Director of Predevelopment Planning and Urban Design

The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) promotes quality and affordability in the city’s housing, and diversity and strength in the city’s neighborhoods because every New Yorker deserves a safe, affordable place to live in a neighborhood they love.
- We maintain building and resident safety and health.
- We create opportunities for New Yorkers through housing affordability.
- We engage New Yorkers to build and sustain neighborhood strength and diversity.
HPD is entrusted with fulfilling these objectives through the goals and strategies of Housing Our Neighbors: A Blueprint for Housing and Homelessness, Mayor Adams’ comprehensive housing framework. To support this important work, the administration has committed $5 billion in new capital funding, bringing the 10-year planned investment in housing to $22 billion the largest in the city’s history. This investment, coupled with a commitment to reduce administrative and regulatory barriers, is a multi-pronged strategy to tackle New York City’s complex housing crisis, by addressing homelessness and housing instability, promoting economic stability and mobility, increasing homeownership opportunities, improving health and safety, and increasing opportunities for equitable growth.

Your Team:

The Office of Neighborhood Strategies (ONS) is charged with ensuring that HPD’s development and preservation efforts are guided by meaningful community engagement and coordinated with public investments in infrastructure and services, as put forth in the Mayor's Housing Plan.
ONS is composed of two divisions and a cross-divisional unit reporting to the Associate Commissioner:
- The Division of Planning & Predevelopment (P&P) is central to developing and managing HPD's housing production pipeline from project proposal phases through the land use review and entitlement process, to ensure that HPD's investments contribute to building strong, healthy, resilient neighborhoods in all five boroughs. The advertised position is a member of this team.
- The Division of Neighborhood Development & Stabilization (ND&S) leads the agency's commitment to neighborhood planning and strategic preservation through engagement with tenants, landlords, community leaders, and neighborhood stakeholders as we work to enable strong and healthy neighborhoods anchored by affordable housing.
- The Strategic Initiatives Unit leads special ONS initiatives and provides essential technical, planning, and policy support to staff and the Associate Commissioner of Neighborhood Strategies.

Your Impact:

As the Director of Predevelopment Planning and Urban Design, you will lead a talented group of professionals and experts at the forefront of HPD’s predevelopment pipeline, while reporting to the Assistant Commissioner of Planning and Predevelopment. Over the past decade, the Predevelopment Planning and Urban Design Unit has been responsible for shaping and reviewing requests for proposals (RFPs) for projects across hundreds of sites that will generate tens of thousands of affordable homes, dozens of new community facilities, as well as significant new retail opportunities in neighborhoods across the five boroughs. The team also plays a leading role in developing and testing innovative approaches to confronting the broader affordability crises faced by the city and supporting equity in planning through work on initiatives around M/WBE participation and responsible urban design.

Your Role:

Your role as Director will be to build, train, and manage a team of energetic, thoughtful, and engaged planners that work together to create Requests for Proposals for the development of City-owned development parcels and to manage the review and selection process in such a way that ensures that development, design, and planning proposals meet HPD and other city policy objectives.

Your Responsibilities:
- Advise the Assistant Commissioner and senior leadership on priorities and priority projects, policy issues, and potential solutions.
- Lead the agency’s urban design activities and define urban design priorities.
- Define, manage, and track team priorities across multiple projects and deliverables.
- Work with the Land Use and Policy, Strategic Initiatives, Borough teams, and Neighborhood Planning units on vacant site analysis for pipeline planning purposes.
- Effectively drive forward a portfolio of high-priority and/or complex projects along a critical path toward RFP creation, issuance, review, and designation, while coordinating input from community members, technical experts, agency partners, and agency leadership.
- Undertake site analysis studies; perform basic real estate development and financial feasibility analysis of project proposals.
- Work with planners to troubleshoot and navigate complex planning issues as they arise in projects.
- Work collaboratively with Borough Planning Directors and Planners; other NYC agencies, such as the Economic Development Corporation, Department of City Planning, New York City Housing Authority; for- and non- profit housing and community developers; Community Boards and local organizations; public officials; City Hall; and neighborhood residents through the predevelopment process.
- Create, implement, and maintain consistent, efficient operational procedures.
- Identify staffing needs and advocate for resources.
- Assign and manage team workload.
- Meet regularly with individual staff members as well as team to review and evaluate work, communicate priorities, and provide coaching.
- Represent the unit and agency at requested meetings.
- Participate in neighborhood workshops, as necessary.
Preferred skills:
- Experiencing managing a team of planners/professionals/project managers.
- The ability to combine quantitative and qualitative information from disparate sources, identify gaps in logic, draw conclusions, and make clear recommendations
- The ability to combine analytical abilities with empathy and persuasion to break complex challenges into manageable tasks, generate consensus on contentious issues, and influence both subject matter experts and senior-level decision-makers
- The ability to meet deadlines, manage multiple projects in a timely manner, and adjust priorities and project scopes as conditions shift
- The ability to work productively with a wide variety of professionals in a team-based, collaborative environment
- The ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing
- Familiarity with principles and practice of New York City land use, real estate development, community development and/or government operations strongly desired
- Knowledge of best practices in urban planning, affordable housing, and/or community development
- Urban planning; real estate finance and development; urban planning; land use; environmental reviews.
- Civil Service: The candidate selected for the Director role must be permanent in the City Planner Civil Service title, be on the active City Planner Civil Service list, OR be permanent in another qualifying Civil Service title to be eligible for this role. Selected candidates will be asked to provide written confirmation that they currently hold a relevant permanent title or are on the City Planner Civil Service list.

Please submit a resume, cover letter, and proof of Civil Service eligibility with your application. Applications without cover letters will not be considered.

CITY PLANNER - 22122

1. A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university and two years of satisfactory full-time experience in city planning; or

2. A satisfactory combination of education and/or experience that is equivalent to “1"" above. Graduate
education in city planning, urban planning, urban design, architecture, landscape architecture, transportation engineering, public administration, economic development or related fields may be substituted for experience on the basis of 30 graduate semester credits from an accredited college for one year of experience. However, all candidates must have a baccalaureate degree.

Special Qualification Requirements

Assignment Level III
To be eligible for placement in Assignment Level III, individuals must have, after meeting the minimum requirements, one additional year of professional experience as described in "2" above.

Assignment Level IV
To be eligible for placement in Assignment Level IV, individuals must have, after meeting the minimum requirements, two additional years of professional experience as described in "2" above.

The City of New York is an inclusive equal opportunity employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally protected status or protected characteristic, including but not limited to an individual's sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, or pregnancy.