About ECOnorthwest

ECOnorthwest is a consulting firm headquartered in Portland, Oregon, with offices in Seattle, Bend, Boise, Eugene, and Los Angeles. The firm has a 50-year history of interdisciplinary research insights that help communities across the United States make informed decisions about housing, land use, natural resources, education, and the social safety net. See examples of past ECOnorthwest projects.

Job Description

ECOnorthwest has an immediate opening for a full-time Project Manager to support our work in housing, economic development, land use, real estate development, and area planning. Under the guidance of a Project Director, Project Managers are responsible for implementing and managing project work, including delegation to Research Analysts and Associates. Project Managers interface with clients, manage deliverables and budgets, track and focus on profitable project delivery, coordinate with Project Directors and practice leads on marketing efforts, and develop their own professional networks. Project Managers manage upwards to the senior team members in the firm and are involved in business development activities. They manage multiple projects and proposal efforts simultaneously, balancing time and resources across projects. 

Typical project work includes:

• analyzing housing needs and developing strategies to better align housing production to needs; 

• evaluating how potential policy changes impact the viability of desired development, including transit-oriented development, mixed-income and affordable housing, walkable commercial nodes, or middle housing; 

• working with a multi-disciplinary team to align land use and development plans for targeted areas or properties with market realities and local goals; 

• evaluating land needs and infrastructure funding strategies to support housing and economic development; and 

• identifying locally appropriate strategies to support equitable development. 

Location

This position will be based out of our Portland, Oregon office and collaborate with other team members across all our office locations. ECOnorthwest has a hybrid work policy with the goal to have staff working from one of our offices three days a week (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) with the option to work remotely on other days. For in-person workdays, the selected candidates will be working from our Portland office.

Qualifications

The core competencies needed for the role include: clear, collegial, and effective communication and team coordination and expertise in housing, development, and/or land use planning. The ideal candidate for Project Manager is someone with project management experience, particularly in a consulting setting, who also has the subject matter competency needed to help design and contribute to project work. In addition, successful Project Managers interact professionally with clients, delegate work to others, and are interested in growing in the firm to assist with business development activities. 

Required qualifications include:

• Master’s Degree in Planning, Real Estate Development, Public Policy, or a related field plus minimum 3 years relevant professional experience OR Bachelor’s Degree with at least 5 years of relevant professional experience.

• Project management experience, such as managing the production of deliverables (reports, memoranda, presentations, etc.) with multiple contributors, coordinating the work of internal and/or external teams, communicating with clients or decision-makers to share progress and clarify goals and priorities, developing scopes of work and project budgets, creating and managing project schedules, etc.

• Effective writing and oral communication skills, including synthesizing qualitative, quantitative, and/or statistical analysis; elevating clear highlights relevant to the project’s focus; and presenting findings to decision-makers and/or the public.

• Understanding of planning, housing, economic development, and/or real estate development policy context in the western U.S., and equity considerations associated with these topics. 

• Intellectual curiosity to build on existing knowledge, explore new topics, and seek out new ideas and solutions.

• Excellent organizational and time management skills.

• Applied experience with Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint).

Additional desirable qualifications include:

• Familiarity with Oregon’s land use planning system or other statewide long-range planning systems

• Experience reviewing, writing, and/or applying zoning code and other development regulations 

• Familiarity with public data sources (e.g., U.S. Census Data, population forecasts, assessor’s property data, employment data, etc.)

• Familiarity with development processes and development feasibility analysis for market-rate development and/or affordable housing

• Familiarity with spatial analysis and associated GIS tools including ESRI-based or QGIS

Salary and Benefits

The salary for this full-time exempt position will be commensurate with experience and market rates, roughly ranging from $83,200-$99,840. This position is eligible for full company benefits including medical/dental/vision/life/disability insurance, flexible spending accounts, 401(k), and paid holidays. The position also is also eligible for quarterly production bonuses and year end profit sharing.

Deadline

Open until filled. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. 

DEI Statement

ECONorthwest is committed to the work of improving its diversity and inclusiveness as a workplace. Our best work draws on teams within and beyond ECOnorthwest who have diverse backgrounds and experiences that reflect the communities we work with. Thus, we actively seek applicants who would expand the diversity of lived experiences within our team.

Required Application Materials

Please submit a cover letter and resume in PDF format. Please address in the cover letter the ways in which you meet the requirements for the position you are applying for, and how your lived and professional experiences can help ECOnorthwest deliver high quality products to our clients.

ECOnorthwest is not a sponsoring organization at this time.

ECOnorthwest requires employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. 

ECOnorthwest is an Equal Opportunity Employer.