IFF is looking for candidates with a commitment to the work it does and can demonstrate their creativity, detail-orientation, diligence, efficiency, enthusiasm, flexibility, organization, thoughtfulness, and sense of humor.
IFF’s Real Estate Solutions provides high quality real estate and facility consulting for IFF’s non-profit client base across our Midwest markets, with RES staff presence in four markets. Led by the Senior Vice President, the department is comprised of Market Directors based in each market, overseeing client interactions and IFF’s client and programmatic strategy; Owner’s Representative (OR) and Project Manager staff, who serve as project and client leads delivering RES’ scopes of work across different sectors; and two Directors of Consulting, who lead quality and consistency of consulting and project delivery across all RES markets.
What: The two Directors of Consulting, one for Facility Planning and one for Design and Construction, each works in close collaboration with Market Directors to ensure a culture of consulting, with Directors of Consulting ensuring functional expertise and Market Directors responsible for market accuracy and client relationship development. The Directors of Consulting work closely together to establish, revise, and impart excellence in IFF’s practice of consultancy, at a project, staff and departmental level, and to ensure a smooth transition of client delivery within in and between project phases.
The Director of Consulting- Facility Planning will establish, refine, oversee, and train excellence in IFF’s consulting practice. This position will ensure that Project Managers strive for and meet this standard of excellence across the IFF footprint, through onboarding, knowledge sharing, professional development, and direct project oversight. The IFF Project Management team currently includes seven staff members and may expand to 10 within the next 12-18 months, housed in 4 different markets across the IFF footprint. This role will be responsible for the functional area of facility planning. While this role won’t directly manage staff, the Director of Consulting will review, educate, train, and coach the project management team in their client practice, including feasibility analysis, real estate portfolio planning, site search and due diligence and other projects to help client align facility needs with program goals. This role will be responsible for messaging IFF’s standard of excellence in this area of work to the broader IFF organization. This role will primarily be internally facing, acting as a departmental consultant, but will occasionally represent IFF in key stakeholder, partner, funder, investor and client meetings to convey IFF’s theory of consulting excellence in facility planning work.
Responsibilities include:
Oversees project development and delivery for facility planning projects.
- Reviews and improves client deliverables (project budgets, project schedules, meeting notes, client communications, facility assessments, final presentations, RFP’s, and other relevant deliverables)
- Provides direct feedback and coaching and to the Project Manager at the project and client level, while not having direct management responsibilities over individual staff
- Ensures project leads are managing RES client engagements to be executed within contract budget and schedule parameters
- Participates in and provides content and sector expertise in internal project kick-off and closeout meetings
- Coordinates staffing and workload balance across the Project Manager team, with Market Directors
- Interacts with clients on project engagements, as needed, to monitor quality assurance on staff performance at the project level
- On occasion, provides additional departmental capacity for client facing work in the absence of available Project Managers
- Leads onboarding, training, professional development and career path definitions for the Project Managers at IFF
- Plans, executes, and leads sector and functional area trainings for Project Managers
- Leads and facilitates monthly Project Manager and some RES staff meetings for knowledge sharing and project review
- Produces departmental and team performance reports for senior management
- Contributes to ongoing departmental and organizational improvements as part of the RES leadership team
- Contributes to departmental strategy on talent management, talent recruitment, and talent retention
- Provides input to Project Manager performance reviews
- Provides functional supports to team members in other departments
- Creates and maintains an environment where staff members are motivated and enthusiastic about performance of their work
- Develops, refines, and implements onboarding programs and training opportunities to match staff needs
- Successful delivery of high-quality consulting deliverables by project staff in client engagements
- Continually seeks excellence and efficiency in consulting engagements and departmental operations
- Cultivates a culture of openness in information sharing. Encourages open communication, cooperation, and the sharing of knowledge.
- Models personal accountability that promotes ownership and engagement.
- Builds and maintains effective working relationships with colleagues, peers and team members.
- Values and supports differences in others, contributing to an inclusive work environment.
- Demonstrates the ability and willingness to communicate effectively with people of diverse backgrounds and experiences to create a collaborative, collegial, and caring community.
- High level of satisfaction with both internal colleagues and external contacts.
- A decade or more of experience through combined educational or professional experience in one of the following fields is required: urban planning, management consulting, real estate development, non-profit management, finance, program management, construction, or architecture
- Experience leading teams implementing and executing major projects and initiatives. Increasing responsibility and management and supervisory roles, with experience managing staff, a division or department operations is preferred.
- Based in or willing to move to Chicago or Detroit
- Professional experience working in an organization with multiple offices.
- Demonstrated excellence in verbal and written communication.
- Familiarity and comfort with utilizing various software and web-based tools for work products and communications, inclusive of the MS Office suite, database programs, spreadsheet, and project management packages.
- Experience working with consulting and client management that places a strong emphasis on a Trusted Advisor approach to relationship development
- Knowledge of community development and nonprofit sector issues
- Content area teaching, mentoring, training, or similar experience of colleagues, direct reports, supervisors, or clients preferred.
- Direct experience with real estate development projects
- Direct project management experience. Experience working with a team charged with implementing and completing multi-faceted projects
- Analytical and strategic skills; ability to plan, manage and implement multiple complex projects
- Strong financial, analytical, and writing skills
- Regular travel (monthly or quarterly) maybe required to other IFF offices
- Walking construction sites
- Attendance at evening and weekend meetings and events may be required
Application Instructions: Please submit a cover letter, resume and salary requirements to careers@iff.org with “Director of Consulting- Facility Planning” in the subject line.
Find the job posting here.