Principal Planner

Exciting Opportunity!

The City of Palo Alto’s Planning and Development Services Department is recruiting for enthusiastic and passionate individuals to support and provide leadership to the City's long-range planning, policy, and housing program at the Principal Planner level. This team is responsible for advancing City Council land use policy priorities and initiatives, Housing Element implementation, area plan development, Comprehensive Plan amendments; and managing the City’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, Below Market Rate (BMR) housing program, and Rental Registry program. Housing production is of critical importance to the City and a key focus of the Planning and Development Services Department and Long Range Planning team. Candidates that have familiarity with State mandated housing requirements, experience coordinating housing programs, and awareness of the complexities surrounding housing production in the Bay Area would be a welcome addition to our team. This program will explore solutions to incentivize more housing units, and innovative strategies to preserve and protect the City's existing housing stock.

Principal Planner

This Principal Planner is responsible for leading high profile and complex projects and ensuring progress toward the goals and objectives for the Long-Range Planning team, advancing City Council policy and priorities. The position will serve as a leader and manager on the Long-Range Planning team; supervising staff, assigning tasks, and providing clear direction to team members. Supervisory experience and skills at building a strong team, fostering growth and learning among staff is highly desirable. As a "working manager," the Principal Planner will pitch-in where needed and may also be a project manager to some projects.

To view full job description, please click HERE.

Ideal Candidates

The ideal candidates will have a passion for public service and a strong desire to contribute to a dynamic team in a fast-paced work environment. Successful candidates will:

• Enjoy creating and sustaining strong partnerships with the local community.
• Possess superior writing and public speaking skills.
• Be able to independently prioritize and complete a broad range of assignments with competing deadlines be flexible and responsive to changing priorities and conditions.
• Quickly formulate responses to challenging questions in a thoughtful and diplomatic manner.

The ideal candidate must have a customer service focus and strong interpersonal skills with the ability to establish and maintain effective relationships with co-workers, management, elected officials, community members, and representatives of public and regulatory agencies.

More than one position(s) may be filled from this posting.

Supplemental Information

Application and Selection Process:

The closing date for this recruitment is Sunday, July 13, 2025.

First round of interviews will take place the week of August 18, 2025.

For additional information, please contact:

Evonne Ojeda, Human Resources Technician, via telephone at 650-329-2578 ext. 2578, or via email at [email protected].

The City of Palo Alto is an Equal Opportunity Employer. In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the City will provide reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities and encourages both prospective and current employees to discuss potential accommodations with the employer.