Trails Program Manager

Gallatin Valley Land Trust (GVLT); Bozeman (MT); Hybrid; USD 73,000 - 91,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

3 weeks paid vacation

Simple IRA

Relocation stipend

Flexible schedule

Job summary

Gallatin Valley Land Trust (GVLT) seeks a proactive Trails Program Manager to lead community trail planning, oversee on-the-ground construction and maintenance, and build strong partnerships with public and private stakeholders in the Gallatin Valley. You will help prioritize, fund, and implement new trail projects while coordinating with the Trails Director and GVLT team.

Ideal candidates bring recreation planning, natural resources, project management, landscape design, and community-building

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a field applicable to the position.
• Minimum of three years of program/project management experience in community planning or related fields.
• Strong collaboration, fundraising, and GIS mapping skills preferred.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement trail projects with partners, managing permits, budgets, timelines, and contractors.
• Cultivate and maintain partnerships with government agencies, nonprofits, landowners, and user groups.
• Provide leadership in community education about trails and participate in planning and administration.
• Oversee maintenance, staff, and volunteers, and support GIS mapping and data analysis.

Skills

Systems thinker

Integrator

Analyzer

People Manager

Investigator

Collaborator

Initiator

Education

Bachelor’s degree in a field applicable to the position

Job description

The Staff and Board of GVLT seek a highly motivated, creative, organized self-starter with a passion to bring people together to accomplish community trails projects. In this role, you will help facilitate trail and recreation planning initiatives across the Gallatin Valley, while also managing on-the-ground trail construction and maintenance projects. This individual will represent GVLT to diverse constituents and stakeholders and will be responsible for helping to develop and maintain strong community partnerships with governmental agencies, non-profit organizations, private landowners, and trail user groups. The Trails Program Manager will be responsible for oversight of GVLT’s current trail projects as well as helping to plan, prioritize, fund, and implement new trail projects. This position reports to the Trails Director and will work closely with the Trails Project Manager and the entire GVLT team. While having trail-building experience is helpful to this position, we encourage professionals with proven recreation planning, natural resources, project management, landscape design, and community-building experience to apply.

About the Gallatin Valley Land Trust

The Gallatin Valley Land Trust connects people, communities, and open lands through the conservation of working farms and ranches, healthy rivers, and wildlife habitat, and the creation of trails, in the Montana headwaters of the Missouri and Upper Yellowstone Rivers. Since our founding in 1990, Gallatin Valley Land Trust has protected 141 properties totaling over 75,000 acres and has helped create nearly 100 miles of trails in the Main Street to the Mountains trail system.

JOB DUTIES

Project Development and Implementation (45%)

• Collaborate with community partners, stakeholders, recreational users, and landowners to identify and pursue priority trail projects and strategic opportunities to achieve GVLT’s trails mission.
• Manage new trail construction projects and assist with contracted trail maintenance projects, including management of permits, budgets, timelines, and contractors.
• Secure and manage grant and private funding to complete land and easement acquisitions, and trail construction projects.
• Oversee trails staff including full-time, seasonal, part-time, AmeriCorps members, as well as volunteers.

Community Relationships (25%)

• Identify, pursue, and engage in collaborative partnerships to help accomplish GVLT’s trails mission.
• Assist in GVLT’s efforts to help local communities and private landowners across the Gallatin Valley plan for and implement recreation and trails infrastructure.
• Represent the trails program at a variety of citizen advisory boards, stakeholder, and other groups, including outside of normal business hours.
• Provide leadership and education in the community regarding the importance and value of trails, including reviewing community trail plans and proposed residential subdivisions, as appropriate.

Oversight and Stewardship of GVLT Recreational Lands and Trails (20%)

• Support the Trails Project Manager in conducting spring trail assessments, assisting with the development of annual maintenance plans reflecting responsibilities detailed in land use licenses, trail easements, MOU’s, and other agreements.
• Ensure compliance with easement requirements and incorporate maintenance, signage, and monitoring needs into Trails work plans.
• Perform hands-on stewardship work including physical trail work, recreational lands stewardship, routine trailhead maintenance, amenity improvements, natural resource enhancements, etc.
• Support volunteer project coordination and on-the-ground volunteer projects. Provide technical training to seasonal workers and volunteers.

