Community Development Jobs in Cambridge, MA (NOW HIRING)

The Housing Development Manager’s primary responsibility is to manage affordable housing proposals from developers seeking local and/or federal funding from the City. This includes regular coordination with affordable housing developers to guide them through eligibility guidelines, the application process, necessary due diligence items, and federal compliance requirements, as applicable. It also includes reviewing applications, underwriting, making financing recommendations, reviewing invoices, tracking loan spenddown, and coordinating with City staff to create funding commitment letters and loan documents. The Housing Development Manager will review development proposals from concept to acquisition, construction and/or rehab, through to development completion. The Housing Development Manager is required to perform all similar or related duties.

The essential functions or duties listed below are intended only as illustrations of the various type of work that may be performed. The omission of specific statements of duties does not exclude them from the position if the work is similar, related, or a logical assignment to the position.

• Evaluate developer proposals for acquisition or development funds by reviewing funding applications, including financial proformas with project cash flow, sources, and uses;
• Perform underwriting review with an understanding of City funding source requirements prior to making a recommendation to fund the acquisition and/or development of a property;
• Collaborate with other City staff to identify City funding sources and provide recommendations on other non-City funding sources where necessary;
• Prepare written analyses and recommendations on housing development proposals;
• Draft conditional commitment letters;
• Track due diligence items in preparation for closings, participate in closing calls and collaborate with colleagues both within Housing and other Strategy & Development divisions and City departments as well as developers on closings;
• Prepare information on development work as needed, including data tracking and other reporting requirements;
• Assists in completing environmental reviews and tracking compliance with other state and federal regulations, as necessary;
• Maintaining the all-affordable housing pipeline;
• Track development progress during construction, including processing requests for payment, and reviewing lender advisor reports;
• Conduct research and analyses on other sources needed to expand existing development efforts, including Somerville’s 100 Homes partnership with Somerville Community Corporation;
• Work to attract developers of affordable housing to conduct work in Somerville;
• Attend and participate in occasional evening meetings as needed; Other duties as assigned.

Education and Experience: Duties involve application of semi-complex procedures requiring special knowledge or ability, e.g., advanced booking or billing procedures, transcription and stenography; ability to operate specialized heavy motor equipment such as a snowplow, grader, backhoe, etc.; includes water or wastewater operation licensing where applicable. Equivalent to high school plus additional training equal to one to two years of college, attainment of Associates level of post-secondary education and/or experience. More than three years, up to and including five years;

Knowledge, Abilities and Skill

Knowledge: Proficiency in Microsoft Office, specifically Word and Excel; working knowledge of Teams. Knowledge of Community Preservation Act, and Municipal Housing Trusts is highly preferred. Familiarity with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Community Development Block Grant, HOME Investment Partnerships Program. Experience in public administration and/or strategies and programs geared toward maintaining and expanding affordable housing opportunities is beneficial;

Ability: Ability to communicate clearly and effectively, both verbally and in writing, with other City departments, state and federal agencies, architects, contractors, developers, owners, supervisors, employees, and the general public. Ability to meet and deal with the public appropriately; ability to handle problems and emergencies effectively; ability to multi-task and recognize and adjust to shifting work priorities as needed; ability to operate a computer; ability to maintain confidential information; ability to maintain, manage, and organize records; ability to deal appropriately with City employees, city officials and the general public.

Skill: This position requires strong oral and written communication skills, excellent customer service skills; excellent analytical skills, and associated spreadsheet software skills in Excel. Bi-lingual or multilingual ability in Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian-Creole and/or Nepali is preferred but not required.

The work environment involves everyday discomforts typical of offices, with occasional exposure to outside elements. Noise or physical surroundings may be distracting, but conditions are generally not unpleasant. Employee may be required to work beyond normal business hours in response to attend evening meetings or complete work assignments.

Physical and Mental Requirements

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the position's essential functions.

Physical Skills

Few physical demands are required to perform the work. Work effort principally involves sitting to perform work tasks, with intermittent periods of stooping, walking, and standing. May also be some occasional lifting of objects such as office equipment and computer paper (up to 30 lbs.)

Motor Skills

Duties are largely mental rather than physical, but the job may occasionally require minimal motor skills for activities such as moving objects, operating a telephone, personal computer and/or most other office equipment including word processing, filing and sorting of papers.

Visual Skills

Visual demands require constantly reading documents for general understanding and analytical purposes.

Hours: Full-time

Salary: $75,000 - $78,000

Union: Non-Union

FLSA: Exempt

Date Posted: August 26, 2026

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The City of Somerville is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, age, national origin, disability or any other protected category. Women, minorities, veterans, and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

Auxiliary aids and services, written materials in alternative formats, and reasonable modifications in policies and procedures will be provided to qualified individuals with disabilities free of charge, upon request. Persons with disabilities who need auxiliary aids and services for effective communication (i.e., CART, ASL), written materials in alternative formats, or reasonable modifications in policies and procedures in order to access the programs, activities, and meetings of the City of Somerville should please contact the ADA Coordinator at 617-625-6600 x 2059 or ADA@somervillema.gov.

Pre-Employment Requirements for All Employees:

• MA Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) clearance
• Completion of Conflict-of-Interest Law Education training for municipal employees

Overview of Total Rewards:

• 4 weeks annual vacation for non-union positions. Union positions vary by contract. Please note, police officers are members of the SPEA union. Public Health Nurses are part of Union A (SMEA).
• Medical insurance through the Group Insurance Commission (GIC) - 80% of premium costs paid by City
• Dental coverage low and high plans through Cigna
• Vision care through Vision Service Plan (VSP)
• Long term disability through Sun Life
• Group and voluntary life insurance through Boston Mutual
• Health Care and Dependent Care flexible spending through Benefit Strategies
• Deferred compensation plans through a choice of three vendors
• Free, confidential services through the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provided by E4Health
• Annual cancer screening & wellness release
• Somerville Retirement Pension System
• Tuition reimbursement
• MBTA pass program
• FREE Blue Bikes membership
• Eligible employer for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF)

Benefits listed are for benefits-eligible positions and the above information is meant to be a general overview of the benefit programs offered by the City of Somerville and not a binding contract.