meet demands of existing clients and/or projects
Management and Oversight of Project Managers:
• Manage and mentor group of up to three (3) Project Managers with support on day-to-day management across the various stages of development
• Work with Finance to sign-off on budgets during acquisition to close of financing, having ownership and authority to approve major budget revisions impacting affordability
• Ensure projects are achieving larger project milestones
• Serve as point for conflict resolution, stepping in next when Project Managers elevate issues with vendors, contractors, clients, etc.
• Conduct regular review of Project Mangers output, providing quality control
Regional Leadership:
• Lead regional effort to develop necessary planning and city official connections
• Identify critical issues within the region, determine approach and create appropriate workplans for resolution; coordinate cross-functional teams, including senior management, in implementation of strategic initiatives
Business Development
• Support Executive Director in client and project pipeline development
Required Experience / Skills / Education
QUALIFICATIONS:
• 7+ years of real estate development experience
• 3+ years of management experience of interdisciplinary team of professionals
• Demonstrate a thorough understanding of all phases of development, particularly entitlements and construction
• Demonstrate strong sense of problem solving, independently overcoming roadblocks and offering “workaround” solutions
• Effective communication skills, with ability to communicate issues clearly and transparently to diverse stakeholders and across cross-functional project teams
• Ability to synthesize information from multiple sources and distill the most important takeaways to guide next steps
• Organized, detail-oriented, proven history of excellent performance
• Strong teamwork and team-building skills
• Interest in reforming public education; mission-driven
• Bachelor’s degree required (business, economics, finance, real estate, architecture or engineering preferred); advanced degree preferred.
• Relevant industry experience or graduate degree in management consulting, commercial or charter school lending, real estate development, business, finance, or architecture is a plus.
• Must be willing to travel.
Application Instructions
TO APPLY:
• If interested, please send a resume and cover letter to [email protected]
