Planning Associate

Job Description

Job Description

Description

Alta Planning + Design seeks a Planning Associate for our Los Angeles office. This senior-level position is a great opportunity for someone who believes in the importance of active, multimodal, and sustainable transportation and who is interested in growing their career as a transportation planner professional.

If you are looking to join an innovative organization and do work that connects people to places while advancing social justice, safety, and environmental resilience, apply with Alta today!

About Alta

Alta Planning + Design is an active transportation company dedicated to creating active, healthy communities through planning, landscape architecture, engineering, and education / encouragement programs.

Alta was founded in 1996 when cities and communities were calling for safer streets for people walking and bicycling as the non-motorized transportation movement developed into a profession in the United States.

We pioneered the field of active transportation, evolving our planning and design work into a visionary global practice that empowers people to live active, healthy lives and getting them to where they need to go.

Our core values and work bring about positive change by creating places that are geared toward moving people rather than cars, connecting community members to daily needs and human experience, and empowering every person to live an active healthy life.

As a global leader in mobility innovation for over 26 years with over 200 staff, we are dedicated to connecting people to places by working across disciplines and scale to address social justice, safety, and environmental resilience

Day to Day

In this role, you’ll have the opportunity to lead and directly influence a wide variety of active, multimodal, and sustainable transportation projects including on-street designs, trail planning and design, planning reports, and sustainable transportation best practices.

You will engage residents, attend site visits and charettes, identify and communicate design opportunities and trade-offs, lead the assembly of design reports, and work closely with design guidelines and complete street projects.

You will have the opportunity to work with and learn from an interdisciplinary team of dedicated professionals from across the company who have pioneered active transportation in the US, and have contributed to national best practices around facility design.

An understanding and knowledge of Alta, its culture and services, the ability to collaborate across discipline boundaries and deliver solutions that meet client expectations in a cost-effective manner are required in order to successfully meet the requirements of this position.

The essential priorities of this exempt, salaried position are to :

• Nurture and grow client and industry partner relationships and secure work in support of Alta’s growth goals.
• Enhance Alta’s reputation as a trusted advisor and expert by educating clients and other relevant parties and supporting solutions that will meet their business objectives.
• Appropriately manage large, complex projects in a budget-conscious and time-sensitive manner.
• Manage potentially large groups of staff.

Qualifications

Required

This position requires a combination of skills, experience and education including, but not limited to

• Bachelor’s degree in Planning or a related field of study.
• 6+ years of experience in a consulting environment or public entity; 3+ years as a project manager; 3+ years managing staff
• Experience in the field of active, non-motorized transportation.
• Demonstrated understanding of the planning process and a general understanding of project management principles, methods and techniques.
• Ability to guide staff members and manage internal team expectations.
• Exhibits strong initiative and ability to capitalize on opportunities to enhance Alta’s position in the marketplace.
• Ability to manage competing priorities, and multiple simultaneous projects involving cross-functional project teams within budgetary and schedule constraints.
• Strong initiative and the ability to work independently with little or no supervision.
• Ability and willingness to travel.
• Excellent professional ethics, leadership skills, accountability, and decision-making capabilities.
• Excellent interpersonal, written, and verbal communication and analytic skills.
• Good presentation skills.
• Proficient in MS Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, Arc GIS, or similar products and Google Workspace Apps.
• Proficiency in an enterprise-wide resource planning and project management tool.

There are a number of additional skills, experience, and education that would be beneficial to this position including, but not limited to :

• Master’s Degree in Urban Planning or similar field
• Expertise and experience in the field of New Mobility
• Experience managing large projects for both private and public clients.
• Experience writing and / or presenting white papers and / or providing expert level presentations at conferences and other events promoting the field of sustainable infrastructure and active, non-motorized transportation.
• Experience using Deltek Vision.
• Experience using Spatial Analyst, Network Analyst.
• Active participation in industry-relevant professional associations and committees.
• AICP Certification.

What We Offer

Flexible Schedule

Alta offers a flexible, hybrid work schedule where most employees work from home three days per week. In-office days support our collaborative culture, one of our core values.

The office is located in downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) right across from the 7th Street / Metro Center Station. We are about a 1.

8-mile (14-minute) bike ride to Union Station, which is also accessible by the underground light rail system from the 7th Street / Metro Center.

Pershing Square is within walking distance of the office, as are Whole Foods and plenty of nearby shops at the Bloc and FIGat7th shopping plazas.

Compensation

The pay range for this job in Los Angeles is $90,000-$115,000 annually. Placement within the range is based upon experience, skill-sets, and qualifications.

Benefits

Alta offers comprehensive benefits to all full-time employees :

• Medical : PPO or HSA medical plans
• Dental / Vision : PPO
• Life Insurance : Alta pays 100% of the premium for life and AD&D, equal to your base compensation
• 401(k) : Alta provides a match up to 3%
• PTO : 21 days accrued annually to start
• Holidays : 11 total company paid holidays
• Paid Parental Leave / Short-Term Disability
• Additional Benefits : Wellness reimbursement up to $800 annually, Alta Gets Around benefit of up to $900 annually, 5-year travel award, and professional development opportunities
• The following statements pertain to US Candidates Only*
30+ days ago