Founding Community Association Manager

Alder Property Management; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity stake

Revenue sharing

Job summary

Alder Property Management LLC in the San Francisco Bay Area is seeking its first community association manager to oversee a growing portfolio of HOAs. You will work directly with boards to ensure governance, budgets, and project delivery are aligned with strategic goals.

You will leverage Alder's AI-native software to streamline meeting packets, bids, and communications, while earning revenue from the associations you manage.

Qualifications

• Experience managing California associations (3+ years).
• Demonstrated board communication and governance oversight.
• Willingness to lead, own outcomes, and shape service standards.

Responsibilities

• Serve as primary manager for a portfolio of Bay Area HOAs.
• Prepare for and attend board and annual meetings with clear agendas and minutes.
• Lead annual budgets, reserve studies, and Davis-Stirling disclosures.
• Run elections, enforce rules, and manage assessments and collections.
• Obtain bids, present recommendations, and track work to completion.
• Coordinate maintenance, insurance claims, inspections, and capital projects.

Skills

CA associations experience

Board communication

Leadership

Ownership mindset

Evening meetings readiness

Bay Area travel by car

Education

CACM certification (CCAM)

California real estate license

Job description

Alder is an AI-native property management company in the San Francisco Bay Area. We manage rentals and homeowner associations directly, and we built our own software for leasing, maintenance, accounting, and governance so our managers can give owners, boards, and residents better service with far less busywork.

Property management is a fragmented $140B market and AI now makes it possible to rebuild how the industry operates. Our investors include early backers of OpenAI, ElevenLabs, and Cognition. Spencer Rascoff, Zillow's co-founder and former CEO, is also an investor and close advisor.

About the Role

You'll be Alder's first community association manager. You'll own a portfolio of Bay Area HOAs end to end and help build the business around it. Boards set the direction; you make sure the work gets done and that directors always know where things stand.

Our software takes on the work that usually buries a community manager: meeting packets, bid comparisons, work order tracking, homeowner communication, and books tied to bank records. That leaves you free to do what the best managers do: advise boards well, run good meetings, and keep projects moving.

This role is for someone who wants to eat what they kill. You'll share in the revenue from every association you manage, so the more boards you win and keep, the more you earn. And because you're joining early, you'll shape how Alder serves associations: our playbooks, our service standards, the software you use every day, and the team that comes after you.

What you'll do

• Serve as the primary manager for a portfolio of associations, from small condo buildings to larger communities.
• Prepare for and attend board and annual meetings, with clear agendas, decision packets, and minutes.
• Lead the annual budget, reserve study coordination, and required Davis-Stirling disclosures with the board.
• Run elections, rule enforcement, hearings, and assessment collections by the book.
• Get competitive bids, bring the board a recommendation, and track approved work through completion.
• Coordinate maintenance, insurance claims, inspections, and capital projects, including resident access.
• Grow your portfolio: meet boards, win project work like budgets and elections, and turn it into full management.
• Shape the business: write the playbooks, set the service standards, and help hire and train the managers who join after you.
• Tell our engineers where the system falls short, and test new AI workflows on your own portfolio before they roll out more widely.

What we're looking for

• Experience. You've managed California associations, typically for 3+ years, and boards would vouch for you.
• Ambition. You want your income tied to your results, and you'd rather build your own book than carry someone else's.
• A builder's mindset. You've seen how association management should work, and you want to help build a company that does it right.
• Good judgment. You can tell a board what you'd do and why, and you know when an issue needs their attorney, insurer, or engineer.
• Ownership. Follow-through is your reputation. Nothing sits in your inbox waiting for a director to chase it.
• Working knowledge of the Davis-Stirling Act, association finance and reserves, and governing documents.
• CACM certification (CCAM) preferred.
• Calm, clear communication with boards and homeowners, especially in contentious meetings.
• Comfort with new tools and a willingness to push them. You'll help shape the software you use every day.
• A car and the ability to attend evening meetings and visit communities across the Bay Area.

CAI designations such as CMCA, AMS, or PCAM, or a California real estate license, are a plus. So are existing board relationships and experience with Bay Area condo buildings.

There's no ceiling on what you can earn here. Every founding property manager shares in the revenue from the doors they manage, so as your portfolio grows, your income grows with it.

You'll also receive meaningful early-stage equity, so you own a piece of the company you're helping build.