The Senior Associate Urban Planner role sits within the Urban Planning of the Urbanism + Planning practice line and leads the implementation of strategy for teams or units within a business, function or geographic operation, including projects and achievement of result
The position requires to lead, develop and produce quality product and implement practice plans and project requirements and will develop and implement a business development plan and marketing activities to cultivate a presence and client base in the market and secure future planning and design projects for the practice
Responsibilities
Manages and delivers high value complex multi-disciplinary projects with project management skills, working directly with the Associate Director and Director levelsLeads showcase complex proposals and ensures high quality output including innovative ways to presentIndependently manages client expectations and deliverables to ensure alignment with contracted scopes by leading client and project meetings, articulating and defending the work undertaken
Ability to operate as a technical lead for multiple projects at various scale of master planning projects with a sound understanding of all relevant planning workstreams
Provide specific technical expertise in spatial planning, regional planning, developing governance and implementation strategiesHas strong capabilities to coordinate, challenge, and manage multiple disciplines for complex projects and communicate project objectives/deliverables to drive the best outcome
Has strong people management skills and provides professional urban/environmental planning mentorship/guidance to junior staff members
Seeks out ways to improve planning/environmental analysis processes and ensures critical thinking is conducted throughout the planning team
Has excellent written and presentation skills in English/Arabic (preferred) with an ability to coordinate and develop a deliverable (report) as well as create a presentation and summary to support the deliverable
Leads more than one specialty topic / interests in urban planning eg, wellness planning / placemaking
Strong understanding of planning / environmental governance and policy and can communicate planning / environmental governance and policy and make recommendations to clients where relevant
Can structure and manage tailored planning guidelines and controls as per client requirements
Strong ability to communicate differences between planning stages and drive outcomes of report structure and content
Communicates and coordinates with clients and project teams to enable creation of project briefs to set out project objectives
Prepare and deliver presentations to clients and government (approving agencies) to advance approvals of development, Master Plans, Development Guidelines and policies
Liaise with government agencies and other authorities as may be required regarding development objectives, policies and procedures
Requirements
Bachelors Degree in Urban Planning, Design, or Town Planning
Masters in one of these disciplines would be preferred
RTPI (or any other planning association membership) would be advantageous
14+ years experience in the Urban Planning field, candidates would ideally have worked on government and private sector projects
Management experience is required as the successful candidate would lead a multi-disciplinary team
Expertise in providing technical guidance for developing regional plans, city or national spatial strategies, comprehensive city plans and governance and implementation frameworks and action plans
Exceptional experience in preparing high-quality, multi-disciplinary written and illustrative planning principles, concepts, strategies, controls and guidelines
Strong ability to write, refine and deliver final reports with regard to planning, urban design and development projects
Ability to structure, lead and participate in planning, urban design and development workshops as required
Ability to lead and manage complex, multi-disciplinary projects to successful delivery of outcomes within budget and programme