POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT

Restoration Project Manager

Hours: Hourly, minimum 30 hours a week during spring, summer and fall

Reports To: Executive Director

Location: Center for Urban Habitats, Charlottesville, Virginia

Pay: Starts at $40/hour

Deadline: Open until filled. Please apply by sending a cover letter, CV, and portfolio to centerforurbanhabitats@gmail.com if you are interested in this position.

Join Center for Urban Habitats (Future Piedmont Discovery Center) as the lead project manager for restoration and conservation projects and help restore regenerative indigenous landscapes that will increase local native biodiversity on public and private lands in the Piedmont region of Virginia and beyond. This is an opportunity to fill a vital role in the success of our education and conservation mission while working to restore natural processes, natural communities, and biodiversity in the most heavily populated region in North America.

POSITION DESCRIPTION

Our small but thriving company is looking for a leader as we transition from for-profit operation to a non-profit, education and ecological services-based organization. This is an ideal opportunity for someone with experience and passion for restoration ecology and landscape architecture to work creatively in the fields of biodiversity stewardship, ecological restoration, and public education.

RESPONSIBILITIES

  • Manage 6 overarching functions of our Ecological Restoration Projects : Project Initiation, Project Planning, Project Execution, Project Monitoring and Control, Project Closure, Foster Healthy Long-term Relationships with Land and Client)
  • Lead a team of technicians to accomplish landscape restorations on multiple scales, from small residential lawn-to-prairie conversions, to multi-acre ecosystem restorations
  • Collaborate landscape design renderings and plans within tight budgets for commercial, residential, and public clients to serve as visualization for scope of work
  • Implement land and biological analyses that generate place-based information and language for design, and remain committed to learning new things as will be required within an evolving assessment, design, and stewardship methodology (natural plant community trajectory assessment and restorative+regenerative practices)
  • Demonstrate thoughtful and professional communication as a point of contact for existing and potential clients
  • Prepare itemized estimates for landscape restoration and installation projects, and maintenance agreements. Coordinate with staff regarding scheduling, plant/material ordering, installation performance and client satisfaction
  • Foster strong community connections and generate new sales and projects, helping ensure long-term success
  • Conduct consultations, sales, and correspondences with commercial and residential public and private clients for potential natural and cultural assessments, master planning, and landscape design
  • Develop internal guidelines, descriptions, best management practices, and templates for methods, forms, contracts, and management strategies
  • Hire and train assistants, field technicians, researchers, temp contractors, and designers, as needed
  • Engage creatively through social media platforms on a daily basis to keep our audience up to speed on our work, engaged, and inspired, and contribute department reports and summaries to the organization’s newsletter
  • Further a healthy, inclusive, and communicative work environment
  • Interface comfortably with the public with the complex and integrated topics of ecological and cultural restoration through education and action
  • Document projects, including processes and outcomes so that portfolio pieces may be generated, and so that before/after conditions may be reviewed

OUR IDEAL CANDIDATE

  • Loyal and committed to the success of the organization long-term
  • Fosters a creative philanthropic ethic in staff, a scientific ethic, and high standards for quality in the work setting. This position has the potential to drive the organization’s primary profit center while accomplishing our most meaningful work
  • Will quickly find their place within our mission, within an adaptive and agile business model, while providing a level of creativity, expertise, and efficacy that propels our work
  • Is a synthesist that can envision successful solutions and create the action, persistence, and continuity needed to implement them across several years
  • Excellent communication and client interaction skills
  • Technically competent and experienced with both ecological community phenomena and intensive humanscape/hardscape integration design (restorative macroscapes that nurture natural communities within healthy living spaces)
  • Self-motivated with the ability to problem solve and lead; must lead by example in the field.
  • Strong writing, communication, and presentation skills
  • Works well with others and has experience and comfort managing staff
  • Knowledge of geological and ecological principles, and ability to learn quickly on a local level
  • Knowledge of Piedmont Ecoregion natural plant communities
  • Play a critical role within our creative, non-profit founding environment to contribute to building a world-class institution that can have a broad positive impact and maximize its mission. This may require the drafting and review of policy documents, attending meetings, trips to study model organizations, creating and delivering presentations focused on capacity building, organizational philanthropy, and conveyance of vision, methods, and services.

REQUIREMENTS

  • A Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture, Restoration Ecology, or comparable field and/or several years of experience with a similar company managing ecological design, and restoration in rural and urban spaces
  • Hand drafting and graphic design skills
  • Ability to work creatively to transition and improve current design formats and frameworks to meet industry standards
  • Ability to travel to remote job sites, commute-hike, and conduct full days of fieldwork, including ecological assessments and landscaping
  • Ability to carry equipment, tools, and supplies weighing up to 50 pounds is required.
  • Ability to bend and stoop on a continual basis while working outside in inclement weather conditions
  • Ability to work comfortably around bees, poison ivy, pollen, thorns and other environmental risks while maintaining quality and efficiency

BENEFITS:

  • 5 paid days off during first year of employment and generous compensation time policy
  • Work schedule flexibility
  • Room for position to increase in hours and pay, with benefits, depending upon capacity and proficiency
  • Competitive pay

Please submit your resume, cover letter, and a design portfolio directly through our website.

Learn more about CUH here. We are an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, age, pregnancy, disability, work-related injury, covered veteran status, political ideology, marital status, or any other factor that the law protects from employment discrimination.