Description
The Position: Managing Director
Reports to: Executive Director
Location: Oakland, CA (hybrid; three days in office weekly)
An Exciting Opportunity with a Visionary Social Justice Architecture and Real Estate Organization
Designing Justice + Designing Spaces (“DJDS”) is a Bay-Area-based architecture and real estate development social enterprise working to end mass incarceration by building the infrastructure that addresses its root causes.
DJDS seeks a passionate, committed, and experienced senior executive with professional practice leadership expertise to serve as Managing Director for this unique, innovative, and progressive organization. DJDS designs and builds spaces that advance social justice and provides architectural, development, and design services to community-based organizations and municipalities to support site acquisition strategies, creative financing strategies, pro forma development, program partnership models and innovative funding vehicles for commercial, nonprofit centers, transitional housing and affordable housing projects.
THE POSITION
The Managing Director (“MD”) will be a critical executive leader and manager of the key components of the organization’s suite of professional practice services. This includes the architecture and real estate development services of community engagement, architectural programming, concept design, schematic design, design development, permit drawings, bidding and negotiation, as well as construction administration.
The MD is currently being specified as a new position at DJDS, created to advance excellence in professional services management. DJDS is at an inflection point that requires professional services operational and administrative expertise to adapt to and further prepare to expand its reach and impact. The successful executive candidate will have the opportunity to take this highly regarded organization to the next level of performance and scale as the MD is responsible for the core fee-for-service and earned-income functions of DJDS. The MD manages a professional services team of 12 members, with the majority in the Oakland office and a few out-of-area.
The MD will solidify, manage, and elevate the professional practice areas of architectural services, real estate development, and design operations for its own social-impact projects but also as consultant to other organizations and enterprises. The MD’s work will allow the Executive Director to focus her efforts on client management, fundraising, design direction and business development cultivation.
THE ORGANIZATION
Mission
DJDS is an architecture and real estate development social enterprise working to end mass incarceration through place-based solutions that address its root causes: poverty, racism, unequal access to resources, and the criminal justice system itself.
Vision
DJDS seeks to change the narrative of power through the development of solutionary spaces that address the root causes of mass incarceration. Its work counters the traditional adversarial and punitive architecture of justice -- courthouses, prisons, and jails -- by creating spaces and buildings for restorative justice, community building, and housing for people coming out of incarceration.
DJDS’s Work
DJDS is building a world without prisons and jails. Since 2016, the organization has engaged in projects across the country – California, Massachusetts, New York, Michigan, Georgia, Louisiana, and others. Building this infrastructure costs far less than prisons and delivers lasting returns – creating housing, jobs, and local economic power.
Operations and Organizational Structure
DJDS is governed by a five-member Board of Directors. The organization has a staff of 12 committed and passionate professionals working to fulfill DJDS’s bold mission and goals. The organization had an operating budget of $4 million for 2024. Projected 2025 contributed revenue (grants, individual donors, events) is 80% grants and donations, and 20% earned revenue. There is an increasing focus on fee-for-service, earned revenue opportunities.
Commitment to JEDI
At DJDS, striving for justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (“JEDI”) for all is critical to its mission and values. They know that having a team that is diverse in race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity and expression, ability, sexual orientation, age, as well as background and opinions -- and fostering inclusion among that team - is core to achieving its organizational goals. DJDS strives to recruit talent from a diverse pool of candidates and ensure those professionals it hires are sufficiently supported so that they flourish.
Organizational culture
DJDS has a passionate and committed staff who fight for social justice via their work at the organization. They value entrepreneurial spirit, relationship building, clear communication, and a “whole person” culture. Staff describe the culture as “healing in action” – it is inclusive and accepting, sharing and communicative. The staff dynamic is based on respect and trust which enables creativity and openness.
Learn more about Designing Justice + Designing Spaces at www.designingjustice.org.
Responsibilities
General Responsibilities
- Provide strategic organizational leadership and management of DJDS team members providing architectural and design services, as well as real estate development and construction administration services to clients. Identify and implement efficiencies in services areas; optimize processes and best practices.
- Ensure execution of organizational strategic plan and annual organizational objectives, including identifying complex issues and breaking them down into structured frameworks to prepare for continued growth.
- Business development activities to cultivate and secure new client relationships.
- Oversee recruitment, management, and development of staff; provide guidance, support, productivity accountability and professional training.
- Work in partnership with Executive Director and CFO to achieve organizational objectives, promote growth, ensure accountability, and elevate earned income revenue models.
Requirements
CANDIDATE QUALIFICATIONS / EXPERIENCE
Experience:
- Experience as a nonprofit or for-profit leader of an architecture, real estate development or construction firm.
- Minimum of ten years of experience leading and managing diverse, high caliber, and highly collaborative teams, including functional services, operations or administrative components.
- Savvy client management and project management skills to agreed-upon timelines and outcomes.
- Exposure to the nonprofit environment and sector helpful but not required.
- Seasoned and savvy with effective communications, management, and collegial dynamics with a collaborative, multi-dimensional workforce.
Education: A Bachelor’s degree is strongly preferred; however, lived experience and a track record of success are openly and strongly considered.
COMPETENCIES/ATTRIBUTES
The successful candidate will have:
- Commitment to fostering creativity and innovation in the work environment with strong skills in cross-disciplinary collaborative teamwork.
- Ability to work on multiple projects and maintain effective communication and quality control.
- Strong ability to plan, schedule, support, and direct the work of self and others.
- Excellent attention to detail.
- A sense of humor and grace under pressure.
The successful candidate will be:
- Passionate and energetic about DJDS's mission.
- A thought partner to the Executive Director and staff, able to be analytical and imaginative.
- Strong problem solver and solutions seeker; able to work independently.
- Hands-on when necessary and a leader and builder at all times.
- Flexible and adaptable, able to positively impact both strategic and tactical initiatives.
