Job Title: Downtown & Urban Development Manager
Closing: Fri. 09/18/26 11:59 PM Eastern Time
Salary: $77,122.00 - $98,331.00/Year
Job Type: Regular Full-Time
Location: 433 Hay Street, Fayetteville, NC 28301, North Carolina
Department: City Manager's Office

INCOMPLETE APPLICATIONS WILL NOT BE PROCESSED.

A RESUME WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED IN DETERMINING YOUR QUALIFICATIONS FOR THIS POSITION.

The City of Fayetteville is currently recruiting for a Downtown & Urban Development Manager to serve as the City's chief steward of Downtown Fayetteville and provides visionary leadership to advance the downtown as the community's economic, cultural, civic, entertainment, and tourism center. The position is responsible for fostering economic vitality, encouraging redevelopment and private investment, enhancing placemaking, strengthening public-private partnerships, preserving the community's historic assets, and ensuring exceptional stewardship of the downtown experience and public realm.

Serving as the City's lead professional for downtown revitalization, the Downtown & Urban Development Manager plans, directs, implements, coordinates, and evaluates comprehensive strategies and initiatives that promote business recruitment and retention, redevelopment, destination development, place management, historic preservation, placemaking, and quality-of-life improvements. The position leads the City's day-to-day downtown management function by proactively identifying, prioritizing, and coordinating the resolution of issues affecting the public realm, including cleanliness, litter, graffiti, landscaping, sidewalks, streetscapes, lighting, parking, accessibility, signage, wayfinding, code compliance, beautification, and other quality-of-life concerns. Working collaboratively across multiple City departments—including Public Services, Engineering, Traffic Services, Police, Fire, Community Safety, Transit, Parking, Parks and Recreation, Code Enforcement, and other City departments—as well as elected officials, partner organizations, businesses, property owners, developers, and community stakeholders, the position ensures Downtown Fayetteville remains clean, safe, welcoming, economically competitive, and attractive for residents, visitors, businesses, and investors.

The Downtown & Urban Development Manager serves as the City's principal advisor on downtown revitalization strategies, redevelopment opportunities, economic development initiatives, placemaking, urban design, and downtown policy. The position exercises considerable independent judgment, initiative, and professional discretion while developing innovative solutions, building consensus among diverse stakeholders, facilitating public-private partnerships, and coordinating complex, cross-departmental initiatives that advance the City's strategic priorities.

Success in this position is measured through demonstrable improvements in private investment, redevelopment activity, business recruitment and retention, commercial occupancy, downtown housing, public realm quality, cleanliness, safety, visitor experience, activation of public spaces, stakeholder satisfaction, and the overall vitality, competitiveness, and long-term sustainability of Downtown Fayetteville.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

Any combination of experience and training that would likely provide the required knowledge and abilities is qualifying. A typical way to obtain the knowledge and abilities would be:

Experience: 
Five years of progressively responsible professional experience in downtown management, economic development, redevelopment, planning, public administration, commercial real estate, community development, Main Street management, business improvement district management, or closely related fields, including experience leading complex projects and working collaboratively with diverse stakeholders.

Preferred: 
Experience working within a municipal government or public-private partnership environment.

Training: 
Equivalent to a Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university in Public Administration, Urban Planning, Community Development, Business Administration, Economic Development, Architecture, Historic Preservation, Real Estate, or a closely related field; A Master's degree is preferred.

LICENSING & CERTIFICATIONS:

Required:

None.

Preferred:
Certified Economic Developer (CEcD), American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP), Project Management Professional (PMP), National Main Street Credential or equivalent downtown management certification or International Downtown Association professional credentials.

• SBI/Fingerprinting Criminal History Record Check Requirement: To comply with Sessions Law 2025-16, applicants offered a position with the City may be subject to a criminal history record check of State and National Repositories of Criminal Histories conducted by the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) in accordance with G.S. 143B-1209.26. The City may consider the results of these criminal history record checks in its hiring decisions.

From the time of closing, the selection process is anticipated to last approximately 4 - 6 weeks. The process will consist of a panel interview with the selected candidate being subject to a pre-employment DOT drug screen, DOT physical, background check, and a driving history check.

BENEFITS INCLUDE:

• Health & Dental Insurance
• Paid Vacation, Sick Leave and Holidays
• Retirement
• Death Benefit
• Supplemental Benefits

To apply or for more information, please visit the City’s Employment Opportunities website: https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/fayetteville

The City of Fayetteville is an Equal Opportunity Employer and values diversity at all levels of its workforce.

The City of Fayetteville reserves the right to close this job posting at any time without notice.