Three to five years of relevant experience in economic development, real estate, urban planning, or consulting.
Demonstrated project management experience, including managing budgets and project finances and leading team members to meet timelines and complete deliverables.
Client relationship experience and a track record of building trust across clients, partner firms, government agencies, and community members.
Experience in community economic development, workforce development, placemaking, and stakeholder engagement.
Familiarity with analytical methods in economic and workforce analysis and/or real estate feasibility, with fluency in some methods and aptitude to learn others.
Working knowledge of foundational real estate concepts, such as pro formas and sources and uses of funding.
Familiarity with socioeconomic and market data sources and platforms, such as Census data, IMPLAN, and CoStar.
Strong writing ability, including turning complex technical information into clear, compelling, layperson-friendly communication.
Experience overseeing graphic design and data visualization, with proficiency in tools such as Adobe Creative Suite, PowerPoint, and Google Workspace.
An entrepreneurial orientation and interest in working in a maturing startup environment.
Curiosity about planning issues and a demonstrated commitment to applying an equity lens to the work.
Openness and appetite to learn, including interest in other kinds of work across the firm such as community engagement, strategic planning, climate resiliency, and other sectors and verticals.
Responsibilities
Manage full project life cycles, including schedules, work plans, staffing, team workflows, and quality assurance and quality control across concurrent workstreams.
Align project schedules and delivery timelines with the client's point of contact.
Estimate the time and resources needed to deliver tasks and coordinate resources to support high-quality deliverables.
Oversee project administration, shared file systems, documentation, and regular reporting to Directors and Principals.
Use firm project management systems and tools and contribute to improving them and related processes across the firm.
Own project budgets and manage them toward project and firm financial goals.
Maintain project financial tracking and invoicing, and report financial status to Project and Firm Leadership.
Use financial data to inform project strategy and contribute to project and firm-wide staffing decisions.
Serve as the primary day-to-day contact for clients and partner firms, building trust through responsive, relationship-minded communication.
Facilitate client meetings, stakeholder interviews, steering committee meetings, workshops, and public community engagement.
Plan and execute stakeholder engagement strategy across government agencies, community members, local businesses, and other partners.
Synthesize stakeholder input to shape projects.
Oversee quantitative and qualitative analysis across economic, workforce, market, policy, and real estate topics, including economic impact analyses, socioeconomic and market analyses, and financial feasibility work.
Review and validate models, including pro formas and economic impact analyses, and quality-check deliverables before they go to the Project Director.
Synthesize multi-source data into strategic findings and integrate them with partner work as needed.
Communicate findings and recommendations in writing and in person, tailoring messages for audiences ranging from agency leadership and developers to community members and local business owners.
Author complete client deliverables, including reports, executive summaries, memos, and strategic recommendations, with a clear evidence-to-action storyline.
Oversee infographics, data visualizations, maps, and decks that translate technical findings for non-technical audiences, from meeting agendas to investor presentations.
Present findings to clients and external stakeholders with clarity and sound judgment.
Coach and manage team members through project delivery and remain responsive to their needs.
Uphold a culture of collaboration, continuous learning, and feedback.
Step into a people-management role with support and training from the firm.
Lead responses to Requests for Proposals and Requests for Qualifications, including scoping project approaches and preparing project fee proposals.
Identify add-on opportunities with existing clients.
Travel as required by project and firm needs.
Desired Qualifications
Multilingual written and oral skills for work with diverse communities.
Experience working with traditionally underserved populations.
About the Role
Karp Strategies is hiring an Associate / Project Manager to lead delivery on projects ranging from real estate and market analysis, workforce development, economic impact analyses, and community engagement, spanning sectors, size, and geographies.
This is a managing-and-doing role. You will own project schedules, budget, and team workflows, serve as the day-to-day contact for our Prime firm and client, and work with the project team to turn analysis into strategy and recommendations. You will work closely with Project Directors and Principals, who set strategy and methodology, and with Analysts, whose work you will guide and validate before it reaches leadership.
The ideal candidate is excited by the intersection of economic development, real estate, urban planning, and management consulting. You will thrive here if you enjoy a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment, are comfortable learning as you go, and want to be hands-on in shaping the work.
