Principal Demographer, Forecasting & Land Use

Houston-Galveston Area Council•Houston, TX

About The Position

The Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC) is seeking a Principal Demographer to lead regional demographic, employment, and land-use forecasting activities that support transportation and regional planning. This role involves managing the Socioeconomic Modeling Group, overseeing parcel- and TAZ-level forecasting and model development, and providing crucial socioeconomic inputs for travel demand modeling, long-range planning, and scenario analysis. The Principal Demographer will be responsible for managing staff, setting priorities, providing technical direction, and ensuring the quality of work produced by the group. This position plays a vital role in shaping the future of the region by analyzing and forecasting growth patterns and their relationship with transportation investments.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Demography, Urban or Regional Planning, Geography, Economics, Statistics, Data Science, Transportation Planning, Environmental Studies, or a related field.
At least five years of related experience in demographic forecasting, socioeconomic forecasting, land-use modeling, regional growth forecasting, transportation planning, or related MPO/DOT forecasting work.
Experience developing or supporting population, household, employment, or land-use forecasts for MPO, DOT, travel demand modeling, Metropolitan Transportation Plan/RTP, corridor study, scenario planning, or regional planning applications.
Strong GIS, quantitative analysis, data management, spatial analysis, public-sector data, and technical project leadership skills.
Experience using Python or similar scripting tools for modeling, automation, QA/QC, debugging, or reproducible analysis.
All employees of H-GAC are required to reside within the agency’s region of service.

Nice To Haves

8 years of experience
Master's degree or PhD in a related field.
Experience with an MPO, state DOT, state or local government, Council of Governments, regional planning agency, university, or public-sector partner organization.
Experience supporting socioeconomic forecasts for travel demand models, Metropolitan Transportation Plans/RTPs, scenario planning, or corridor studies.
Experience with parcel-level data, county appraisal data, TAZ-level datasets, UrbanSim or comparable land-use models, SAS/R, GIS, and spatial datasets.
Experience preparing technical documentation, data dictionaries, QA/QC checks, and presentations for planning or modeling audiences.

Responsibilities

Manage and lead the Socioeconomic Modeling Group, including work priorities, schedules, technical direction, staff coordination, and QA/QC.
Lead long-range population, household, employment, and land-use forecasts at regional, county, TAZ, parcel, and other geographic levels.
Develop growth allocation methodologies, model assumptions, and alternative development scenarios for regional planning applications.
Maintain and analyze parcel, building, county appraisal, plat, master-planned community, demographic, economic, and land-use datasets.
Develop socioeconomic and land-use inputs for travel demand models, Metropolitan Transportation Plans/RTPs, corridor studies, and scenario planning.
Coordinate forecast assumptions, TAZ structures, and socioeconomic datasets with transportation modelers, GIS staff, planners, consultants, and partner agencies.
Evaluate relationships among transportation investments, accessibility, development patterns, population, households, and employment.
Develop and improve regional socioeconomic and land-use forecasting models using Python, GIS, SQL, R, SAS, UrbanSim, or comparable tools.
Prepare technical documentation, reports, presentations, and clear explanations of complex modeling results for technical and nontechnical audiences.
Provide technical leadership, mentor staff, and respond to technical and data requests from internal teams and external stakeholders.