Managing Director, Housing Solutions (San Francisco) at DignityMoves San Francis
DignityMoves, San Francisco, California, United States, 94199
Managing Director, Housing Solutions (San Francisco) job at DignityMoves. San Francisco, CA.
Hit Apply below to send your application for consideration Ensure that your CV is up to date, and that you have read the job specs first. Overview DignityMoves seeks an experienced development, planning, building, or construction professional to reimagine innovative ways to build and deliver interim housing that is fast, cost-effective, and scalable. DignityMoves identifies unused or under-utilized properties and manages their transformation into communities that quickly house those who are homeless and unsheltered. The Managing Director, Housing Solutions will collaborate and develop solutions with municipal officials, private landowners, nonprofits, architects, and workers and contractors from different construction trades and disciplines. Desired experience includes building or construction of temporary shelters after disasters or for military encampments and mobile command centers, field hospitals, or temporary facilities for Olympic and sports villages, concerts, festivals, etc.
BACKGROUND
DignityMoves is pioneering Interim Supportive Housing (ISH) to address Californias unsheltered homelessness crisis.
Its innovative model uses temporarily vacant land, relocatable prefabricated housing units, and emergency building codes to build communities quickly, cost-effective, and at scale. By harnessing public-private partnerships and tapping private capital, land, and creative funding strategies, DignityMoves empowers municipalities to move toward functional zero unsheltered homelessness. The organizations DignityNOW model challenges cities to provide enough placements for everyone living unsheltered.
Headquartered in San Francisco, DignityMoves partners with municipal and private stakeholders to rapidly deliver interim housing and supportive services. Leveraging Shelter Crisis declarations under which municipalities can waive regulatory barriers, DignityMoves guides governments in deploying emergency authority to accelerate housing solutions. This approach enables communities to be built for $50,000 per unit in just months. Its advocacy has helped shape policy, including co-sponsoring Californias Interim Housing Act (SB 1395).
DignityMoves currently works with cities across the state, with a focus on the Bay Area, San Diego, and Los Angeles. After launching projects in San Francisco and Santa Barbara in 2022, momentum surged statewide. As of August 2025, its portfolio includes 732 beds across 622 units in ten sites, with another 696 beds / 599 units in ten additional sites in development.
To meet surging demand, DignityMoves is scaling organizational capacity and experimenting with new building technologies such as 3D printing, sustainable materials, and innovative foundations. The relocatable nature of the units requires minimizing site-specific costs when units are moved.
With a total program budget over $60M and an operating budget of $5M, DignityMoves has a staff of 12. Reporting to the Co-Founder and Chief Real Estate Officer, the
Managing Director, Housing Solutions (MDHS)
oversees four direct reports (VP Real Estate Development, VP Design Innovation, VP Construction & Project Manager, and Associate Project Manager) and collaborates with partners and vendors. This role works closely with the business development team responsible for bringing in new projects.
THE POSITION
This position will be a fascinating adventure for someone who has felt constrained by the normal way of building, hamstrung by red tape and multi-year processes. The MDHS provides strategic leadership, oversight, project execution, and operational management for DignityMoves end-to-end handoff to client and operator. The MDHS and their team are responsible for managing and delivering multiple projects simultaneously, with unprecedented timelines for delivery. The MDHS will have a dealmaker sensibility and the tenacity and foresight to anticipate issues, cost overruns, and any red flags that delay opening.
Priorities in the first year will be to:
Create a dashboard/tracking system for instant visibility over numerous projects for seeing budgets, timelines, and flagging issues
Create a system to accurately project true project budgets
Conduct a project recap assessment of lessons learned
Identify the major cost drivers and develop alternative solutions
Build on the analysis already completed by the team
Collaborate with the Chief Real Estate Officer in identifying the most promising innovative opportunities
Manage the team of project managers to ensure they are high performing, working with urgency, and pushing the envelope on speed and cost
Try new approaches experimenting, risking new strategies while ensuring successfully delivery
Key KPIs owned by the MDHS include:
Speed to opening: LOI Opening cycle time; schedule adherence; % on time openings
Safety and quality metrics; change order rate
Postoccupancy outcomes (handoff completeness, warranty performance)
PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES
LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT
Hire, coach, and retain a high-performing, mission-aligned team
Drive a culture of professionalism, urgency, candor, and consistent delivery
Develop multi-year market and site strategy (site archetypes, go/no-go criteria)
PROJECT DEVELOPMENT & DELIVERY
Maintain a 1224 month development pipeline with probabilities and capital needs
Manage all preconstruction phases through to opening, including modular/traditional builds
Ensure quality assurance, quality control, and system commissioning
Set and enforce trauma-informed design standards
TRANSACTIONS & ENTITLEMENTS
Lead LOIs, DMAs, ground leases, and site licenses
Oversee permits, environmental reviews, and utility coordination
Standardize deal documents and terms across projects
Build and manage detailed project pro forma financial statements
Align sources/uses with a mix of public funding, philanthropy, and impact capital
Manage compliance, reporting, and drawdowns with internal finance and development teams
Set preventive maintenance standards, warranties, and service-level agreements (SLAs)
Plan for long-term capital expenditures across the asset portfolio
DATA & OPERATIONAL CONTROLS
Implement project controls, dashboards, and document management systems
Use geographic information system-based tools for pipeline tracking and site analysis
EXTERNAL PARTNERSHIPS/RELATIONS
Build and maintain partnerships with city, county, and state agencies
Present at public hearings and secure entitlements, MOUs, and approvals
IDEAL EXPERIENCE & CHARACTERISTICS
The Managing Director, Housing Solutions will be an individual with sound judgment, a bias for action, and resourcefulness to find creative solutions as situations arise. The MDHS will also have the heart of someone who deeply understands the lives of people who will benefit from interim housing, with a commitment to equity, accessibility, and trauma-informed design. A combination of the following will be considered:
10+ years leading complex building, construction, or real estate development (affordable/supportive housing, modular/prefab, civic, or related); 5+ years at VP/SVP/Head level.
