Senior Program Manager

Community Vision Capital • San Francisco, CA

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

Community Vision partners with mission-driven organizations across California to secure the spaces that help communities thrive. As a nonprofit community development financial institution (CDFI), we provide flexible financing and strategic advising to help our clients purchase, preserve, and develop social purpose real estate—such as affordable housing, health clinics, and cultural centers. Grounded in our belief that community ownership of community assets is one of the most powerful tools for cultivating thriving communities, promoting economic justice, and building power, we work to create lasting community assets that enable stability, agency, and self-determination—helping communities build power through place. The Senior Program Manager provides guidance, technical assistance, and capacity to support nonprofits and other community-based organizations in planning and executing community-focused real estate projects with a focus on affordable housing. The person in this role will bring expertise in affordable housing development and construction. The work will focus on helping client organizations deepen their knowledge of the real estate process and, either on their own or through joint ventures, successfully build or acquire affordable housing. Some clients are likely to rely on joint ventures to accomplish their goals, and much of the Senior Program Manager’s work will involve helping the client choose a partner (e.g., crafting and reviewing an RFQ) and ensuring that the client learns alongside the chosen partner. Other clients will execute projects more independently, in which case the Senior Program Manager will provide a range of technical assistance and additional capacity for client projects. Across the range of potential clients, a key part of this work will be assessing project feasibility and helping clients understand the critical components for a successful project. This Senior Program Manager will also help strengthen the Community Vision’s internal capabilities related to affordable housing production and construction feasibility, financing, and project management more generally.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Real Estate, City Planning or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• 7+ years of experience in affordable housing development with progressive seniority and ideally with exposure to both LIHTC and non-LIHTC projects or a related industry.
• Ability to work in-person in the Bay Area up to two days a week and to work virtually at least three days a week, with flexibility for future changes in our hybrid approach.
• Command of affordable housing development in California, including knowledge of how to access and stay compliant with public subsidy programs, deep experience with complex project management, and some familiarity with construction management.
• Understanding of how to effectively provide technical assistance and consulting services in a real estate context.
• Awareness of social and land justice practices.
• Strong client relationship building and management skills.
• Proficiency in financial analysis and modeling.
• Effective business development and networking abilities.
• Competence in presentation development and delivery.
• Ability to prioritize projects based on urgency, importance, and resource availability.
• Capacity to manage multiple clients across various project stages.
• Client-centered and project-oriented approach to engagement.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills for explaining complex concepts and facilitating meetings.
• Problem-solving skills with the ability to generate creative and practical solutions.
• Attention to detail and commitment to quality.
• Cultural competence to understand and appreciate diverse perspectives.
• Entrepreneurial initiative to identify and pursue opportunities.

Responsibilities

• Provide feasibility assessment, technical assistance, training, and capacity to clients to ensure they are successful with affordable housing production and preservation, and other community-focused real estate projects.
• Lead work to source clients with feasible projects that align with program goals.
• Develop a framework for Community Vision and clients to use to assess the feasibility of affordable housing projects. Use framework to make decisions about client readiness for CV support, and to provide clients with clarity regarding steps they would need to take to be ready to receive CV support.
• Support a portfolio of up to 20 clients, with a goal of seeing every client successfully complete its development project.
• Provide technical assistance related to project proforma development and financial modeling.
• When relevant, advise clients in establishing partnerships or joint venture structures.
• Maintain and expand a network of trusted professional service providers that can support clients with various stages of their development projects.
• Continue to engage with clients as a trusted partner as they move forward with their development projects, and use expertise and networks to help with trouble-shooting and problem solving, especially for new construction projects.
• Develop criteria for deploying predevelopment grants to support select projects.
• Deploy grant capital to support client projects.
• Produce and deliver thought leadership (e.g., blog posts, reports, conference presentations) and participate in industry events with the goal of sharing insights about affordable housing and community ownership.
• Bring expertise and recent lessons learned to help design new housing affordability-related programs at Community Vision, including focused advising and/or grant programs.
• Participate in strategic planning committees and department meetings.
• Facilitate cross-team collaboration, particularly in co-creating high-impact housing-related financial products in partnership with Lending.
• Provide support to Advising team members in deepening their knowledge of real estate development and executing projects, particularly related to affordable housing production.
• Mentoring and training individual Consultants.
• Advising on specific Advising engagements as needed.
• Participating in Advising team meetings and activities.
• Shaping internal group learning opportunities.
• Participate in internal work groups as needed to support organizational initiatives.
• Undertake special projects as requested by the VP of Program Strategy.
• Develop relationships with relevant community and organizational partners.
• Engage in professional development to enhance skills and knowledge.
• Other duties as assigned.

Benefits

• comprehensive health and wellness package with 100% employer-paid insurance premiums for employees and a generous contribution towards dependent coverage
• robust long-term disability and life insurance coverage
• technology subsidy
• valuable employer contributions to retirement savings
• more than three weeks’ vacation to start (with longevity increases)
• access to and financial support of professional development
• demonstrated commitment to work/life balance

What This Job Offers

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