The Opportunity:
We have an immediate opening for a regular full-time Parks, Open Space, and Trails Planner to work a hybrid schedule based out of our Fort Collins or Denver, Colorado, Salt Lake City, Utah, or Flagstaff or Tempe, Arizona offices, primarily responsible for park, outdoor recreation, open space, and trail system planning.
Your Key Responsibilities:
- As Project Manager or Assistant Project Manager (depending on experience), maintain overall project schedules, budget, and communication between client and team.
- Perform planning research, documentation, and supporting mapping and graphics in Adobe InDesign and ArcGIS.
- Manage and analyze information collection systems (e.g., assessment, inventory, trends) and the appropriate methods to gather information in a reliable and transparent manner.
- Write planning documents such as system wide parks, recreation, open space, and trails plans, outdoor recreation plans, and others.
- Coordinate, facilitate, and summarize outreach activities, including stakeholder meetings, online outreach, and community public meetings.
- Occasional evening meetings and public events should be anticipated, along with possible travel to visit project sites and public events.
What Youll Bring:
- Bachelors degree in Landscape Architecture, Planning, Engineering, Recreation Management, Environmental Studies, or related field.
- 5+ years of experience at a design or planning consulting firm, or in a local government parks, recreation, open space, and/or trails department.
- Knowledge of parks, outdoor recreation, and trail planning principles and practices, including land use planning, site planning and design, and land development codes.
- Experience in local government system plans for parks, recreation, open space, or trails.
- Expertise in Microsoft Office, ArcGIS, and Adobe Creative Cloud, especially InDesign (Photoshop, Illustrator a plus) with example products of mapping and graphics.
- Excellent verbal, interpersonal, and public speaking skills.
- Ability to work in a fast-paced, collaborative environment, multitask, and be able to adjust to daily changes in priorities to meet deadlines.
- Desire to work independently, yet collaboratively in a team environment.
- Enthusiastic and self-motivated, with a willingness to expand the knowledge base and solve problems covering a wide range of projects and topics.
- Possess a valid drivers license and a clean driving record.
- Be able to work cooperatively in a team-oriented setting.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Cultivate exceptional relationships with federal, state, and local land managers.
- Demonstrated knowledge of wildlife corridors, comprehensive plans, land development codes, vision documents, and development processes.
- Experience working with social media and website development.
- Self-starters with an eye for detail, a dedication to accuracy, and a passion for not just incorporating best practices, but identifying and testing new planning ideas, practices, and technologies, are encouraged to apply.
What We Offer:
- Compensation - This is a full-time position paid on a salaried basis between $70,000 to $105,000 annually, depending on experience and education.
- Benefits - A comprehensive benefits package which includes medical, dental and vision plans, paid Life/AD&D, Short-Term and Long-Term Disability coverage, Paid Family Leave, a 401(k) with a firm match, and a robust Employee Assistance Program with free counseling and mental health services.
- Time Off - Paid Time Off starting at 18 days per year available as accrued, plus 9 paid holidays.
- Professional Development - Support for professional conferences and trainings, internal leadership development and innovation program, tuition reimbursement, bonus programs for peer-reviewed publications and academic achievements, and work on a variety of interesting projects.
- Perks - Wellness program with $125 annual Wellness Bucks allowance, paid Costco memberships, Babies-at-Work program, paid parking, and paid public transit costs.
- Flexible Work Schedules - Hybrid work schedule allowing for 2 days of remote work per week depending on the position, plus flexible schedules such as 4 x 10, 9 x 80, or 4 ½ day schedules.
If interested, please apply and include a resume, a cover letter, writing samples, digital portfolio, and maps to demonstrate your skill and experience. Application deadline September 18, 2026.
To learn more about our firm culture and the work we do, check us out on social media:
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