Knowledge of construction and design issues in affordable housing development from concept to completion; record of multi-site delivery under tight timelines and public scrutiny.
Deep experience with site control, public land deals, utilities, and entitlements. Strong construction oversight (schedule, GC/vendor management, QA/QC, change control).
Strong financial modeling skills with the ability to perform complex analysis; fluency in affordable housing financing mechanisms and real estate finance (pro formas, sources/uses, grants/compliance); data literacy; ability to manage by KPIs and dashboards.
Public-sector partnership experience (cities/counties, housing authorities, state/federal programs); urban municipalities; political savvy; effectiveness with elected officials, staff, and communities.
Team builder; skilled in planning, organizing, directing, coordinating, and training staff; adept at work planning, assignment, and evaluation.
Organized, self-directed; able to prioritize multiple projects and tasks effectively; makes sound recommendations; prepares strong technical reports; values high customer service; skillful with public, vendors, contractors, and staff.
Exceptional oral/written communication, including presentations to diverse audiences; record of garnering support across cultures and backgrounds.
Respects expertise and opinions of others; collaborative, collegial, intrepid yet tactful; negotiates skillfully; unquestionable integrity, judgment, and self-awareness.
Hard worker with high energy; a doer willing to work hands-on in developing and executing projects.
California experience (e.g., CEQA, HCD programs) plus at least one additional state.
Familiarity with tools such as Procore (or similar), GIS, and modern workflow/reporting stacks.
Bachelors in real estate, planning, engineering, construction management, or related; advanced degree/professional licensure a plus.
COMPENSATION & WORK CONDITIONS
The salary range for this position is $220,000 - $250,000, including comprehensive benefits. Final compensation range based on experience, market, and scope. This is a hybrid role with regular site/partner visits and occasional evening public meetings; the MDHS must be able to access active construction sites and comply with safety requirements. xsgimln
DignityMoves is an equal opportunity employer.
Hit Apply below to send your application for consideration Ensure that your CV is up to date, and that you have read the job specs first. Overview DignityMoves seeks an experienced development, planning, building, or construction professional to reimagine innovative ways to build and deliver interim housing that is fast, cost-effective, and scalable. DignityMoves identifies unused or under-utilized properties and manages their transformation into communities that quickly house those who are homeless and unsheltered. The Managing Director, Housing Solutions will collaborate and develop solutions with municipal officials, private landowners, nonprofits, architects, and workers and contractors from different construction trades and disciplines. Desired experience includes building or construction of temporary shelters after disasters or for military encampments and mobile command centers, field hospitals, or temporary facilities for Olympic and sports villages, concerts, festivals, etc.
BACKGROUND
DignityMoves is pioneering Interim Supportive Housing (ISH) to address Californias unsheltered homelessness crisis.
Its innovative model uses temporarily vacant land, relocatable prefabricated housing units, and emergency building codes to build communities quickly, cost-effective, and at scale. By harnessing public-private partnerships and tapping private capital, land, and creative funding strategies, DignityMoves empowers municipalities to move toward functional zero unsheltered homelessness. The organizations DignityNOW model challenges cities to provide enough placements for everyone living unsheltered.
Headquartered in San Francisco, DignityMoves partners with municipal and private stakeholders to rapidly deliver interim housing and supportive services. Leveraging Shelter Crisis declarations under which municipalities can waive regulatory barriers, DignityMoves guides governments in deploying emergency authority to accelerate housing solutions. This approach enables communities to be built for $50,000 per unit in just months. Its advocacy has helped shape policy, including co-sponsoring Californias Interim Housing Act (SB 1395).
DignityMoves currently works with cities across the state, with a focus on the Bay Area, San Diego, and Los Angeles. After launching projects in San Francisco and Santa Barbara in 2022, momentum surged statewide. As of August 2025, its portfolio includes 732 beds across 622 units in ten sites, with another 696 beds / 599 units in ten additional sites in development.