Other (10%):

• Support the Trails Team and collaborate with other departments and partners on GIS mapping, trail infrastructure database, and analysis.
• Assist the Trails Director with Committee meetings and administration.
• Assist with the preparation of the organizational budget.
• Organize and manage weekly Trails team meetings.
• Participate in bi-weekly staff meetings and bi-monthly Board meetings to keep colleagues and directors apprised of issues as they arise.
• Assist with donor support activities and events as needed.
• Assist with administrative and office responsibilities as needed.

Preferred Knowledge

• Subdivision plats, parkland dedication, trail and other easements.
• Grant management and donor development.
• Project management and collaborative planning across a wide variety of partners including local governments, nonprofit organizations, and community stakeholders.
• Building sustainable trail projects, including maintenance and management best practices.
• Intermediate to advanced level GIS mapping and analysis, including experience in vector GIS.
• Developing and implementing community needs assessments and evaluating outdoor recreation trends.

Preferred Skills

• Systems thinker – Connects trail work to the mission and strategic plan; sets and tracks program and project budgets; crafts strategic priorities with an eye toward efficiency, best practices, sustainability, and processes.
• Integrator – Identifies opportunities to streamline strategies and integrate streams/functions.
• Analyzer – Uses rigorous logic around aggregate data; performs a variety of analyses to inform decisions with broad impact and solves problems requiring diverse perspectives. Synthesizes data; identifies and prioritizes risks to mitigate, opportunities to pursue, and problems to solve.
• People Manager – Coaches and develops staff; sets, communicates, and manages expectations; leverages self and social awareness to communicate effectively, empathize, build relationships, resolve conflict, and inspire others.
• Investigator – Independently finds resources to solve problems, raises questions or concerns in a timely manner, conducts due diligence, documents accurately, and ensures compliance.
• Collaborator – Engages and communicates with internal and external partners professionally.
• Initiator – Looks for opportunities to consider and launch new projects or programs.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Minimum of bachelor’s degree in a field applicable to the position and/or applicable experience.
• Minimum of three years of experience with program/project management, preferably in the area of community planning, recreation management, natural resources, community trail development, or another applicable field.

Values Alignment:

GVLT team members are expected to align with and support our values (see GVLT values).

Working Conditions:

• Work from GVLT office in Bozeman and/or satellite office as needed. Position is partially office-based with regular opportunities to be in the field as required.
• Flexible schedule and strong work-life balance culture. Following a probationary period, staff have the option to work one day per week from home plus flexibility for appointments and modified hours.
• May have overnight travel ~1-3 times a year for professional development and/or key partner meetings.
• The Program Manager role includes significant time in the field, so must be comfortable navigating uneven and steep terrain on and off trail.
• Occasional evening hours (on average 2 evenings a month) for partner meetings. Flex time use is encouraged if 40 hours per week is exceeded.

Generous benefits package includes:

• 3 weeks paid vacation which gradually increases to 5 weeks of paid vacation after 5 years of employment.
• 10 days of paid personal leave, 10 paid holidays, and 2 unplanned outdoor days.
• Eligible for a 2-month paid sabbatical after 5 years.
• 100% coverage for employee’s health, vision, and dental insurance premiums and 50% coverage for dependents. Monthly health savings account contributions.
• 100% coverage of Long-Term Disability Insurance, Basic Term Life, and AD&D insurance.
• Simple IRA Retirement Match: First 3% of employee retirement contributions matched 100%.
• 2 months paid family leave at two years of employment, prorated after one year.
• Investment in professional development
• Modest relocation stipend available for a hire from outside our service area.

Commitment to Community:

This is a full-time, salaried position, and GVLT is proud to offer competitive salaries and benefits and a flexible, mission-driven professional environment. Recruiting and retaining a talented team is critical to our mission, and one of the ways we do that is to use transparent systems for hiring and compensation decisions. The starting salary for this role is $73,000-$91,000. Based on our assessment of applicant competencies during the hiring process, new hires will be offered a commensurate salary within the range. To ensure that starting compensation decisions are transparent and linked to the competencies needed for this role, GVLT does not negotiate starting salaries. Subsequent raises and/or bonuses will be based on successful achievement of work plans and competency development.

Without Application Procedure:

For a complete job announcement and description, please see our website: www.gvlt.org/job-opportunities