Regional Manager, New Community Lease-Up

Avanath•Irvine, CA

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

Avanath is a leading property management company focused on affordable housing for the workforce. The Regional Manager, New Community Lease-Up is responsible for leading the operational launch of assigned affordable housing communities from pre-opening readiness through stabilization. This role ensures a compliant, resident-focused operating launch by coordinating people, systems, apartment readiness, marketing, compliance, and financial controls. Reporting to the Senior Director, New Community Operations, this leader will direct Community Managers and associates, partnering closely with various internal departments (Development, Construction, Compliance, Marketing, etc.) and external stakeholders (ownership partners, housing agencies). The role requires proactive risk identification, clear ownership assignment, and timely escalation of critical decisions impacting opening, occupancy, compliance, resident experience, or financial performance. Success is measured by safe and timely openings, apartment delivery, application processing, move-in pace, occupancy and revenue targets, budget control, audit readiness, team preparedness, accurate reporting, and a smooth transition to stabilized operations. The incumbent must demonstrate sound judgment, strong organization, urgency, accountability, integrity, and positive engagement.

Requirements

Five or more years of progressive multifamily property management experience, including multi-site or regional leadership responsibility.
Demonstrated success leading one or more new construction or substantial rehabilitation lease-ups from pre-opening through stabilization.
Strong working knowledge of affordable housing operations and applicant eligibility processes.
Direct experience with LIHTC is required.
Ability to read and apply the Tenant Selection Plan, Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing Plan, regulatory agreements, income and rent limits, utility allowances, occupancy standards, leasing criteria, and agency requirements applicable to each community.
Experience building and managing detailed project plans, readiness checklists, owners, deadlines, dependencies, risks, and recurring reporting across multiple communities.
Working knowledge of property management, affordable compliance, customer relationship management, screening, document management, and reporting systems.
Ability to analyze budgets, leasing velocity, application conversion, unit readiness, rent collections, subsidy receipts, marketing results, staffing productivity, and operating variances.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to present concise status, risks, decisions, and recovery plans to senior leaders and ownership partners.
Valid driver’s license and ability to travel frequently within assigned regions, including overnight travel as business needs require.

Nice To Haves

Experience with HUD, project-based rental assistance, tax-exempt bonds, HOME, local housing programs, or layered regulatory programs is strongly preferred.
Experience with Yardi and RentCafe is preferred.
Affordable housing or occupancy certification such as HCCP, SHCM, CPO, COS, or equivalent is preferred.

Responsibilities

Own the master lease-up plan for each assigned community from pre-opening through stabilization, including action steps, owners, target dates, dependencies, status, and escalation points.
Lead recurring lease-up meetings, confirm decisions, document action items, assign deadlines, and ensure closure.
Establish opening and stabilization benchmarks with stakeholders.
Maintain a written definition of readiness and stabilization for each community.
Maintain a current risk and decision log covering all aspects of the lease-up process.
Escalate missed milestones and emerging risks with a specific recovery plan.
Coordinate the final handoff to long-term operations.
Visit assigned communities a minimum of 3-4 times per week.
Manage and support the personnel and performance of each site, including coaching leaders and making selection/staffing decisions.
Work with and support back office and corporate support functions.
Assess and complete team performance on an annual basis.
Recognize opportunities for team development and challenge team members to achieve higher performance.
Respond to team member concerns, maintenance conditions, resident problems, security breaches, and emergencies.
Coordinate and oversee on-site operations, including budget implementation, compliance, vendor relationships, rent collections, and accounts payable.
Partner with Development and Construction to maintain accurate apartment delivery schedules, inspection status, and readiness plans.
Coordinate apartment acceptance walks.
Track apartment readiness, application status, approvals, scheduled and actual move-ins.
Confirm readiness of management office, signage, life-safety systems, access control, and all necessary equipment and services before public opening.
Ensure all required contracts, vendors, supplies, and licenses are in place and understood by the site team.
Partner with Compliance to create a community-specific regulatory matrix.
Ensure leasing activity follows the approved Tenant Selection Plan and Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing Plan.
Establish a controlled applicant workflow from inquiry through move-in.
Monitor waitlist readiness, appointments, document collection, verifications, processing, corrections, approvals, denials, and move-in scheduling.
Ensure unit offers match approved designations and occupancy requirements.
Review application aging, incomplete files, approval turn times, and denial trends weekly.
Remove workflow barriers and escalate decisions that threaten the occupancy plan.
Ensure files and systems are complete, accurate, secure, and audit-ready.
Coordinate quality-control reviews and timely correction of findings.
Translate pro forma and construction schedules into weekly and monthly goals for outreach, applications, leases, move-ins, occupancy, and revenue.
Partner with Marketing to execute outreach and advertising plans, monitor source performance, and adjust tactics.
Lead weekly pipeline reviews.
Monitor leasing velocity and the conversion funnel.
Develop written recovery plans when performance falls behind goal.
Coordinate resident-facing opening and move-in communications.
Assist in developing and managing pre-opening and lease-up operating budgets, staffing plans, marketing budgets, purchasing, and contracts.
Review actual performance against approved budget and lease-up goals, explaining variances and implementing corrective plans.
Monitor rental income, subsidy payments, delinquency, vacancy loss, controllable expenses, and marketing costs.
Produce accurate, concise, and timely reporting for stakeholders.
Protect financial controls by confirming approved purchasing, contract authority, invoice coding, deposits, and payment posting.
Partner with Human Resources and Recruiting to establish staffing models, hiring dates, onboarding plans, and schedules.
Ensure every team member is trained on fair housing, affordable housing requirements, systems, applicant communication, file handling, leasing, move-ins, payments, emergency protocols, and customer service.
Create cross-coverage and backup plans for critical functions.
Promote a culture of accountability, teamwork, continuous improvement, and respect.
Recognize strong performance and address performance or conduct concerns promptly.
Ensure applicants and residents receive timely, accurate, respectful, and consistent communication.
Monitor complaints, missed calls, unresolved inquiries, reasonable accommodation requests, and application disputes.
Coordinate with Resident Services and community partners to support successful move-ins and connect residents with resources.
Ensure the opening experience reflects Avanath standards for dignity, fairness, responsiveness, safety, and service.