Planner - Planning and Policy

Planner - Planning and Policy

Salary

$61,143.00 - $76,756.00 Annually

Location

City Hall, 900 East Broad Street, Richmond, VA

Job Type

Full-Time

Job Number

05M00000NEW

Department

Planning and Development Review

Opening Date

08/10/2026

Closing Date

8/24/2026 11:59 PM Eastern

• Description
• Benefits
• Questions

Are you Richmond R.E.A.D.Y? Respect. Equity. Accountability. Diversity…YOU!!!

This is an EXCITING time to Join the City of Richmond! We are committed to nurturing talent, fostering growth opportunities, and building strong connections within our workforce. As we continue to make strides to becoming the employer of choice, we are thrilled about the below employee benefit enhancements:

• Virginia Retirement System (VRS)
• Language Incentive
• Referral Bonus
• Tuition Assistance Program

Description

Journey-level planning position; with a balanced level of independence, judgement, and discretion; responsible for overseeing completing complex tasks and small-to-medium sized projects that shape land use and development in the City of Richmond; requires a high level of responsibility, training, experience, and competence; work usually is performed under minimal supervision.

Duties include but are not limited to

DUTIES INCLUDE, BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO:

• Contribute to the dynamic team of Planning and Policy that work to create implement long-range plans.
• Develop neighborhood, district, corridor, and other small-area plans.
• Propose and adopt amendments to the zoning ordinance and associated codes that help implement these plans.
• Assist with the redevelopment of city-owned land via public-private partnerships.
• Participate in capital budget review to ensure alignment with master plan priorities.
• Prepare plans of work and assign tasks and projects.
• Prepare and administer scopes of work, budgets, contracts, and programmatic agreements.
• Prepare reports and present findings to boards, commissions, and Council.
• Organize and facilitate meetings and public engagement activities, including night and weekend meetings
• Compile and analyze data to create charts, graphs, maps, and other visualizations.
• Create publications, presentations, and content for website.
• Prepare, evaluate, and award requests for proposals.

SUPERVISION:

• Exercised: none
• Received: typically reports to a Planning Supervisor or Deputy Director
• Note: other reporting relationships may apply

Note:

• Class description is intended to represent only the key areas of responsibilities; specific position assignments will vary depending on the business needs of the department. The employee may perform other duties of a similar nature or level subject to the needs of the department.

Qualifications, Special Certifications and Licenses

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES:

KNOWLEDGE:

• General knowledge of principles, methods, and practices of land use planning and zoning, and how they affect each other.
• General knowledge of Euclidian, form-based, and hybrid approaches to zoning.
• Basic knowledge of state and local land use laws and zoning codes.
• General knowledge of pedestrian, bicycle, and transit transportation planning.
• General knowledge of principles, methods, and practices of economic development, affordable housing, historic preservation, urban design, environmental planning, and brownfields redevelopment.

SKILLS:

• Creating and implementing of comprehensive, long-range plans as well as neighborhood, district, corridor, and other small-area plans.
• Proposing and adopting changes to zoning ordinances and associated codes.
• Participating in planning efforts led by other departments. Reviewing the capital budget.
• Preparing plans of work and assigning tasks and projects
• Preparing and administering scopes of work and contracts.
• Preparing reports and presenting findings to boards, commissions, and Council. Organizing and facilitating meetings and public engagement activities.
• Compiling and analyzing data to create charts, graphs, maps, and other visualizations with ArcGIS, SketchUp, and Excel.
• Creating publications, presentations, and content for website with Adobe Acrobat, InDesign, Illustrator, or Photoshop, or Microsoft PowerPoint or Publisher.
• Preparing, evaluating, and awarding requests for proposals.

ABILITIES:

• Thrive in a fast-paced, high-stakes, large and diverse political environment and adapt and improvise as conditions change.
• Think critically, using logic and reason to identify solutions.
• Communicate clearly and concisely, both in writing and speech.
• Facilitate discussion and debate and exhibit excellent interpersonal communication in order to resolve conflicts.
• Maintain composure in stressful situations.
• Provide superior customer service and manage unhappy clients.

MINIMUM TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE:

• Bachelors degree in urban planning, civil or environmental engineering, landscape architecture, or a related field
• Three years of experience or an equivalent amount of graduate level training.
• An equivalent combination of training and experience (as approved by the department) may be used to meet the minimum qualifications of the classification

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• A Masters degree in urban planning, urban design, or landscape architecture
• Direct experience in the preparation of Small Area Plans and writing zoning ordinances
• Demonstrated experience working in current planning, zoning, and with boards and commissions
• Experience working in an urban environment, and engaging with diverse populations
• Excellent public presentation, leadership, time management and organizational skills
• Significant experience with code development, new urbanism and both downtown and neighborhood revitalization techniques
• Demonstrated experience in Arc-GIS, SketchUp, InDesign, Illustrator, and graphics packages
• Certified planner with AICP credentials.

Americans with Disabilities Act Requirements

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the job. Prospective and current employees are invited to discuss accommodations.

ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS: Working conditions may include exposure to travel to other locations within the City of Richmond as well as outside of the City of Richmond; exposure to hazardous physical conditions such as mechanical parts, electrical currents, vibrations, etc.; atmospheric conditions such as fumes, odors, dusts, gases, and poor ventilation; inadequate lighting; intense noise; and environmental hazards such as disruptive people, imminent danger, and a threatening environment.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS AND WORKING ENVIRONMENT: Due to the nature of work assignments, incumbents must be able to perform detailed work on multiple, concurrent tasks, with frequent interruptions and under time constraint. The essential duties of this classification may require the ability to regularly work with ones fingers, grasp, talk, hear, see, and use repetitive motions; frequently walk and reach; and occasionally stand, balance, stoop, kneel, crouch, reach, lift, push, and pull. In terms of the physical strength to perform the essential duties, this classification is considered to be light work, exerting up to 20 pounds of force occasionally, up to 10 pounds of force frequently, and a negligible amount of force constantly to move objects.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

The City of Richmond provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

The City of Richmond is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, the City of Richmond will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided with reasonable accommodations. If you require reasonable accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to participate in the job application and/or the interview process, please contact Veronica Kenner, by email at HR-ADA@rva.gov.

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruitment, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

The City of Richmond Values Veterans. We are an official V3 Certified Company.

The City of Richmond is a proud partner with the US Army Partnership for Your Success PaYS Program.

With over 4,000 employees, the City of Richmond is an "Employer of Choice" among cities throughout the nation. The City strives to hire and retain employees who bring dedication and talent to the workforce. Offering a competitive, cost effective, and quality benefits package is one element of an "Employer of Choice".

The City offers a full range of benefit programs from initial hire through retirement. Please visit our Web site for details.

01

10-point compensable veteran. You must have an existing compensable service-connected disability of 10 percent or more. Other 10-point veteran include disabled veteran or a veteran who was awarded the Purple Heart for wound or injuries received in action, veterans widow or widower who has not remarried, wife or husband of a veteran who has a service-connected disability, widowed, divorced or separated mother of an ex-service son or daughter who died in action, or who is totally and permanently disabled. Do any of these apply?

• Yes
• No

02

5-point veterans must have been discharged under honorable conditions and had one of the following: Active duty in the Armed Forces of the United States, in a war, or during the period 4/28/52-7/1/55 or active duty for more than 180 consecutive days other than for training, any part of which occurred during the period beginning 2/1/55 and 10/14/76 or active duty during the Gulf War sometime between 8/2/90 - 1/2/92 or active duty in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized or active duty for which more than 180 consecutive days other than for training, any part of which occurred during the period beginning 9/11/2001 and ending on the date prescribed by the Presidential proclamation or by the law as the last date of operation Iraqi Freedom. Do any of these apply?

• Yes
• No

03

Do you have a Bachelors Degree in urban planning, architecture, landscape architecture, civil or environmental engineering, or a related field?

• Yes
• No

04

What is the highest level of education you have completed?

• Bachelors Degree
• Masters Degree
• Ph.D.
• Other advanced degree

05

Do you have at least two years of related experience or one year of related experience and an advanced degree?

• Yes
• No

06

How many years of experience do you have working in land use planning, zoning, or similar field?

• Less than 2 years of experience
• Two to three years of experience
• Four to five years of experience
• Six or more years of experience

07

How many years of experience do you have working in local government in an urban setting?

• Less than two years of experience
• Two to three years of experience
• Four to five years of experience
• Six or more years of experience

08

How many years of experience do you have supporting boards and commissions?

• Less than two years of experience
• Two to three years of experience
• Four to five years of experience
• Six or more years of experience

09

What best describes your knowledge of principles, methods, and practices of land use planning?

• No knowledge
• Basic knowledge
• Intermediate knowledge
• Advanced knowledge

10

What best describes your knowledge of Euclidian, form-based, and hybrid approaches to zoning?

• No knowledge
• Basic knowledge
• Intermediate knowledge
• Advanced knowledge

11

What best describes your skill level for collecting, analyzing, and visualizing data?

• No skills
• Basis skills
• Intermediate skills
• Advanced skills

12

What best describes your skill level for organizing and facilitating meetings and public engagement activities?

• No skills
• Basic skills
• Intermediate skills
• Advanced skills

13

What best describes your skill level for developing conceptual plans, diagrams, sketches, and renderings?

• No skills
• Basic skills
• Intermediate skills
• Advanced skills

14

What best describes your ability to communicate clearly and concisely, both in writing and speech?

• No ability
• Basic ability
• Intermediate ability
• Advanced ability

15

What best describes your ability to facilitate discussion and debate and resolve conflicts?

• No ability
• Basic ability
• Intermediate ability
• Advanced ability

16

How does, and how should, the community shape land use planning?

17

Why are you the best candidate for this position?

Required Question

Employer City of Richmond

Address 900 East Broad Street

Suite

Richmond, Virginia, 23219

Phone (804) 646-5660

804-646-5660

Website https://www.rva.gov/