Regional Manager, New Community Lease-Up

The Role:

The Regional Manager, New Community Lease-Up is the accountable regional operations leader for assigned affordable housing communities from pre-opening readiness through stabilization and formal handoff to long-term operations. The role translates each development plan into an organized, compliant, resident-focused operating launch and ensures that people, systems, apartment readiness, applications, marketing, compliance, financial controls, and cross-functional decisions move together against one plan.

Reporting to the Senior Director, New Community Operations, this leader directs Community Managers and community associates assigned to lease-up communities. The Regional Manager partners closely with Development, Construction, Compliance, Marketing, Applications and Property Systems, Accounting, Human Resources, Building Services, Asset Management, ownership partners, housing agencies, and service providers. The role owns day-to-day execution, identifies risks early, assigns clear owners and deadlines, and escalates decisions that could affect opening, occupancy, compliance, resident experience, or financial performance.

Success in this role is measured by safe, timely openings; apartment delivery and acceptance; application processing and file quality; move-in pace; occupancy and revenue performance against approved goals; budget control; audit readiness; team preparedness; accurate reporting; and a complete transition to stabilized operations.

The incumbent must demonstrate sound judgment, strong organization, urgency, accountability, integrity, and positive engagement with applicants, residents, team members, partners, and regulators.

• An Aptitude for Connecting - Must possessa strong sense for creating a sense of community, as well as the drive to go the extra mile to create a positive experience for all residents and staff. Your success and purpose are driven by the relationships that you build within your communities, including vendor partners, regulatory, and social services partnerships. This includes adopting a collaborative approach to create consistent, favorable circumstances that foster success and effectiveness for the Organization and the communities.
• An Authentic Attitude - Consistently demonstrate an open and professional attitude and approach when accessing and resolving resident and staff concerns. This includes, but is not limited to, seeking resources throughout the organization via the organization's support services and senior leadership.
• An Approach that is positive and Professional - Consistently demonstrate an approach of active listening and understand that your participation and support are integral to the success of Avanath, ensuring that each resident and staff member feels seen, heard, and valued as you and the staff work to resolve challenges.

Qualifications

• Five or more years of progressive multifamily property management experience, including multi-site or regional leadership responsibility.
• Demonstrated success leading one or more new construction or substantial rehabilitation lease-ups from pre-opening through stabilization.
• Strong working knowledge of affordable housing operations and applicant eligibility processes. Direct experience with LIHTC is required; experience with HUD, project-based rental assistance, tax-exempt bonds, HOME, local housing programs, or layered regulatory programs is strongly preferred.
• Ability to read and apply the Tenant Selection Plan, Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing Plan, regulatory agreements, income and rent limits, utility allowances, occupancy standards, leasing criteria, and agency requirements applicable to each community.
• Experience building and managing detailed project plans, readiness checklists, owners, deadlines, dependencies, risks, and recurring reporting across multiple communities.
• Working knowledge of property management, affordable compliance, customer relationship management, screening, document management, and reporting systems. Experience with Yardi and RentCafe is preferred.
• Ability to analyze budgets, leasing velocity, application conversion, unit readiness, rent collections, subsidy receipts, marketing results, staffing productivity, and operating variances.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to present concise status, risks, decisions, and recovery plans to senior leaders and ownership partners.
• Affordable housing or occupancy certification such as HCCP, SHCM, CPO, COS, or equivalent is preferred.
• Valid driver's license and ability to travel frequently within assigned regions, including overnight travel as business needs require.

Key Accountabilities

+ Lease-Up Planning, Governance & Accountability

• Own the master lease-up plan for each assigned community from pre-opening through stabilization, with clear action steps, responsible owners, target dates, dependencies, current status, and escalation points.
• Lead recurring lease-up meetings using one source of truth. Confirm decisions, document action items, assign deadlines, and follow through until closure.
• Establish opening and stabilization benchmarks with the Senior Director, ownership, Asset Management, Development, and Compliance. Maintain a written definition of readiness and stabilization for each community.
• Maintain a current risk and decision log covering construction delivery, certificates and permits, staffing, training, technology, marketing, application processing, compliance, unit readiness, move-ins, budget, and resident communications.
• Escalate missed milestones and emerging risks early with a specific recovery plan, decision needed, accountable owner, and revised completion date.
• Coordinate the final handoff to long-term operations, including open items, warranties, vendor obligations, compliance status, financial status, resident issues, staffing, system access, records, and lessons learned.

+ Staff Leadership

• Must visit the communities with the assigned portfolio a minimum of 3-4 times per week.
• Responsible for managing up to 10 sites and a diverse workforce.
• Direct and support the personnel and performance of each site, coaching leaders, and providing clear and concise feedback and direction, selection, and staffing decision-making.
• Work with and support all back office and corporate support functions, which include but are not limited to compliance, finance and accounting, asset management, capital projects, and human resources.
• Assesses and completes the team's performance on an annual basis.
• Recognizes opportunities for team development when there are performance-based and cultural concerns.
• Challenges all team members to achieve higher levels of performance by establishing and communicating clear goals.
• Able to respond to any team member concern, maintenance condition, resident problem, breach of security, and/or emergency.
• Coordinates and oversees on-site operations, including budget implementation, compliance matters, vendor relationships, contractor workmanship, rent collections, accounts payable, etc., to ensure smooth operations of the property.

