Salary Range: $101,953 - $136,626 annually
The City of Huntington Beach is located in northwestern Orange County, 35 miles southeast of Los Angeles and 90 miles northwest of San Diego. With a population of about 202,265 residents, Huntington Beach is the fourth largest city in Orange County and the 24th largest city in California. Known as “Surf City,” Huntington Beach features nearly 8.5 miles of spectacular beaches and one of the largest recreational piers in the world. The City is home to a thriving beach community and is consistently named as one of the top ten beaches in California. The City hosts an annual visitor population of over 11 million people, featuring numerous large-scale special events, surf competitions, and festivals. Even with its swell of summer visitors, Huntington Beach has been listed for decades as among the FBI's safest cities in the nation. In 2021, WalletHub ranked Huntington Beach as the best-run city in California. The City is supported by nearly 1,500 employees and has a General Fund budget of $285 million (total budget $508 million).
While Huntington Beach is no stranger to front-page news, it’s really what’s happening behind the scenes that makes the City a fantastic place to live, work, and visit. Huntington Beach has emerged as a regional leader in the development of innovative services, like the City’s Be Well mobile crisis response program, increasing beach access by rolling out innovative, ADA accessible Mobi-Mats, and providing a comprehensive homeless system of care including a 174 bed homeless navigation center.
Here in Huntington Beach, we believe passionately that the key to becoming the best beach City in the world starts and ends with finding the right people to join our team. At this time, we have an outstanding career opportunity available, as we're looking for the "right person" to serve as Economic Development Project Manager with the Community Development Department.
Community Development Department
The Community Development Department is comprised of two primary areas: Development Services and Community Enhancement. Development Services is comprised of the following divisions: Planning, Building and Safety and the Permit Center. Community Enhancement is comprised of the Housing, Code Enforcement and Economic Development divisions. Economic Development activities include business development efforts via Business Retention, Expansion and Attraction programs which strive to grow the local tax base, create jobs, and generate wealth by which community benefits are derived. The Division acts as liaison with the Chamber of Commerce, Visit Huntington Beach, the Downtown Business Improvement District (BID), Golden West College, local lenders, the Small Business Development Center, the Orange County Business Council, and the Workforce Investment Board. These strategic partnerships allow the City to leverage resources and relationships to provide businesses the support to grow and expand. The Division also helps to manage the leasing of certain City real estate assets, including the Pier, and works to attract investment.
The Position
The Economic Development Project Manager develops and implements strategies and activities for business attraction and retention, local economic development, and regulatory efficiency. Interfaces with the downtown business improvement district, the destination marketing organization, the Chamber of Commerce, developers, brokers, outside agencies, City departments, and elected officials to implement the City’s economic development strategy from concept to completion. Additional functions may include managing a portion of the City’s real property portfolio to maximize economic value and community benefit, managing assets and obligations of the City’s former Redevelopment Agency, and performing a wide variety of related professional level administrative and analytical duties.
Examples of Essential Duties
- Assumes responsibility for services and activities of assigned programs within the City’s Economic Development Division which includes creating and implementing business attraction, retention, and expansion strategies
- Organizes, coordinates, and/or manages assigned projects or programs in coordination with departments and outside agencies, including the Huntington Beach Downtown Business Improvement District, Visit Huntington Beach and Chamber of Commerce
- Collects, compiles, and analyzes economic and demographic data using research and real estate gathering tools and responds to broker, developer, and site selection requests including conducting research on business inquiries
- Engages and communicates on a regular basis with key stakeholders in the busincommunity, developers, brokers, and outside agencies and organizations
- Provides direct assistance to businesses, coordinates business visits and conducts outreach with individuals, groups, and organizations to ensure maximum citizen participation in the planning and execution of economic development activities
Minimum Qualifications
Education: Equivalent to a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university with major course work in public or business administration, economic development, planning or a related field. An advanced degree in a related field is preferred.
Experience: Four (4) years of progressively responsible professional experience in the economic development field or a closely related field.
Licenses and/or Certifications: Possession of a valid California Class C driver license and an acceptable driving record are required by time of appointment and during course of employment
APPLICATION AND SELECTION PROCESS:
- Application Review - Apply online here. Please attach to your online application a copy of a staff report that you drafted pertaining to economic development topics.
- Examination(s) - Applicants who BEST meet the City's needs will be invited to a virtual oral exam (weighted 100%), tentatively scheduled for March 20, 2024.
- Selection Interview
- Background Investigation - Upon conditional offer of employment a pre-placement medical evaluation, drug screen (select positions), TB screening, Livescan fingerprinting and/or other related background investigations must be completed with acceptable results.
- Appointment