Senior Investment Associate @ Culdesac

Who We Are

Culdesac is a real estate developer and neighborhood manager of walkable, mixed-use communities designed to embrace a culture of belonging, transportation freedom, and thriving local businesses. We built Culdesac Tempe, the first car-free community built from scratch in the US. Located directly on the light rail in Tempe, Arizona, it is already home to over 350 residents and 23 local businesses, and it will have 1000+ residents at completion. Culdesac is the co-developer and tech-enabled property manager.

Learn more about our vision, our product, and how we are changing how people live, work, and move:

Watch An immersive look at life in our car-free neighborhood by Hard Reset

Read Living Car-free in Arizona, on Purpose and Happily by The New York Times

Read America's "First Car-Free Neighborhood" by Dwell

Watch Blueprint for Environmentally Friendly, Car-Free Living on PBS NewsHour

Listen to the conversation about designed environments to improve healthspan, mobility, and positive habits - Ryan Johnson and hall-of-fame basketball player Steve Nash on the Good Traffic podcast

We’re headquartered in Tempe, AZ, founded in 2018. CEO Ryan Johnson was on the founding team of Opendoor and has managed property since 2003. Our investors include Khosla Ventures (led OpenAI’s seed round), Lennar (#2 U.S. homebuilder), Zigg Capital, and Y Combinator.

The Role

As a Senior Investment Associate at Culdesac, you will help drive data-driven decisions by maintaining and expanding our financial infrastructure and investment processes as we scale. You will play a key role in our real estate strategy, supporting the analysis of existing and potential locations, as well as related outreach, design, and planning. You will report to the Chief Investment Officer, while also working closely with our CEO, cross-functional teams, investment partners, lenders, and other key stakeholders.

The Requirements

While this list represents what we are ideally looking for, we encourage you to apply even if your resume includes strengths and experiences that don’t match everything listed here. We expect most candidates will need at least 4-6 years of relevant experience to fulfill this position.

Investment Analysis & Deal Structuring

Conduct due diligence on land acquisition opportunities.

Build and maintain custom pro forma underwriting models.

Evaluate financing alternatives and understand what “makes a deal work.”

Lead a deal from cradle to grave.

Financial Planning & Reporting

Organize the preparation and review of quarterly financial statements, annual budgets, and forecasts.

Review market analyses, real estate tax forecasts, and disposition strategies.

Prepare and review recurring investor, partner, and lender reports.

Support the creation of quarterly board documents, presentations, and pitch decks for Culdesac projects and local stakeholders.

Operations & Asset Management

Monitor cash flow, distributions, and returns of existing projects.

Ensure adherence to operating and capital budgets, surface variances, and communicate risks.

Ensure assets operate in line with management agreements, JV agreements, and loan documents.

Execution & Problem Solving

Manage critical timelines and deadlines for transactions and capital raises.

Identify and proactively resolve issues that could affect closing or capital flow.

Transactions & Legal

Review legal documents.

Work with counsel to negotiate key deal terms.

Support transaction closings, including the title process.

Build familiarity with zoning and entitlement processes.

Locations

We are headquartered in Tempe, AZ. We encourage employees to visit and work from our beautiful Tempe office. For this role, we prefer candidates based in Phoenix, AZ or Dallas, TX, though we will consider qualified U.S.-based remote applicants.

Benefits & Perks

🏥 Benefits Package – Options for medical, dental, and vision coverage.

🥚 Family Planning Benefits – Support for family planning resources and services.

🐣 Parental Leave – Up to 12 weeks paid time off for qualifying events.

🏦 401K Savings Plan – Retirement savings plan available to employees.

🖥️ Work From Home Stipend – Up to $500 for equipment paid by the company.

🌎 Co-Working Stipend – $100 per month, paid by Culdesac, for space intended for work productivity directly related to Culdesac business (e.g., co-working day pass). Remote employees only.

🚲 Mobility Stipend – Up to $500 to invest in your personal micro-mobility setup (e.g., e-bike, e-scooter, or accessories).

🛴 Car-Free Commuter Benefit – $200 per month, paid by Culdesac. Tempe employees only.

🏡 On-Site Living Discount – 25% discount on base rent for one unit at a Culdesac-managed property.

Our Values

As sprawl became commonplace in our cities, we grew less connected to each other. We normalized hour-long commutes, even as private vehicle ownership became the largest source of carbon pollution. Cars and roads began to dictate development decisions and shape urban life. At Culdesac, we blend technology, real estate, and culture to reimagine daily living. Come help us make our residents happier, healthier, and more productive — both in the years they spend with us and in the moments they share together.

At Culdesac, we:

Work as a team

Be inclusive, drawing on the strengths of people who bring a different perspective.

Find ways to work together that overcome disciplinary and geographic separations.

Act from ownership

Be output oriented. When we see a problem, we roll up our sleeves and fix it.

Don’t let blockers stop you from seeing your work through to the end.

Rule 0, then iterate

Don’t start from scratch: learn from our own and others’ previous attempts.

Before mass private car ownership, all cities were models of walkability. We learn from the designs of the past and make them beautiful and relevant to today.

Then, we learn from our own designs to continually improve.

Design for humans

Ask people for feedback and observe behavior. Only users know if we’re creating value for them.

Human paradoxes and contradictions are our opportunity to create joy.

Respect the limits of what we can know and plan. In the complex organism of a city, emergent behavior rules.

Create and capture value

Focus on what our residents value: profitability is essential for sustainability and allows us to scale.

Great places create positive externalities for ourselves and our neighbors, unlike the negative externalities of cars.

We build value by executing on the fundamentals and excelling at mobility, community, and open space.

Next Steps

If you think Culdesac might be a good fit, we encourage you to apply!

Here’s our typical hiring process:

1. Recruiter Call (20 min) – Introductory conversation to learn more about you, your background, and logistics.

2. Take-Home Assignment (2.5 hrs) – A practical exercise to showcase your skills.

3. Finance Interview (30 min) – Deep dive with our Finance Leader into your professional experience and approach.

4. CIO Interview (30 min) – Scenario-based conversation with our Chief Investment Officer.

5. Culture & People Interview (30 min) – A discussion with our Head of People focused on alignment with Culdesac’s mission, vision, and culture.

6. CEO Interview (30 min) – A strategic conversation with our CEO on Culdesac’s future vision, challenges, and opportunities, and how you can help shape them.

We build in time for your questions at every stage because finding the right fit matters — for you and for us at Culdesac. We look forward to hearing from you!

Culdesac is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, citizenship or immigration status, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

Senior Investment Associate

Culdesac

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