Chief of Staff to the Commissioner

Chief of Staff to the Commissioner

The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) is the nation’s largest municipal housing preservation and development agency. Its mission is to promote quality housing and diverse, thriving neighborhoods for New Yorkers through loan and development programs for new affordable housing, preservation of the affordability of the existing housing stock, enforcement of housing quality standards, and educational programs for tenants and building owners. HPD is tasked with fulfilling Mayor de Blasio’s Housing New York Plan which was recently expanded and accelerated through Housing New York 2.0 to complete the initial goal of 200,000 homes two years ahead of schedule by 2022, and achieve an additional 100,000 homes over the following four years, for a total of 300,000 homes by 2026.

The Office of the Chief of Staff directly supports the Commissioner in overseeing and leading the agency. The Commissioner—except as otherwise provided by law—plans, initiates, conducts, supervises, coordinates, reviews, and evaluates City programs and policies relating to carrying out the agency’s mission and the Mayor's Housing New York plan.

The Office of the Chief of Staff includes the Communications and Government Affairs teams and the Deputy Chief of Staff.

As Chief of Staff, you will support the Commissioner in identifying, developing, implementing, and communicating agency priority initiatives and policies. You will serve as a bridge between the external-facing work of the Commissioner’s Office and the internal operations of the agency.

You will work in close partnership with the Executive Deputy Commissioner and the rest of the agency’s senior team to help ensure that the Commissioner’s priorities are successfully operationalized and achieved.

You will serve as a critical liaison between the agency and City Hall on priority matters and ensure that the Commissioner is apprised of detailed information in all areas of the organization’s operations.

You will also manage the flow of information to, and relationships with, external agencies, departments and organizations, and partners in the private sector and community stakeholders.

Your Responsibilities:
Agency Strategy and Coordination
• Identifying and managing critical issues that have significant public or agency impact and that require the attention of the Commissioner and other senior agency staff
• Strategizing with senior staff to resolve problems and ensure that priority initiatives are managed efficiently and communicated effectively to relevant internal and external partners
• Providing guidance to staff on behalf of the Commissioner on major initiatives to ensure effective and timely implementation of projects.
• Creating and sustaining an environment which fosters accountability at all levels in the organization

Commissioner’s Office Coordination
• Ensuring the Commissioner has all key information for decisionmaking
• Managing operations of the Commissioner’s Office, including prioritizing meetings, assisting with meeting and calendar management, meeting and event preparation, and other project management and administrative functions as needed

External Affairs and Communications
• Leading the development of external affairs and communications strategies, including for public events, press, and digital media
• Ensuring the Commissioner is fully prepared for meetings, speaking engagements, and other events
• Representing the Commissioner at external meetings and events as required

Government Affairs
• Working with city, state, and federal officials, agencies, policy makers, advocates and planners in the public and private sectors to assess and craft housing policy.
• Managing New York City’s affordable housing city, state legislative and federal agenda
• Conferencing with elected officials, preparing testimony for public hearings, and responding to constituency and project inquiries from the general public and elected officials

Strategic Partnerships
• Engaging with with various external partners, including developers, non-profits, community organizations, and foundations
• Developing public-private partnerships to achieve the agency’s strategic objectives

Preferred Skills:
• A high degree of professionalism and discretion, with the ability to maintain complete confidentiality of extremely sensitive, proprietary information
• Exceptional interpersonal skills, including verbal and written communications, executive staff management, and conflict resolution
• Demonstrated ability to make sound decisions and balance multiple critical priorities
• Ability to manage multiple projects with various deadlines simultaneously
• Ability to work with varied teams and personalities
• Ability to complete and prioritize work with little supervision
• Strong technology and computer skills and intermediate to advanced proficiency with Microsoft Office applications

How to Apply:
Please go online and apply at . Search for JOB ID# 397617

City Employees: Apply through the Employee Self Service portal (ESS) at Search for JOB ID# 397617

Salary range for this position is: $180,000 - $201,000

NOTE: Only those candidates under consideration will be contacted.

NYC Residency required.

The Department of Housing Preservation & Development and the City of New York is an equal opportunity employer.