Job Description

Alta is looking for a Senior Planning Associate to join and help grow and lead our teams in our Charlotte, NC office. This is a unique opportunity for anyone who wants to manage an office, and is passionate about active transportation and the way it positively impacts our communities in need. If you are looking for an innovative organization that is an industry leader in active transportation, apply with us today!

About Alta

Alta Planning + Design is an active transportation company dedicated to creating active, healthy communities through planning, landscape architecture, engineering, and education/encouragement programs. Alta was founded in 1996 when cities and communities were calling for safer streets for people walking and bicycling as the non-motorized transportation movement developed into a profession in the United States. We pioneered the field of active transportation, evolving our planning and design work into a visionary global practice that empowers people to live active, healthy lives and getting them to where they need to go. Our core values and work bring about positive change by creating places that are geared toward moving people rather than cars, connecting community members to daily needs and human experience, and empowering every person to live an active healthy life. As a global leader in mobility innovation for over 24 years with 175 people on staff, we are dedicated to connecting people to places by working across disciplines and scale to address social justice, safety, and environmental resilience.

Summary + Overview

This management-level role is responsible for building and maintaining client and partner relationships, ensuring successful project delivery, growing and developing an office and leading and growing Alta\xe2\x80\x99s team members into well-rounded and technically proficient contributors to Alta\xe2\x80\x99s success.

Position Priorities

A thorough understanding and knowledge of Alta, its culture and services, the ability to collaborate across discipline boundaries and deliver solutions which meet client expectations in a cost-effective manner is required in order to successfully meet the requirements of this position. The essential priorities of this exempt, salaried position are to:

• Nurture and grow client and industry partner relationships and secure work in support of Alta\xe2\x80\x99s growth goals.
• Solidify Alta\xe2\x80\x99s reputation as a trusted adviser and expert by educating clients and other relevant parties, shaping and strategizing solutions which will meet their business objectives.
• Appropriately manage large, complex projects in a budget-conscious and time-sensitive manner.
• Manage and mentor potentially large groups of staff.

Responsibilities + Tasks

Additional responsibilities of this position include, but are not limited to:

• Creating proposals, statements of work, contract addenda, and scope changes, presenting proposals to clients, and negotiating the final deliverables and costs.
• Identifying engagement goals and objectives and leading the client, internal and external teams ensuring any risks to deliverable are properly managed.
• Communicating desired outcomes, and advocating for the client and managing expectations.
• Creating and maintaining project schedules, and communicating the status of project deliverables to clients in a timely and effective manner.
• Monitoring scope changes, securing necessary approval and implementing change orders.
• Administering the project including scheduling meetings, developing agendas, and project documentation, coordinating internal project meetings, ensuring timely delivery, and managing resources.
• Managing and mentoring staff, providing feedback and professional development in a timely and effective manner; hiring and terminating staff as appropriate.
• Contributing to Alta\xe2\x80\x99s internal Professional Development programs by developing and presenting material.
• Actively participating in industry-relevant professional associations and committees including assuming board-level positions.
• Developing, implementing and maintaining annual strategic plans.
• May include oversight of daily office administrative functions for a local office.
• Serve as a primary point of contact for the management and oversight for the Charlotte office.

Requirements

This position requires a combination of skills, experience and education including, but not limited to:

• Bachelor\xe2\x80\x99s degree in Planning or a related field of study.
• Twelve (12) or more years of experience in a consulting environment or public entity managing large projects; three (3) or more years of experience as a Project Manager; three (3) or more years managing staff.
• Experience in the field of active, non-motorized transportation.
• Demonstrated understanding of the planning process and a detailed understanding of project management principles, methods and techniques.
• Proven ability to guide staff members and manage internal team expectations.
• Exhibits strong initiative and the ability to capitalize on opportunities to enhance Alta\xe2\x80\x99s position in the marketplace.
• Demonstrated ability to manage competing priorities, and multiple simultaneous projects involving cross-functional project teams within budgetary and schedule constraints.
• Experience writing and presenting white papers and/or providing expert-level presentations at conferences and other events promoting the field of sustainable infrastructure and active, non-motorized transportation.
• Ability and willingness to travel.
• Excellent professional ethics, leadership skills, accountability, and decision-making capabilities.
• Excellent interpersonal, written and verbal communication, presentation, and analytic skills.
• Proficient in MS Excel, Word, Adobe Creative Suite, ESRI Arc GIS, or similar products.
• Proficiency in an enterprise-wide resource planning and project management tool.

Preferred Skills + Certifications

There are a number of additional skills, experience and education that would be beneficial to this position including, but not limited to:

• Master\xe2\x80\x99s degree in Urban Planning or a related field of study.
• Experience using Deltek Vision.
• Registration as a Professional Landscape Architect or as a Professional Planner.

Physical Requirements

This position requires manual dexterity and visual acuity required to perform computer related tasks. This position is mainly sedentary and will require sitting or standing for extended periods of time. Please let us know if you require any reasonable accommodations to perform this job.

What do we offer?

Compensation The pay range for this job in Charlotte, NC is $102,000 \xe2\x80\x93 140,000 annually. Placement within the range is based upon experience, skill-sets, and qualifications. Alta offers comprehensive benefits to all full-time employees.

• Medical: PPO, HMO, or HSA medical plans, Alta pays 75% of the cost.
• Dental/Vision: PPO, Alta pays 90% of the cost.
• Life Insurance: Alta pays 100% of the premium for life and AD&D, equal to your base compensation.
• 401k: Alta provides a safe harbor match up to 4%.
• PTO: 21 days accrued annually to start.
• Holidays: 11 total company paid holidays
• Additional benefits: Wellness reimbursement up to $800 annually, Alta Gets Around reimbursement up to $900 annually, 5-year travel award, and professional development opportunities.

To apply, please upload your resume and a cover letter, telling us why you\xe2\x80\x99re interested in Alta and why you\xe2\x80\x99d be a good fit. Due to the high volume of applicants, we will not be able to respond to email or phone inquiries. **Due to the nature of this job, this position will require in-office attendance when it is safe to return. Hybrid schedules will be discussed in the hiring process. Vaccination is required to enter any Alta office. **
Alta is an Equal Opportunity Employer Alta Planning + Design, Inc. is committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all employees and applicants. It is our policy that decisions involving people are made on the basis of job-related criteria, independent of an individual\xe2\x80\x99s gender, race, color, national origin, age, religion, marital status, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, physical or mental disability for which reasonable accommodation is available, and any other status protected by law. This includes decisions involving hiring, job placement, transfer, promotion, compensation, benefits, training, and company-sponsored programs. Alta Planning + Design maintains formal employment policies, available on online and by request. Affirmative Action Plan Alta Planning + Design, Inc. is a federal contractor subject to affirmative action regulations requiring written Affirmative Action Plans (AAP\xe2\x80\x99s) for minorities and women, and for covered veterans and individuals with disabilities. We worked intensively with a local firm that specializes in Affirmative Action Plans to develop a program for our company that will not only satisfy our federal obligations but will be a living document. This means the plan is integrated into our recruiting and evaluation procedures and is revisited often in order to ensure we\xe2\x80\x99re doing everything we can to embrace and promote diversity within our company.
The \xe2\x80\x9cApply For This Position\xe2\x80\x9d button will direct you to Pinpoint, our external applicant tracking system hosted with our Trilon partners. To learn more about Alta\xe2\x80\x99s partnership with Trilon click here.