Planner Principal

City of Austin; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

The City of Austin seeks a Planner Principal in the Demographics and Data Division of Austin Planning to lead demographic and geospatial analysis and oversee projects and personnel. This role coordinates scopes of work, manages data, and develops SOPs to ensure timely, accurate results.

It supports the city demographer and responds to data requests from City Council, Mayor, City Manager’s Office, staff, and the public by preparing reports, visuals, and presentations for diverse audiences.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Planning, Geography, Social Science, Landscape Architecture, or related field.
• Six years of planning-related experience, with at least two years in lead or supervisory roles.
• Twelve semester hours of relevant graduate coursework may substitute for six months of required experience, up to two years.

Responsibilities

• Lead demographic and geospatial analysis in the Demographics and Data Division.
• Coordinate project and personnel assignments; define scopes of work.
• Engage in data management and outline standard operating procedures.
• Oversee reports, data visualizations, and presentations for City Council, Mayor, City Manager’s Office, staff, and the public.

Skills

Project management

Data analysis

Geospatial analysis

GIS

R

Python

SQL

Data visualization

Education

Bachelor's degree in Planning/related field

Tools

ArcGIS Pro

Power BI

Job description

The Planner Principal will lead demographic and geospatial analysis in the Demographics and Data Division of Austin Planning. This position coordinates project and personnel assignments, defining project scopes of work, engaging in data management, outlining standard operating procedures, and ensuring projects are accurate, impactful, and timely. This position will support the work of the city demographer and respond to demographic data requests from City Council and Mayor, the City Manager’s Office, City staff, and the general public by overseeing and preparing reports, data visualizations, and presentations for various audiences.

The minimum qualifications for the Planner Principal position are:

• graduation with a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited four (4) year college or university with major coursework in Planning, Geography, Social Science, Landscape Architecture, or a planning related field,
• six (6) years of experience in planning related work, two (2) years of which included lead or supervisory responsibilities.
• Twelve (12) semester hours of relevant graduate college course work may substitute for six months of required experience with a maximum substitution of two (2) years.

Preferred qualifications include:

• Project management and quality assurance
• Data management, analysis, and visualization (including geospatial data)
• Coordinating and facilitating work groups or stakeholder discussions
• Working with data on racial or ethnic disparities
• ArcGIS Pro or similar GIS software
• Census Bureau data or demographic analysis
• Programming languages like R, Python, or SQL
• Microsoft Power BI or Power Automate