Principal Planner - PLA

The structure of our organization is designed to amplify your capabilities while gaining the benefits of being an employee-owner. Whether you are in the office, in the field, or behind the scenes, working at LJA gives you the chance to grow through hands-on experience and exposure to a broad range of clients and services. POSITION OVERVIEW: As a Principal Planner at LJA's Planning & Landscape Architecture group, you will lead planning efforts for the Colorado Springs office and surrounding markets, including business development, client relationships, project direction, and team leadership. Minimum of 12 years of progressively responsible planning experience, preferably with community-based planning from conceptual plans to detailed lot plans.5+ years of experience as a practice leader and manager with direct reports.Experience leading the Planning practice across project management, team coordination, production, client liaison, and marketing.Strong design skills, including preparation of new community plans and detailed layouts for residential, commercial, office, institutional, parks, open space, and public land uses.Ability to research, organize, and write reports, including land use analyses, variance and zoning documents, master plan documents, municipal code updates, and Comprehensive Plan updates.Knowledge and understanding of zoning codes, design guidelines, and development location assessments.Ability to work with municipal staff throughout the region to support project approvals.Ability to discuss and defend variance, zoning, and other project requests in a public forum.Ability to interface with members of the public and run public engagement meetings as needed.Strong communication skills, including the ability to listen, facilitate, and speak effectively in front of groups.Demonstrated experience leading and working within a team structure.Detail-oriented with the ability to conduct research and clearly express results.Ability to build strong relationships with clients, municipalities, internal teams, and prospective clients. At LJA, we’re 100% employee-owned.