Development Services Director

Bellevue, Washington; Bellevue (WA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Health care benefits

Excellent pension/retirement options

Job summary

The City of Bellevue seeks an experienced, collaborative leader to serve as Director of Development Services. This role provides strategic direction, oversight for land use, permitting, code development, and policy.

You will lead an enterprise-level team, drive continuous improvement, coach staff, and ensure high-quality, customer-focused services while aligning with Bellevue’s growth and community priorities.

Qualifications

• Graduation from a four-year college or university with a degree in urban planning, architecture, engineering, or closely related field.
• Ten or more years of progressively responsible experience in administration and supervision of a planning or development services department or related government role.
• Ability to simplify and streamline development processes and deliver high-quality customer service.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic and policy direction to the Development Services Department.
• Lead the department’s management team and respond to citywide issues.
• Manage day-to-day department administration, including budget and labor relations.
• Set expectations, provide feedback, and evaluate performance to meet goals.
• Recruit and retain qualified staff while ensuring compliance with laws.
• Develop and monitor short- and long-range strategic plans for department goals.
• Serve as an enterprise leader on the city’s senior leadership team.

Skills

Leadership through others

Enterprise leadership

Self-awareness

Trust and integrity

Conflict management

Talent development

Education

Bachelor degree in urban planning, architecture, engineering, or related field

Job description

The City of Bellevue is seeking an experienced, collaborative, and forward-thinking leader to serve as its Director of Development Services.

The Director provides leadership, strategic direction, and general oversight for the Development Services Department, including land use entitlement, building permitting and inspection, code compliance, business services, policy, and code development. Working through and alongside division leaders, the Director establishes priorities, implements policies and processes, makes key administrative and program management decisions, and develops long-range strategies that support the City’s growth and development.

A key part of the role is providing strong organizational leadership, building a cohesive management team, coaching and developing leaders and staff, encouraging collaboration across divisions and departments, advancing continuous improvement and innovation, and ensuring high-quality, customer-focused services. The Director also serves as an enterprise leader and member of the City’s senior leadership team, contributing to broader citywide priorities and organizational decision-making.

Bellevue is a growing, diverse, and economically vibrant community known for its strong neighborhoods, thriving business environment, natural beauty, and commitment to thoughtful growth. The city is recognized for its focus on innovation, collaboration, excellent public service, and preparing for the needs of a changing community.

This position offers an opportunity to lead a complex and highly visible department while helping shape how Bellevue grows and delivers development services for residents, businesses, and the broader community.

• Provides strategic and policy direction to the Department
• Organizes and leads the department’s management team in responding to department and citywide issues.
• Manages the day-to-day administration of the department, including the budget, employee/ labor relations issues, and customer requests.
• Leads through the department’s management team by setting clear expectations, providing timely feedback, and evaluating performance to achieve departmental goals, employee growth, and accountability for results.
• Recruits and retains qualified staff at all departmental levels, consistent with applicable laws and regulations.
• Oversees the preparation and updating of short- and long-range strategic plans to ensure the department's contribution to the City's overall plans and strategies.
• Serves as an enterprise leader and active member of the City’s senior leadership team, balancing departmental priorities with broader City interests and contributing to citywide strategic and management decisions.
• Creates and sustains a healthy, high-performing organizational culture characterized by trust, accountability, respectful communication, employee engagement, creativity, and teamwork. Proactively addresses leadership, performance, workplace culture, and employee-relations concerns.
• Directs ongoing research into new technologies and trends and recommends implementation of programs, systems, and tools that help the department achieve its objectives more effectively and efficiently.
• Presents departmental issues and recommendations on major issues requiring policy direction to appropriate advisory bodies and to the city council.
• Builds alignment and shared ownership across departments and offices on common projects, priorities, and interests. Encourages constructive disagreement and, once decisions are made, supports and effectively implements established organizational direction.
• Directs the evaluation, update, and revisions to the comprehensive plan elements.
• Oversees the development and administration of Development Services fees and rates for permitting, plan review, inspections, and related services, ensuring they support cost recovery, service delivery, transparency, and long-term financial sustainability.

Supervision Exercised/Received

• Works under the broad policy and management guidance of a Deputy City Manager and is expected to operate effectively within direction established by the City Manager and senior leadership.
• Exercises supervision over all employees of the Development Services Department, either directly or indirectly, through supervisors.

• Graduation from a four-year college or university with a degree in urban planning, architecture, engineering, or closely related field.
• Ten or more years of progressively responsible experience in administration and supervision of a planning or development services department or corresponding agency with Federal, state, county, or local government experience preferred.
• Or any equivalent combination of education, experience, and training that provides the required knowledge, skills, and abilities.
• Skilled in continuous improvement, with the ability to simplify and streamline the development approval process; provide consistent and predictable service; decrease turnaround times; improve work processes; and provide high-quality, seamless customer service.
• Skill in effective, clear and persuasive oral and written communications to individuals and groups.
• Ability to identify the department's future direction in response to changing community needs, and to develop, implement, and monitor appropriate plans, schedules, and action steps.
• Ability to develop and maintain productive relationships with elected officials, business leaders, advisory boards, the news media, and the public.
• Demonstrated ability to lead through an executive and management team by establishing clear roles, decision rights, expectations, and accountability while empowering leaders to manage effectively.
• Demonstrated ability to receive feedback, reflect on the impact of one's leadership style, and adapt approach to improve team and organizational effectiveness.
• Demonstrated ability to navigate conflict and disagreement constructively, including respectfully challenging ideas and effectively implementing organizational direction once decisions are made.
• Demonstrated sound judgment and organizational awareness in complex, politically sensitive, or high-profile environments, including knowing when and how to elevate emerging issues and risks.
• Ability to build trust and productive working relationships with employees, labor partners, peers, executive leadership, elected officials, customers, and community stakeholders.
• Demonstrated success developing people and leaders through candid feedback, coaching and mentoring, identifying talent and skill gaps, and intentionally building leadership capacity and succession readiness throughout the department.

