Director, Real Estate Advisory (TOD)

AECOM is seeking a dynamic and visionary Director of Real Estate Advisory Services to lead and expand our growing practice supporting public, private, and institutional clients. With a particular focus on Transit Oriented Development (TOD). This hybrid role is expected to be based in Seattle, WA; Minneapolis, MN; Chicago, IL; or Austin, TX. Other office locations may be considered depending on the candidate’s experience and qualifications.

AECOM’s Buildings + Places (B+P) Consulting practice integrates traditional urban planning and design with real estate advisory and strategic consulting to help our clients create implementable plans. With more than 200 teammates nationally, we connect and create places that matter and communities that thrive by bringing together policy, development, planning, design, resilience, and economics.

Within that team, our Real Estate Advisory team leverages our experience in real estate strategy, development, governance, and finance to help our clients understand local market fundamentals, navigate complex transactions, and leverage real property to achieve policy goals, create value, and deliver exceptional buildings and places in service of an increasingly connected world. This leadership role entails making decisions about market demand, financial feasibility, and deal structure that balance financial feasibility/value, social benefits, and economic development for government agencies, transportation authorities, institutions, and commercial real-estate developers and investors.

The Real Estate Advisory Director’s responsibilities are organized broadly around three core functions in order of priority:

• Leading engagement with specific transit agencies and land-use authorities to provide advice on joint development, TOD planning and implementation, and housing production.

• Advising on transit agency policy and procedures that can improve the integration of urban form, land use, and broader economic goals (e.g., housing, jobs, mode shift, etc.) into the planning and implementation of new transit capital investments; and

• Supporting the physical planning, design, and delivery of transit-oriented development projects throughout the project lifecycle.

As a Director, you will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of communities and cities by cultivating specific client relationships and building teams to execute advisory projects or programs, including developing and implementing quantitative analysis including financial modeling; station area plans; conducting market analyses; identifying best practices; leading stakeholder engagement; developing graphics and presentations to communicate key findings; and writing sections of client deliverables and proposals.

This leadership position requires the ability to serve as the principal-in-charge or senior advisor on complex TOD projects, ensuring successful delivery and exceptional client satisfaction, lead client engagements, balance multiple projects and deadlines, delegate and oversee the work of junior staff, and communicate clearly with all project stakeholders including internal staff, subject matter experts, client representatives, owners and developers, regulatory authorities, and community members.

The core service areas include the following:

• Development feasibility studies

• Development planning (Station Area Plans; Joint Development Framework Plans; etc)

• Development solicitations (RFQs, RFPs, etc.)

• Deal structure and governance advice

• Asset strategy and business case analysis

• Portfolio strategy and optimization

• Organizational policies and procedures

• Affordable housing implementation strategies

• Market studies and highest and best use analysis