+ Pre-Opening & Physical Readiness

• Partner with Development and Construction to maintain an accurate apartment delivery schedule, certificate and inspection status, punch completion plan, key and access plan, building systems training, warranty records, and phased occupancy sequence.
• Coordinate apartment acceptance walks with site and Building Services teams. Track release date, application readiness, approval, scheduled move-in, actual move-in, and total hold days for every apartment.
• Confirm readiness of the management office, model or tour path, signage, life-safety systems, access control, surveillance, lighting, elevators, utilities, internet, phones, computers, printers, payment processes, and emergency procedures before public opening.
• Confirm all required contracts, vendors, supplies, furniture, equipment, inspections, licenses, postings, insurance documentation, keys, manuals, and service schedules are in place and understood by the site team.

+ Affordable Housing Compliance & Applicant Flow

• Partner with Compliance to create a community-specific regulatory matrix that identifies each program, set-aside, rent and income limit, unit designation, eligibility rule, required approval, reporting obligation, and file review standard.
• Ensure leasing activity follows the approved Tenant Selection Plan and Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing Plan, including waitlist order, preferences, outreach, reasonable accommodation, language access, screening, denials, appeals, and required notices.
• Establish a controlled applicant workflow from inquiry through move-in. Monitor waitlist readiness, appointments, document collection, verifications, third-party processing, corrections, approvals, denials, appeals, lease execution, and move-in scheduling.
• Ensure unit offers match the approved unit designation matrix and occupancy requirements. Prevent unapproved substitutions or moves that could create compliance risk.
• Review application aging, incomplete files, returned files, approval turn times, move-in readiness, and denial trends at least weekly. Remove workflow barriers and escalate decisions that threaten the occupancy plan.
• Ensure files and systems are complete, accurate, secure, and audit-ready before move-in. Coordinate quality-control reviews and timely correction of findings.

+ Leasing, Marketing & Occupancy Performance

• Translate the approved pro forma and construction delivery schedule into weekly and monthly goals for outreach, appointments, applications, approvals, leases, move-ins, occupancy, rental income, and subsidy income.
• Partner with Marketing to execute the approved outreach and advertising plan, maintain required marketing records, monitor source performance, and adjust tactics based on qualified demand and conversion results.
• Lead weekly pipeline review by bedroom type, unit designation, waitlist position, application stage, barrier, next action, owner, and expected move-in date.
• Monitor leasing velocity and the full conversion funnel. Develop written recovery plans when traffic, applications, approvals, executed leases, move-ins, or occupancy fall behind goal.
• Coordinate resident-facing opening and move-in communications so expectations, appointments, payments, keys, documents, accessibility needs, and building rules are clear.

+ Financial Management & Reporting

• Assist in developing and managing pre-opening and lease-up operating budgets, staffing plans, marketing budgets, purchasing, contracts, and opening costs.
• Review actual performance against approved budget and lease-up goals. Explain material variances and implement corrective plans with clear owners and dates.
• Monitor rental income, subsidy and assistance payments, concessions or approved incentives, delinquency, vacancy loss, controllable expenses, marketing cost per qualified application and move-in, and other approved performance measures.
• Produce accurate, concise, and timely reporting for the Senior Director, ownership, Asset Management, Development, and other stakeholders. Reports must distinguish completed work, upcoming milestones, decisions required, risks, and recovery actions.
• Protect financial controls by confirming approved purchasing, contract authority, invoice coding, deposits, payment posting, resident ledger setup, banking processes, and supporting documentation.

+Team Leadership & Training

• Partner with Human Resources and Recruiting to establish the staffing model, hiring dates, onboarding plan, temporary support needs, schedules, and coverage required for each phase of lease-up.
• Direct and support Community Managers and site teams through clear goals, daily priorities, coaching, workload balancing, and timely feedback.
• Ensure every team member is trained and able to perform assigned tasks before opening, including fair housing, affordable housing requirements, systems, applicant communication, file handling, leasing, move-ins, payments, emergency protocols, and customer service.
• Create cross-coverage and backup plans for high-volume application processing, compliance review, leasing, move-in days, and unexpected absences.
• Promote a culture of accountability, teamwork, continuous improvement, and respect. Recognize strong performance and address performance or conduct concerns promptly with Human Resources.

+ Resident Relations & Customer Service

• Ensure applicants and residents receive timely, accurate, respectful, and consistent communication throughout the lease-up process.
• Monitor complaints, missed calls, unresolved inquiries, reasonable accommodation requests, application disputes, move-in issues, and service concerns. Assign ownership and confirm resolution.
• Coordinate with Resident Services and community partners to support successful move-ins and connect residents with appropriate resources while preserving confidentiality and professional boundaries.
• Ensure the opening experience reflects Avanath standards for dignity, fairness, responsiveness, safety, and service.

+ Performance Measures

Specific targets will be established for each community based on its approved development schedule, regulatory requirements, pro forma, construction delivery plan, and operating budget. Core measures include:

• Opening readiness milestones completed on time.
• Apartments delivered, accepted, and moved into according to plan.
• Application volume, aging, approval time, correction rate, and file quality.
• Executed leases and net move-ins compared with approved goals.
• Occupancy, rental income, subsidy receipts, delinquency, and controlla