Overview
Chief Real Estate Development Officer Jobs in Greater Seattle Area at Homestead Community Land Trust
Title: Chief Real Estate Development Officer
Company: Homestead Community Land Trust
Location: Greater Seattle Area
The Chief Real Estate Development Officer (CREDO) is a senior leadership role responsible for the execution and overall performance of Homestead’s real estate platform, including affordable homeownership development, land strategy, and growth of assets in trust.
Reporting to the CEO, the CREDO leads all development activity, manages the real estate team, and ensures projects are delivered on time, within budget, and in alignment with Homestead’s financial, environmental, and equity goals.
Homestead’s current pipeline of over 500 homes includes multiple projects in construction, predevelopment, and early-stage planning, as well as large, complex developments that will define the organization’s next phase of growth. The CREDO will step into this active pipeline immediately, assuming responsibility for advancing projects while strengthening systems, team performance, and long-term organizational capacity.
Homestead prioritizes housing developments initiated or substantially supported by community coalitions and partners. The CREDO will integrate community partner priorities throughout all phases of project development, working in close coordination with leadership responsible for relationship management and advocacy. The CREDO operates within a diverse, equity-centered organization and must be highly effective at working across lines of race, culture, and lived experience, building trust with staff, partners, and communities.
Key Responsibilities
- Own and manage Homestead’s full real estate pipeline from site identification and feasibility through funding, construction, and project completion
- Immediately assume leadership of an active portfolio spanning construction, predevelopment, and early-stage planning
- Directly lead complex projects, overseeing entitlement, design, and construction in collaboration with architects, contractors, consultants, and public agencies to ensure delivery on time, within budget, and to high quality standards
- Advance complex, high-impact developments in an environment where funding is assembled over time, applying sound judgment to balance risk with forward momentum
- Collaborate with senior leadership to expand organizational and resource capacity to support pipeline growth
- Prepare for and lead monthly meetings of the Board of Delegates Real Estate Development Committee and support decision-making at the Board level
- Supervise and develop real estate development staff through clear goal-setting, delegated authority, regular feedback, and accountability for outcomes
- Partner with the CEO on capital strategies, major funding decisions, and lender relationships
- Build the operational systems, policies, and accountability structures needed to scale production without increasing risk, including leading the implementation and consistent use of Procore as a core project management and financial tracking platform
- Design and implement the systems, standards, and processes that enable consistent, high-quality project delivery and long-term organizational scale
- Represent Homestead with public agencies, lenders, and development partners
- Negotiate key agreements and manage complex partnerships
- Partner with the CEO and organizational leadership on community-based development efforts, ensuring alignment between project execution and community priorities
- Ensure development, contracting, and engagement practices align with Homestead’s commitment to racial and social equity, including community-informed and culturally responsive approaches
- Serve as a strategic partner to the CEO on real estate, pipeline growth, and risk
- Bring forward clear recommendations on major decisions while operating independently within defined parameters
- Own asset management functions, including post-construction performance, warranties, and resolution of construction-related issues, and provide technical support to the homeownership team to support long-term stewardship
- Implement systems and feedback loops that translate construction and operational insights into improved standards, specifications, and delivery practices, ensuring issues are not repeated across projects
Authority and Decision-Making
The CREDO has primary authority over real estate development operations within established underwriting, budget, and risk parameters. Decisions that exceed these parameters, or carry significant strategic or financial implications, are made in partnership with the CEO and senior leadership team.
Required Qualifications:
- 8–12+ years of real estate development experience
- Primary responsibility for at least 2 successful simultaneous multifamily housing developments within the last 7 years
- Strong financial and pro forma skills
- Experience supervising staff and leading teams
- Demonstrated experience in developing and executing an organizational real estate portfolio development strategy
- Experience in affordable housing or mission-driven development
- Familiarity with non-federal public funding sources and homeownership capital stacks
- Demonstrated ability to identify and secure non-traditional or complex funding sources
- Experience with community-based development or land stewardship models
What Success Looks Like in This Role
- Takes ownership of outcomes and consistently drives projects to successful completion
- Advances and expands development with community partners in ways that respond to their priorities for affordable homeownership
- Exercises strong decision judgment by operating independently within defined parameters and bringing forward complex or high-impact issues with clear analysis, options, and recommendations
- Builds and institutionalizes systems that ensure consistent execution, reduce risk, and eliminate repeat issues across projects
- Leads effectively in a diverse, equity-centered organization
- Approaches complex, ambitious projects with a solutions-oriented mindset that expands impact
- Exercises sound judgment to advance projects as funding is assembled over time, balancing risk with forward momentum
- Distinguishes between manageable risk and true infeasibility, and brings forward clear recommendations when conditions warrant reassessment
- Demonstrates the ability to scale development through disciplined strategy, partnerships, and execution
- Makes timely, well-reasoned decisions in complex and evolving conditions
Compensation
Salary: $170,000
Full-time, exempt position with benefits including health, dental, and vision insurance, retirement plan, and paid leave
Position starts in early July 2026.
Inclusiveness Statement
Homestead Community Land Trust is an equal-opportunity employer with a multicultural, diverse staff. We are committed to ongoing and continuous growth in our awareness of the ways bias and privilege affect our work together, and how we can create a workplace culture that welcomes and values all people. We seek to recruit, retain and support people whose diverse backgrounds form a strong, collaborative team. We do not discriminate on the basis of age, race, creed, gender, gender identity, marital status, veteran’s status, national origin, disability or sexual orientation.
TO APPLY
Submit your resume and cover letter to [email protected]. Your cover letter should highlight your skills and experience relevant to this position and explain why our mission aligns with your professional goals. We do not use AI to filter applications. Please include two professional references. Skills testing may be part of the interview process.
