Job Description

Director of Strategic Projects and Support

San Francisco/ New York City,
Posted on August 1, 2024

Trust for Public Land (TPL) is a national not-for-profit organization that works to create parks and protect land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come. For over 50 years, TPL has been a national leader in the parks and conservation movement, working to connect communities across the country with nature and advance equity and access to public lands, parks, trails, and schoolyards. Over its extraordinary history, TPL has created more than 5,000 parks, protected 3 million acres of natural areas, generated $85 billion for parks and conservation, and helped put more than 8 million people within a 10-Minute Walk of a park. The organization has deep expertise across a range of disciplines including real estate, public policy, park design and development, data, planning, government relations and community engagement, allowing TPL to take a comprehensive approach to solving some of the biggest challenges facing our country today, such as climate change, health, and equity.

Background: Parks are superfoods for cities and play a critical role in quality of life for urban communities. They improve physical and mental health, strengthen civic and community vitality, and build social and environmental resilience. Though the benefits of parks are well documented, 100 million people, including 28 million children, lack access to a park and greenspace within a 10-minute walk of home.

Trust for Public Land’s Parks Initiative is one of the organization’s key initiatives, which works across the U.S. to build parks and work at scale to create healthy, livable, prosperous communities for now and generations to come. The Initiative works across the organization to investigate, support, and accelerate proven and high-impact solutions to closing this park equity divide and ensure that every resident has access to a quality park or greenspace within a 10-minute walk of home.

Position Overview : The Trust for Public Land (TPL) is seeking a highly motivated and experienced Director of Strategic Projects and Support to lead and manage key initiatives that align with our mission of creating parks and protecting land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come. Reporting to TPL’s Parks Initiative Lead and Senior Director of the 10-Minute Walk Program, this position will serve a critical role in advancing new and existing efforts to scale equitable park access across the U.S. The Director will oversee strategic projects from conception through completion, providing expert guidance and support to ensure successful outcomes.

Key Responsibilities : This role involves three core areas:

1. Strategic Project Leadership, including planning and alignment
2. Project Implementation & Assistance, including project management, stakeholder engagement and resource management
3. Thought leadership & resources for scaled impact, including resources and tool development, and continuous improvement support

Strategic Project Leadership

• Collaborate closely with TPL’s Parks Initiative Lead and AVP, 10-Minute Walk Program, to advance cross-organizational efforts.
• Leadership of day-to-day operations for major Initiative/programmatic focus areas, including significant pilots and research projects.
• Support task force and working groups, especially as related to major programmatic focus areas.
• Ensure projects align with TPL’s mission, goals, and strategic objectives.
• Support identification, proposals, and management of resources.

Project Implementation & Assistance

• Lead the planning, execution, and management of high-impact strategic projects, including overseeing project staff and consultants, as needed.
• Working closely with the 10-Minute Walk, Land and People Lab, and Field teams, develop project plans, including timelines, budgets, and resource allocation, especially as related to major programmatic focus areas and broader/multi-jurisdiction efforts.
• Build and maintain relationships with key stakeholders, including community partners and government agencies.
• Coordinate cross-functional teams and stakeholders to achieve project milestones and objectives.
• Promote best practices and innovative approaches to project management

Thought leadership & resources for scaled impact

• Support synthesis and communications related to key topics and resources
• Assist in development of evaluation and support of research partnerships, incorporating lessons learned into future projects
• Contribute to the development of TPL’s strategic initiatives and programs
• Represent TPL at meetings, conferences, and public events.

Qualifications:

• Minimum of 10-15 years of experience in project management, strategic planning, or related roles
• Proven track record of leading and managing complex, high-impact projects.
• Experience working directly with community stakeholders, partners, and city leadership highly preferred
• Experience in the public space, parks, environmental, or nonprofit sectors preferred
• Excellent interpersonal skills, as well as strong verbal and written communication skills
• Ability to think strategically and act operationally
• Excellent critical thinking and problem solving skills
• Strong project management skills, highly organized and detail-oriented
• Familiarity with range of U.S. cities and geographies helpful

Looking for candidates in San Francisco, CA or New York City, NY or close to any other TPL location nationally.

As a full-time exempt employee, you will be eligible for Trust for Public Land’s comprehensive benefits program which includes medical, dental, and vision insurance, vacation, holidays, and a 403(b) retirement plan, currently with an up to a 7% company match. We offer competitive salaries commensurate with experience; the range for this position is $105,000 - $115,000 annually.

Trust for Public Land’s active goal is to be an inclusive and equitable place to work and build community. As the organization actively works to eliminate racial and other disparities it welcomes candidates with diverse backgrounds and/or multicultural skillsets and experiences.
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Job Tags

Holiday work, Full time,

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