City and County of Denver

Associate City Planner

City and County of Denver$68K — $113K *
Real Estate & Construction
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's Degree in City or Regional Planning, Architecture, or related field.
  • Three years of entry-level professional planning experience.
  • Experience with long-range plans and zoning codes.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
  • Outstanding interpersonal and customer service skills.

Responsibilities

  • Review and interpret zoning applications for compliance with codes.
  • Lead and manage rezoning applications, including public engagement.
  • Engage with stakeholders to facilitate effective meetings and presentations.
  • Contribute to improving city processes for efficiency and transparency.
  • Collect and analyze various data for planning projects.

Benefits

  • Five medical plans, dental, and vision insurance starting within a month.
  • Generous pension plan with significant employer matching.
  • Over three weeks of PTO in the first year plus 14 paid holidays.
  • Tuition reimbursement up to $2000/year and qualifications for student loan forgiveness.
  • Learning and development opportunities, including courses and resources.
Full Job Description
What We Offer

The City and County of Denver offers a competitive salary commensurate with education and experience. The salary range for this position is $68,773-113,476/year. New hires are typically brought into the organization with a starting pay between $68,773-86,000/year, based on experience and education. We also offer generous benefits for full-time employees which include but is not limited to:
  • Five (5) Medical Plans, Dental, Vision Insurance (effective within 1 month of start date)
  • Pension Plan for Life (Employee contributes 8.45%, Employer matches at 17.95%)
  • 457 (b) Retirement Plan (no early withdrawal fee!)
  • PTO (over 3 weeks in your first year) and 14 paid holidays
  • Merit Increases
  • STD, LTD, HSA, FSA, Life Insurance
  • CARE Bank, Family Leave Benefits
  • Employee Assistance Program, Employee Volunteer Program
  • Tuition Reimbursement (up to $2000/year), We Qualify for Student Loan Forgiveness Program
  • Learning and Development Opportunities; Courses and Career Development Resources
  • EcoPass (unlimited free RTD bus/train rides)


Location & Schedule

This position is located at the Wellington Webb Building, located at 201 W Colfax Ave. Denver, CO 80202.

The City and County of Denver supports a hybrid workplace model. Employees' physical work location is based upon the position's job duties and requirements, customer service and responsiveness, team and individual performance, and business needs and requirements. Our current practice requires in-office work for all employees for a minimum of three days per week. Business needs and initial onboarding may require additional days in the office.

Please note: Downtown parking expenses are the responsibility of the employee. We offer a flexible spending account option specifically for parking; if you elect this option, you can use pre tax dollars for parking. We also offer an RTD 'eco pass' to all City employees- allowing the use of public transportation for free as a City Employee.

Who We Are & What You'll Do

BUILDING COMMUNITY: Denver Community Planning and Development is responsible for visionary city planning and ensuring safe, responsible, sustainable building. CPD regulates planning, zoning, development and maintenance of private property in Denver. We're working hard to make Denver a great place to live, work and play! Visit DenverGov.org/CPD.

The City and County of Denver's Community Planning and Development Department (CPD) is seeking a highly motivated and creative individual to fill a full-time Associate City Planner position. In this position, you will participate on interdisciplinary teams for a variety of exciting and complex regulatory and planning projects that advance Denver's vision of great, inclusive places. Our work is typically performed with the direction and mentorship of team leaders and project managers such as senior and principal city planners in a collaborative, team-based environment.

This Associate City Planner position will report to the rezoning supervisor, and will primarily focus on regulatory planning projects, such as rezonings (also known as map amendments) and text amendments to the zoning code to implement our adopted plans. This position may also assist with long-range planning projects under Denver's ambitious Neighborhood Planning Initiative program. While this position is focused on regulatory planning work, Associate City Planners typically also spend a portion of their time working on other CPD Planning & Policy teams and projects, and so we encourage all qualified candidates interested in working in the Planning & Policy division to apply.

Key responsibilities will include:
  • Review and interpret applications, such as rezonings and sign plans, for compliance with applicable codes, policies, and standards.
  • Lead rezoning applications, including customer support, management of internal and public review, drafting staff reports, presenting to Planning Board and City Council, and ensuring outcomes further the City's adopted plans.
  • Engage with internal and external partners, including facilitating meetings, making effective presentations, and bringing together stakeholders to anticipate and resolve issues.
  • Contribute to efforts to improve city processes to make them more efficient, equitable and transparent.
  • Collect and analyze socioeconomic, land use, transportation and demographic data for planning and regulatory projects
  • Support public meetings and other stakeholder engagement events, including planning, preparation, and participation, and facilitation.


What You'll Bring

We value diversity of ethnicity, race, socioeconomic status, sexual identity, gender, religion, language, ability, and experience and exemplify this through the makeup of our team at all levels. You'll be right at home here if you cultivate strong relationships and push yourself, your work, the people around you and Denver to the next level.

Our ideal candidate has some or all the following experience, skills, and characteristics:
  • Commitment to integrating equity in planning
  • Experience working with long range plans, zoning codes and other land use regulatory tools
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills
  • Outstanding interpersonal and customer service skills
  • Previous experience with community outreach/engagement
  • Familiarity with software used in Denver's planning and regulatory implementation efforts, including Adobe Creative Suite (especially InDesign); GIS applications and Sketchup or other similar design visualization/evaluation software
  • Proficiency in speaking, reading and writing in Spanish is preferred but not required
  • Government experience preferred but not required


Required Minimum Qualifications
  • Education requirement: Bachelor's Degree in City or Regional Planning, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Historic Preservation, Engineering, or a related field.
  • Experience Requirement: Three (3) years of entry-level professional planning experience which includes participating and assisting in developing planning projects, goals, and guidelines and conducting planning studies and research in a variety of social, economic, and physical areas.
  • Education/Experience Equivalency: One (1) year of the appropriate type and level of experience may be substituted for each required year of post-high school education.
  • Additional appropriate education may be substituted for the minimum experience requirements.


Application Deadline

To be considered for this position, you must include the following on your job application (upload the attachment(s) to the Resume/CV section on the My Experience tab):

Resume Cover Letter

Please submit your application as soon as possible and no later than Monday, September 7th, 2026, at 11:59pm to ensure consideration.

About Everything Else

Job Profile
CE0371 City Planner Associate
To view the full job profile including position specifications, physical demands, and probationary period, click here.

Position Type
Unlimited

Position Salary Range
$68,773.00 - $113,476.00

Target Pay
$68,773-86,000/year, based on experience and education

Agency
Community Planning & Development

Redeployment during Citywide Emergencies

City and County of Denver employees may be re-deployed to work in other capacities in their own agencies or in other city agencies to support core functions of the city during a citywide emergency declared by the Mayor.

About City and County of Denver

The City and County of Denver is the capital and most populous city in the state of Colorado. It is located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains, just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The city is known for its beautiful scenery, outdoor recreation opportunities, and vibrant cultural scene. The City and County of Denver provides a wide range of services to its residents, including public safety, transportation, parks and recreation, and community development. The city is governed by a mayor and a 13-member city council.
Learn more about City and County of Denver
Size
11,000 employees
Industry
Revenue
$4 billion

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