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities and Competencies

• Leadership through others: Builds strong leaders and teams, delegates appropriately, establishes clear roles, decision rights, expectations, and accountability, and empowers leaders to manage effectively.
• Enterprise leadership: Balances advocacy for Development Services with responsibility to the broader City organization and supports shared citywide priorities and decisions.
• Self-awareness and adaptability: Welcomes feedback, understands the impact of leadership behavior, and adapts leadership approaches to organizational and team needs.
• Trust and integrity: Communicates openly, follows through on commitments, demonstrates sound judgment, and builds credibility through consistent actions.
• Conflict management: Encourages constructive dialogue, navigates disagreement professionally, and maintains productive relationships through challenging conversations.
• Talent development: Coaches and develops leaders; strengthens succession capacity; and creates opportunities for employees to grow and assume greater responsibility.

The Community

Located in west central Washington state on the eastern shore of Lake Washington between Seattle and the Cascade Mountains, Bellevue is the economic and cultural hub in east King County. Moreover, Bellevue is situated in easy driving distance of nineteen national parks and monuments, two mountain ranges, water passages leading to the Pacific Ocean, and a temperate climate making Bellevue one of the best places to live in the United States as routinely recognized by Newsweek and Money magazines. Home to over 158,000 residents, it is the fifth most populous city in Washington, covering an area of about 33 square miles. Bellevue is culturally diverse with 68 percent of its population identifying as people of color. Nearly 50 percent of the population is foreign-born, and over 100 languages are spoken in Bellevue schools. Residents of Asian heritage comprise 48 percent of the population.

Bellevue is the second-largest employment center in King County, employing over 170,000 people. With direct connections to Seattle and other regional centers via interstate and state highways, Bellevue is a highly desirable location for businesses. Light rail transit service connects Bellevue to the Microsoft campus and to downtown Redmond. In 2026, rail service will connect Bellevue throughout the Seattle metropolitan region, including the Seattle Tacoma International Airport. The city has a rich mix of small and medium sized businesses as well as some of the country's best-known companies – Amazon, T-Mobile (HQ), Salesforce, Symetra, TikTok, Microsoft, Meta, and PACCAR (HQ). Bellevue's school district is continually ranked among the nation's best academically combined with excellent athletic and cultural arts programs. Bellevue College offers bachelor's degrees and is the largest among Washington’s community and technical college system.

Bellevue is known as a 'City in a Park' due to its award-winning park systems and vast network of green spaces all contributing toward an exceptional quality of life. City parks and open space locations range from community and beach parks to extensive trails, and world-renowned botanical garden. Just minutes from downtown is Mercer Slough Nature Park, the largest freshwater wetland on Lake Washington with over 320 acres of wildlife habitat, agriculture, wetland ecosystems, trails, and an education center. Whether visiting one of the community farms, enjoying a round of golf, swimming at the Bellevue Aquatic Center, catching a performance at the youth theatre, recreation at a community center, or a movie in a park, there is always something to see and do in Bellevue. Popular annual events include the Family July 4th celebration, and Garden dLights, a brilliant winter wonderland display at Bellevue Botanical Garden during December.

Bellevue is a growing, diverse, and economically vibrant community known for its strong neighborhoods, thriving business environment, natural beauty, and commitment to thoughtful growth. The city is recognized for its focus on innovation, collaboration, excellent public service, and preparing for the needs of a changing community.

Governance & Organization

Bellevue operates under a council-manager form of government, which consists of an elected city council that establishes public policy and develops a long-range vision for Bellevue's future. The city council is comprised of seven members who are elected at large and serve staggered four-year terms. The council selects a mayor and deputy mayor from among its members. A city manager is hired by the city council and held accountable for the successful implementation of all municipal services.

The city provides a full range of services, including law enforcement services, emergency medical response, fire suppression, the construction and maintenance of infrastructure, garbage removal, and water supply, recreational activities, permitting, and much more. The $1.75 billion 2025-2026 budget funds essential services while also making targeted investments to address Bellevue’s exceptional growth. The municipal government is in a strong financial position with a AAA rating by bond rating agencies.

Five departments are nationally accredited, which are Parks and Community Services, Police, Emergency Medical and Fire Response, Utilities, and Transportation. Organizational values lead the commitment to the community and city council, which are excellent public service, stewardship, commitment to employees, integrity, innovation, and diversity, equity and inclusion. In Bellevue, the model of a high performing organization (HPO) promotes structure and culture that foster a workplace where innovation may originate from any employee.

Leadership & Innovation

The city continues to advance toward the city council’s vision that begins, 'Bellevue welcomes the world. Our diversity is our strength. We embrace the future while respecting our past.' The mission of the organization is to 'Provide exceptional customer service, uphold the public interest, and advance the community vision.' The community vision is articulated in greater detail in the city’s comprehensive plan. In service of the vision and comprehensive plan, organizational core values motivate the delivery of municipal services:

• Exceptional Public Service
• Stewardship
• Commitment to Employees
• Integrity
• Innovation
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

The city is committed to high-performing government by fostering a positive culture within its employees, which embraces shared leadership, collaboration, empowerment, innovation, and performance management.

Compensation & Benefits

The salary range for the position is competitive within the market and is negotiable based on the candidate's qualifications and experience. The City of Bellevue also offers an excellent benefits package, including health care, retirement, leave, professional training, and relocation expenses. Information city benefits can be obtained at https://bellevuewa.gov/city-government/departments/human-resources/benefits.

Visit BellevueWA.gov for more information about the City of Bellevue.