Chief Building Official (Bureau Manager)

Chief Building Official (Bureau Manager)

City of Long Beach, CA

Salary DOE/DOQ: $171,702.98 - $207,050.84* 

*Appointment to this position is expected to be at or below the midpoint ($189,376.91) of the salary range, however, the final amount will be carefully determined based on the candidate's knowledge, skills, qualifications, and an evaluation of internal equity within the organization.

The City of Long Beach, CA (City), is seeking an experienced and forward-thinking leader to serve as its next Chief Building Official (Bureau Manager), tasked with overseeing the Building & Safety Bureau within the Community Development Department. As the Bureau Manager, reporting directly to the Director of Community Development, this individual will guide a team of approximately 100 staff who safeguard Long Beach’s built environment through permitting, inspections, and plan check services. The Bureau Manager will play a key role in driving innovation, ensuring high-quality customer service, and fostering collaboration with other City departments and community partners. The ideal candidate will not only bring strong technical knowledge, but also the ability to interpret the gray areas of the building code, communicate the intent behind regulations both internally and externally, and lead teams through the complexities of inspection operations and development permitting processes (all phases from permit center to plan review and inspection). With exciting projects on the horizon such as the launch of a new Enterprise Land Management System (ELMS) and the support of an engaged community, this position offers the opportunity to make a lasting impact in one of California’s most dynamic and diverse cities, helping to shape Long Beach’s growth, resiliency, and success for decades to come.

See the full recruitment brochure & benefits here: https://irp.cdn-website.com/80f4e9b5/files/uploaded/Creative+Brochure+LB+CBO+FINAL.pdf

THE COMMUNITY

Idyllically located on the Pacific Coast just south of Los Angeles and adjacent to Orange County, Long Beach is a vibrant city of approximately 450K residents. Known for its diverse and inclusive community, Long Beach features a unique blend of urban sophistication, cultural richness, and coastal charm. The City encompasses about 51 square miles, offering an array of parks, beaches, and recreational opportunities. Residents enjoy mild climate year-round perfect for outdoor activities such as biking, running, water sports, and much more. Long Beach is home to world-class attractions including the Aquarium of the Pacific, the historic Queen Mary, and the annual IndyCar Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Long Beach will be the largest venue city for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Long Beach also boasts a thriving economy supported by industries such as aerospace, education, health services, manufacturing, tourism and professional services. With two advanced educational institutions, California State University Long Beach and Long Beach City College, and robust K-12 schools, the City is a hub for learning and innovation. Transportation options abound. The Long Beach and Metro transit systems along with the City’s own airport provide convenient access throughout the broader Southern California region. Long Beach is recognized as one of the nation’s most walkable and bike-friendly cities.

THE CITY GOVERNMENT

Long Beach operates as a charter city governed by an elected Mayor and nine City Council members elected by district. The City Manager, appointed by the Mayor and City Council, oversees the daily operations of 15 departments and an FY26 annual budget of approximately $3.7B. The City employs over 6,000 full-time and part-time staff; dedicated to providing exceptional public services with the vast majority being represented by eleven employee associations.

• City Departments
• Citywide FY26 Budget
• 2030 Strategic Vision
• Elevate ’28 Infrastructure Investment Plan

The City of Long Beach fosters an environment where every employee is celebrated for their individuality and unique talents they bring to their role. Reflecting the diversity of the community within the workforce is a key priority embraced at every level of the organization—from management to policy creation. City Leadership actively promotes equity and inclusion by partnering with staff and community stakeholders to advance fairness in all initiatives. Transparency remains a cornerstone of these efforts with demographic data, including workforce diversity and pay equity by race and gender, shared publicly to ensure accountability and progress.