How to apply:
Submit a resume, cover letter, and a work sample demonstrating your work against the skills outlined for this role in PDF format. Only complete applications will be considered.
A Note on our hiring practices: To keep unbiased and equitable hiring practices, we use a blind applicant system. Our team members are unable to have informal discussions around openings during the hiring process to maintain our equity approach.
Project Delivery & Administration
Manage full project life cycles: schedules, work plans, staffing, team workflows, and QA/QC across concurrent workstreams.
Work with the client's point of contact to align on project schedule and delivery timelines.
Estimate the time and resources required to successfully deliver a task and make sure the team has these reserved. Coordinate the many moving pieces behind high-quality deliverables.
Oversee project administration, shared file systems, documentation, and regular reporting to Directors and Principals.
Utilize firm project management systems and tools in your day-to-day work. Contribute to improving these systems and processes across the firm.
Project Financials
Own the project budget and manage it toward project and firm financial goals.
Maintain project financial tracking and invoicing, and report financial status to Project and Firm Leadership.
Use financial data to inform project strategy and contribute to project and firm-wide staffing decisions.
Client and Stakeholder Relationships
Serve as the primary day-to-day contact for the client and partner firms, building trust through responsive, relationship-minded communication.
Facilitate client meetings, stakeholder interviews, steering committee meetings, workshops, and public community engagement.
Plan and execute stakeholder engagement strategy across government agencies, community members, local businesses, and other partners.
Synthesize stakeholder input to shape the project.
Analysis, Synthesis, and Recommendations
Oversee quantitative and qualitative analysis across economic, workforce, market, policy, and real estate topics, including economic impact analyses, socioeconomic and market analyses, and financial feasibility work.
Review and validate models (such as pro formas and economic impact analyses) and QA/QC deliverables before they go to the Project Director.
Synthesize multi-source data into strategic findings, and integrate them with partner work as needed.
Communicate findings and recommendations clearly and persuasively, in writing and in person, tailoring the message to each audience, from agency leadership and developers to community members and local business owners.
Author complete client deliverables: reports, executive summaries, memos, and strategic recommendations, with a clear storyline that leads from evidence to action.
Oversee infographics, data visualizations, maps, and decks that translate technical findings for non-technical audiences, from meeting agendas to investor presentations.
Present confidently to clients and external stakeholders with clarity and sound judgment.
Team leadership
Coach and manage team members through project delivery, and remain responsive to their needs.
Uphold our culture of collaboration, continuous learning, and feedback.
Step into a people-management role, with support and training from the firm.
Business development
Lead proposal responses to RFPs and RFQs, including scoping project approaches and preparing project fee proposals.
Identify add-on opportunities with existing clients.
Travel: Some travel may be required from time-to-time based on project and firm needs.
We know great candidates come from many paths. If you meet most of these and are excited by the work, we encourage you to apply.
3–5 years of relevant experience in economic development, real estate, urban planning, or consulting.
Demonstrated project management experience, including managing budgets and project finances and leading team members to meet timelines and complete deliverables.
Client relationship experience and a track record of building trust across varied stakeholders, such as clients, partner firms, government agencies, and community members.
Experience in community economic development, workforce development, placemaking, and stakeholder engagement.
Familiarity with analytical methods in economic and workforce analysis and/or real estate feasibility. We are looking for fluency in some of these with a clear aptitude to learn and deepen your skills in newer concepts and methods.
Working knowledge of foundational real estate concepts, such as pro formas and sources and uses of funding.
Familiarity with socioeconomic and market data sources and platforms, such as Census data, IMPLAN, and CoStar.
Strong writing is a must. You can turn complex technical information into clear, compelling, layperson-friendly communication.
Experience overseeing graphic design and data visualization, with proficiency in tools such as Adobe Creative Suite, PowerPoint, and Google Workspace.
An entrepreneurial orientation and excitement about working in a maturing startup environment.
Deep curiosity about planning issues and a demonstrated commitment to applying an equity lens to this work.
Openness and appetite to learn, including interest in other kinds of work across the firm such as community engagement, strategic planning, climate resiliency, and other sectors and verticals.
We also highly regard:
Multilingual written and oral skills, given our work with diverse communities.
Experience working with traditionally underserved populations.