Assistant/Associate Planner (20620785)

Do you enjoy meaningful and challenging work as a city planner? Looking for a job where you can take on interesting projects that help make the community better? Want to join a team of skilled and dedicated professionals? If this sounds good to you, apply to work with us at Menlo Park and become part of our energetic team!

The City of Menlo Park is currently recruiting for two city planners to join the Community Development Department. The planner series (assistant and associate) provides an excellent opportunity to gain technical and project management skills and experience in both current and long range planning. As a small city department with a wide variety of projects, our city planners have the opportunity to work closely with an interdepartmental team on a variety of projects and subject areas.

The Community Development Department works to ensure a sustainable and vibrant community that supports economic wellbeing and a high quality of life for Menlo Park’s residents, businesses, and visitors. It performs numerous vital core services that include long-range planning, current planning, and building permitting and inspection services.

The Community Development Department includes the Building, Housing, and Planning Divisions. The Planning Division includes a current planning and long range planning team. The current planning team generally focuses on project management at multiple levels ranging from building permit reviews to environmental analysis of complex development projects. The advanced planning team currently focuses on the implementation of the City’s long range and policy documents.

As part of the recruitment, the City will evaluate candidate interests, experiences, and education to determine which level the candidate could fill and whether the candidate would be on the current or long range planning team. The position will be filled by the City at the level consistent with the qualifications and experience of the candidate selected.

A job description, including examples of typical job functions and qualifying knowledge, skills, and abilities, is available by clicking on the appropriate Job Description below:

Job PDF:

https://www.calopps.org/sites/default/files/Assistant%20and%20Associate%20Planner%20Classification.pdf

Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate possesses a genuine desire to serve the Menlo Park community, exhibits curiosity and a strong desire to learn and grow professionally, and has the experience or ability to learn technical planning skills. The candidate shall have excellent attention to detail and strong communication, report writing, and collaboration skills. The ideal candidate is an independent thinker who thrives in a fast-paced, constantly changing environment; is successful collaborating vertically and horizontally in the organization; demonstrates a can-do attitude; fosters a team environment; works well with colleagues, contractors/architects/engineers, consultants, and the public.

Minimum Qualifications

Any combination of training and experience that would provide the required knowledge, skills, and abilities is qualifying. A typical way to obtain the required qualifications would be:

Assistant Planner

• Equivalent to graduation from an accredited four-year college or university with major coursework in urban planning, or a closely related field
• One (1) year of full-time professional planning experience
• Possession of a valid California driver's license and a satisfactory driving record

Associate Planner

• Equivalent to graduation from an accredited four-year college or university with major coursework in urban planning, or a closely related field
• Three (3) years of increasingly responsible full-time professional planning experience
• Possession of a valid California driver's license and a satisfactory driving record

Benefits

Salary:

Assistant Planner: $99,579 to $121,039 Annually*
Associate Planner: $110,643 to $134,487 Annually*

*Effective the beginning of the first full pay period following July 1, 2025, the pay rates for employees in this representation unit shall be increased by an amount equal to three and one half percent (3.5%).

The City offers an excellent benefit package consisting of:

• Health Insurance: City contribution up to $2,655 per month towards a Cafeteria Plan which can be used to purchase medical insurance and participate in a flexible spending account for health care and/or child care reimbursement
• Dental: City-paid coverage for employee and dependents
• Vision: City-paid coverage for employee and dependents
• Vacation: 88 - 176 hours of vacation leave accrual each year, depending on length of service
• Sick Leave: 96 hours of sick leave accrued each year
• Holidays: 11 official holidays; 34 hours of floating holiday time per year; 8 “Day of Reflection” hours per year in recognition of holidays of individual and community importance
• Retirement: CalPERS: For classic members 2.0% @ 60 formula. For all others, 2.0% @ 62 formula
• Deferred Compensation: Voluntary participation in City Plans.
• Life Insurance: City-paid policy equal to 1.5 times regular annual wage
• Long Term Disability: City-paid coverage
• Educational leave and tuition reimbursement
• A City-paid Caltrain GoPass. The Menlo Park campus is centrally located within walking distance from Caltrain and downtown Menlo Park.
• A City-paid BayPass. This pilot program offers employees unlimited travel for both work and personal trips on 25 Bay Area transit agencies that use the Clipper card.
• A transportation allowance program provides employees with $1.50 per day when they walk, bicycle or carpool to work at least once per week.
• Employees are provided with access to an on-site gym at no cost

For additional benefit information, visit
www.menlopark.gov
and review the City of Menlo Park and SEIU Memorandum of Understanding.

Special Instructions

IMPORTANT: Please be sure to fill out the required City application completely, including all relevant work experience. Applications with “See Resume” as a substitution for the work experience description and/or unclear past employment information will not be considered.

Applications will be screened according to the qualifications outlined in this announcement. Not all applications which may meet the minimum requirements will proceed to the next phase of the recruitment process. If 25 or fewer applications are received, the eligibility list will be established based on application review. If 26 or more applications are received, the most qualified candidates will be invited to participate in an Oral Board Interview tentatively scheduled for the week of June 23, 2025. All applicants will be notified by email as to whether or not they are invited to participate further in the selection process.

An Eligible List will be established as a result of this examination process and will be valid for a period of six (6) months. The list may be extended up to a maximum of two (2) years. The hiring department will review the Eligible List to determine which candidates will be invited to the department selection process.

The City of Menlo Park is an Equal Opportunity Employer. It is the policy of the City of Menlo Park not to discriminate against all qualified applicants or employees. We will make reasonable efforts in the selection process to accommodate persons with disabilities. Please contact Human Resources at (650) 330-6670 or
jobs@menlopark.gov
prior to the closing date for accommodation requests.

Before receiving an offer of employment, the candidate will be required to successfully complete a criminal conviction history questionnaire, DOJ fingerprinting, and an Occuscreen background check.

Applicants must be successful in all phases of the selection process to be considered for this position.

In accordance with the Immigration Reform and Control Act, all potential employees are required to provide proof of U.S. Citizenship or authorization to work in the United States.

Closing Date/Time: 6/13/2025 at 8am

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• City of Menlo Park

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