THE DEPARTMENT & BUREAU

The Community Development Department

The Community Development Department (Department), with an FY26 budget of approximately $83.9M and a dedicated staff of approximately 259, works to build and sustain a safe, resilient, and equitable community. Core services span physical development and revitalization, provision and improvement of affordable housing, neighborhood beautification and improvement through the development process, and code enforcement. The Department includes five (5) bureaus including: (1) Building & Safety, (2) Administrative & Financial Services, (3) Housing & Neighborhood Services, (4) Code Enforcement, and (5) Planning to ensure alignment with the City’s 2030 Strategic Vision and its own Department Strategic Plan.

The Building & Safety Bureau

The Building & Safety Bureau (Bureau), overseen by the Chief Building Official (Bureau Manager) includes approximately 100 staff that work to safeguard the City’s built environment with its three (3) divisions: (1) Permit Center, (2) Engineering/Plan Check, and (3) Inspection Services, while operating a one-stop, customer-first model that works towards paperless processing, virtual appointments, automated inspection requests, and daily online inspection schedules. As one of the City’s highest-volume service portfolios, the Bureau has averaged processing 11.7k permits over the past three (3) years and based on recent trends handles approximately 31.7k permit-related calls, 4.2k plan checks, and 64k inspections annually.

With an FY26 budget of approximately $21.2M, some of the Bureau’s priorities include maintaining and enhancing online pathways for residential solar, energy storage systems, EV chargers, and expedited hydrogen fueling stations; and preparing the municipal code update to adopt the 2025 California Building Standards Code (effective January 1, 2026). Beyond its day-to-day operations, the Bureau is leading innovative projects that present exciting opportunities for the City, Bureau staff and its residents:

• Building Seismic Resiliency Program: Safeguarding the community against property damage, loss of life, and large-scale housing loss in the event of a major earthquake.
• Long Beach Builds – Enterprise Land Management (LB Builds - ELM): Digitally transform the City’s permitting and licensing backbone to improve efficiency, transparency, and customer experience across eight departments.
• Pre-Approved Dwelling Unit (PAADU) Program: Enhancing the successful program with the modular ADU industry and standardizing crane and utility connections.
• Enhanced Community Engagement: Launching new outreach initiatives, including a pilot program to educate businesses on accessibility regulations in 2026.

To learn more about the Department & Bureau visit:

• Department & Bureau Org Charts
• Department FY26 Budget
• Department Website
• Bureau Website
• Bureau Quarterly Key Service Metrics (2025-Q2)

THE POSITION & IDEAL CANDIDATE

The Bureau Manager is responsible for providing vision, leadership, and daily oversight of Bureau operations. This includes managing the Bureau’s budget, supervising four direct reports, and leading a team of approximately 100 staff in a fast-paced environment where every day looks different. Key responsibilities include managing staff performance, hiring top talent as needed, ensuring consistency and quality in plan check and inspection services, and promoting excellent customer service at the Permit Center. The Bureau Manager serves as a key liaison to the Department’s Director and Deputy Director, elected officials, developers, residents, and partner agencies, providing clear, tactful communication and ensuring that inquiries are addressed in a timely and professional manner. The role also plays an important part in implementing new technologies, guiding code updates, collaborating with the Code Enforcement Bureau, Planning Bureau, and the Fire Department’s Fire Prevention Bureau, and supporting the City’s goals for safe, sustainable, and resilient development.

The ideal candidate will be a collaborative and forward-thinking leader who thrives in a dynamic urban environment. They will have strong technical knowledge of building codes, permitting processes, and inspections, and ideally bring experience overcoming the complexities inherent in any complex development environment. The successful candidate will be able to explain complex codes and regulations in practical terms, helping staff, elected officials, and the community understand the intent behind the rules and the gray areas that often arise. The Bureau Manager is expected to be highly visible, embracing the opportunity for a public presence, while also maintaining a global view of how the Bureau’s work impacts other departments and bureaus. They will bring a strategic mindset, ensuring today’s decisions are made with a clear understanding of their long-term impact.

