Development and Permitting Liaison

City of Eugene • Eugene, OR

1d • Onsite

About The Position

Building & Permit Services (BPS) is seeking a skilled and collaborative Development and Permitting Liaison to help advance the City’s goals for housing, economic development, and improved customer service within the development review process. Housing and economic development are top priorities for the City of Eugene and Building and Permit Services is a key partner in the City’s pursuit of creating economic prosperity, growth, affordability, and diverse housing options for our community. An ideal candidate will build strong, cooperative relationships, improve processes, and support clearer, more predictable permitting pathways for businesses, developers, and community members. This role helps ensure that permitting systems effectively support community priorities, including housing production, business success, and equitable access, while fostering collaboration, creativity, and continuous improvement. The Department: The Planning and Development Department (PDD) is dedicated to shaping a thriving, future-focused community—encompassing these four divisions: Building and Permit Services, Community Development, Planning, and Curbside and Administrative Services—where excellence is expected and innovation is empowered. PDD staff work creatively and collaboratively to address the daily needs of our customers and community. This includes working on identified urgent community needs like housing and homelessness, downtown vibrancy, vitality and livability, building permits, code compliance, economic development, and community planning.

Requirements

• Two years of related professional experience including land use, building permits, community engagement, project management, program administration and marketing/communications - preferably in the public sector.
• Equivalent to a Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university in the assigned program area with major course work in business or public administration, public policy management, community development, communications, permit review, construction, develop mentor related fields.
• Must pass a background check.
• Broad interdisciplinary knowledge of the development and permitting process.
• Principles and practices of business construction such as permit processing, planning, economic development, and project management.
• Land use and development review principles and practices.
• Applicable federal, state, and local laws.
• Conflict resolution methods.
• Project management methodology.
• Improving workflows and processes to enhance permitting efficiency and customer experience.
• Developing clear, engaging communications and educational materials for diverse audiences.
• Building strong internal and external partnerships and representing the City in stakeholder and community settings.
• Data analysis including ability to translate complex data into accessible visuals and summaries that support transparency and decision making.
• Applying an equity lens to policies, communication, and process improvements.
• Proactively identify challenges, remove barriers, and develop practical, equitable solutions.
• Provide strong customer service and support applicants through complex permitting processes.
• Work effectively across departments and with external partners to support coordinated solutions.
• Engage community members, developers, and business owners to build understanding and trust.
• Analyze permitting and economic data to inform decisions and organizational improvements.
• Communicate effectively both orally and in writing with diverse customers, employees, businesses, contractors, other agencies and the general public.
• Translate technical subjects into communications that can be understood by a variety of audiences.
• Build positive relationships with regional partners, customers, community members and employees.
• Build consensus, mediate and facilitate.
• Ability to demonstrate leadership behavior to employees, contractors, public officials, other agencies, customers, and the general public.
• Ability to make presentations and develop reports that may include technical information.
• Resolve conflict between parties with differing viewpoints.
• Apply citywide goals, policies and regulations to specific projects.

Responsibilities

• Identifies perceived barriers, inefficiencies, and inequities in permitting workflows and recommends improvements that support housing production, business development, and customer experience.
• Proposes policy, process, and service enhancements to make permitting more accessible, predictable, and customer-friendly.
• Advances strategies that improve and expand support for small businesses and entrepreneurs from marginalized communities, including BIPOC, immigrant, women-owned, and low-income entrepreneurs.
• Promotes process alignment and transparency across City divisions including Planning, Public Works Engineering, Wastewater, Fire, and partner agencies.
• Communicates permitting requirements, regulatory changes, timelines, and updates to the development community in a timely, clear, and relatable way using multiple communication channels.
• Develops and implements communication and engagement strategies in partnership with the PDD Communication Manager and BPS leadership.
• Delivers accessible, audience specific, education materials, workshops, and content that engages, informs and builds understanding of the permitting processes and relevant City code.
• Supports community engagement and outreach efforts related to housing, economic development, downtown revitalization, and other priority City initiatives.
• Develops and actively maintains open lines of communication about development and permitting issues with teams across the Department and organization.
• Builds public trust and confidence by using clear, transparent data and strong data visualization skills to communicate outcomes, support informed decision-making, and demonstrate accountability.
• Collects and analyzes data related to permitting activity and economic development outcomes to highlight trends, timelines, and system performance.
• Translates complex data and topics into accessible and compelling visuals such as video, data visualizations, presentations, and other media to regularly communicate program outcomes, successes, emerging issue and other topics.
• Produces and maintains user-friendly internal and public-facing data summaries and visualizations that improve transparency on workloads, trends, and timelines.
• Provides timely data insights to support process improvements and strategic planning.
• Builds and strengthens partnerships with industry professionals, community partners and agencies, and other jurisdictions to understand needs and promote coordinated solutions.
• Fosters collaborative working relationships across City teams to ensure aligned messaging, coordinated and streamlined processes, and shared problem solving.
• Represents the City in stakeholder forums, business outreach events, and development-related initiatives to communicate priorities and share information.
• Works closely with the City’s Economic Prosperity Team to support business growth and address emerging issues.
• Engages proactively with developers, business owners, and community members to understand challenges, remove barriers, and support project success.

Benefits

• Robust and competitive benefits
• Bilingual Pay Benefit (up to an additional 5% of base salary)
• Non-Represented Retirement Program (City contribution of 6% and employer contribution to PERS)
• 3% contribution to a deferred compensation program if the employee contributes at least 1%

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level