The successful candidate will:

• Provide clear, consistent leadership and accountability across Bureau functions.
• Communicate effectively and tactfully with staff, executives, elected officials, and the community.
• Strengthen collaboration with Code Enforcement, other City departments, and external partners.
• Overcome complex inspection challenges and implement systemic solutions to improve performance.
• Prevent bottlenecks by delegating work, aligning processes and ensuring consistent direction across the team.
• Promote innovation, long-term planning, and continuous improvement in customer service.
• Recruit, mentor, and support staff to build a resilient, high-performing team to ensure confidence operating independently.

This is an exciting opportunity for a dynamic leader to make a lasting impact on one of California’s largest and most innovative cities—helping Long Beach continue to grow safely, sustainably, and with the community’s trust.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• Education: A bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in civil or structural engineering, construction management, architecture or a related field
• Experience: Five (5) years of progressively responsible full-time experience in plan review, permit issuance, inspection services, interpretation and enforcement of construction codes and statutes regulating building, electrical, plumbing, mechanical and fire-safety construction and the use and maintenance of buildings and properties. Three (3) years of the required experience must have been gained in a supervisory capacity.

DESIRED BUT NOT REQUIRED

• California licensed professional engineer or architect.
• Possess a current ICC certification as a Building Official.
• Experience in public administration or government.

SUBSTITUTIONS

• Professional experience beyond the minimum qualifications may be substituted for education on a year-for-year basis.

SALARY AND BENEFITS

An annual salary of $171,702.98 - $207,050.84* DOE/DOQ, plus a generous benefits package that includes:

*Appointment to this position is expected to be at or below the midpoint ($189,376.91) of the salary range, however, the final amount will be carefully determined based on the candidate's knowledge, skills, qualifications, and an evaluation of internal equity within the organization.

• Retirement: California Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) defined benefit retirement plan, which is coordinated with Social Security. 2.5% @55 for "Classic" members and 2% @62 for new members as defined by PEPRA. Subject to employee contribution. Both the City and the employee contributes toward CalPERS retirement contributions. The City also participates in Social Security.
• Health and Dental Insurance: City pays a major portion of the premiums.
• Life Insurance: Equal to three (3) times annual salary up to a maximum of $500,000.
• Short- and Long-Term Disability Insurance
• Management Physical: Annual City-paid physical examination.
• Vacation: 12 days per year, increasing with years of service. Prior years of public sector service counted towards vacation accrual tier
• Executive Leave: 40 hours per year. City Manager has discretion to grant an additional 40 hours annually
• Sick Leave: One day earned per month; unlimited accumulation; conversion upon retirement to cash credit toward health and/or dental insurance premiums.
• Holidays: 11 designated holidays per year, plus four personal holidays.
• Transportation Allowance: $650 per month.
• Deferred Compensation: 457 Deferred Compensation Plan; 401(a) plan with City contribution of 2% (Classic) or 4% (PEPRA; will increase to 5% October 2025)
• Optional Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
• Flexible/Hybrid Work Schedule: Available (subject to City Manager approval).
• Paid Parental Leave: After 6 months of City employment; up to 30 calendar days (160 hours) of PPL, taken in full-day increments, in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster placement of a child, up to the age of 17.
• Negotiable relocation assistance
• Recruitment Incentive of up to $6,000: $1,000 at time of hire; $2,000 after 6-months of service (1,044 hours worked); $3,000 after 18-months of service (3,132 hours worked)

See the full recruitment brochure & benefits here: https://irp.cdn-website.com/80f4e9b5/files/uploaded/Creative+Brochure+LB+CBO+FINAL.pdf

HOW TO APPLY: For first consideration, apply by October 24th, at: https://www.tristargovsolutions.com/careers

SAVE THE DATES: Interviews have been firmly scheduled to take place in-person on November 20th and November 21st. Candidates must be available for both interview dates.

Please mention you found this employment opportunity on the CareersInGovernment.com job board.

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• Tri Star Gov Solutions

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