To meet surging demand, DignityMoves is scaling organizational capacity and experimenting with new building technologies such as 3D printing, sustainable materials, and innovative foundations. The relocatable nature of the units requires minimizing site-specific costs when units are moved.
With a total program budget over $60M and an operating budget of $5M, DignityMoves has a staff of 12. Reporting to the Co-Founder and Chief Real Estate Officer, the
Managing Director, Housing Solutions (MDHS)
oversees four direct reports (VP Real Estate Development, VP Design Innovation, VP Construction & Project Manager, and Associate Project Manager) and collaborates with partners and vendors. This role works closely with the business development team responsible for bringing in new projects.
THE POSITION
This position will be a fascinating adventure for someone who has felt constrained by the normal way of building, hamstrung by red tape and multi-year processes. The MDHS provides strategic leadership, oversight, project execution, and operational management for DignityMoves end-to-end handoff to client and operator. The MDHS and their team are responsible for managing and delivering multiple projects simultaneously, with unprecedented timelines for delivery. The MDHS will have a dealmaker sensibility and the tenacity and foresight to anticipate issues, cost overruns, and any red flags that delay opening.
Priorities in the first year will be to:
Create a dashboard/tracking system for instant visibility over numerous projects for seeing budgets, timelines, and flagging issues
Create a system to accurately project true project budgets
Conduct a project recap assessment of lessons learned
Identify the major cost drivers and develop alternative solutions
Build on the analysis already completed by the team
Collaborate with the Chief Real Estate Officer in identifying the most promising innovative opportunities
Manage the team of project managers to ensure they are high performing, working with urgency, and pushing the envelope on speed and cost
Try new approaches experimenting, risking new strategies while ensuring successfully delivery
Key KPIs owned by the MDHS include:
Speed to opening: LOI Opening cycle time; schedule adherence; % on time openings
Safety and quality metrics; change order rate
Postoccupancy outcomes (handoff completeness, warranty performance)
PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES
LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT
Hire, coach, and retain a high-performing, mission-aligned team
Drive a culture of professionalism, urgency, candor, and consistent delivery
Develop multi-year market and site strategy (site archetypes, go/no-go criteria)
PROJECT DEVELOPMENT & DELIVERY
Maintain a 1224 month development pipeline with probabilities and capital needs
Manage all preconstruction phases through to opening, including modular/traditional builds
Ensure quality assurance, quality control, and system commissioning
Set and enforce trauma-informed design standards
TRANSACTIONS & ENTITLEMENTS
Lead LOIs, DMAs, ground leases, and site licenses
Oversee permits, environmental reviews, and utility coordination
Standardize deal documents and terms across projects
Build and manage detailed project pro forma financial statements
Align sources/uses with a mix of public funding, philanthropy, and impact capital
Manage compliance, reporting, and drawdowns with internal finance and development teams
Set preventive maintenance standards, warranties, and service-level agreements (SLAs)
Plan for long-term capital expenditures across the asset portfolio
DATA & OPERATIONAL CONTROLS
Implement project controls, dashboards, and document management systems
Use geographic information system-based tools for pipeline tracking and site analysis
EXTERNAL PARTNERSHIPS/RELATIONS
Build and maintain partnerships with city, county, and state agencies
Present at public hearings and secure entitlements, MOUs, and approvals
IDEAL EXPERIENCE & CHARACTERISTICS
The Managing Director, Housing Solutions will be an individual with sound judgment, a bias for action, and resourcefulness to find creative solutions as situations arise. The MDHS will also have the heart of someone who deeply understands the lives of people who will benefit from interim housing, with a commitment to equity, accessibility, and trauma-informed design. A combination of the following will be considered:
10+ years leading complex building, construction, or real estate development (affordable/supportive housing, modular/prefab, civic, or related); 5+ years at VP/SVP/Head level.
Knowledge of construction and design issues in affordable housing development from concept to completion; record of multi-site delivery under tight timelines and public scrutiny.
Deep experience with site control, public land deals, utilities, and entitlements. Strong construction oversight (schedule, GC/vendor management, QA/QC, change control).
Strong financial modeling skills with the ability to perform complex analysis; fluency in affordable housing financing mechanisms and real estate finance (pro formas, sources/uses, grants/compliance); data literacy; ability to manage by KPIs and dashboards.
Public-sector partnership experience (cities/counties, housing authorities, state/federal programs); urban municipalities; political savvy; effectiveness with elected officials, staff, and communities.
Team builder; skilled in planning, organizing, directing, coordinating, and training staff; adept at work planning, assignment, and evaluation.
Organized, self-directed; able to prioritize multiple projects and tasks effectively; makes sound recommendations; prepares strong technical reports; values high customer service; skillful with public, vendors, contractors, and staff.
Exceptional oral/written communication, including presentations to diverse audiences; record of garnering support across cultures and backgrounds.
Respects expertise and opinions of others; collaborative, collegial, intrepid yet tactful; negotiates skillfully; unquestionable integrity, judgment, and self-awareness.
Hard worker with high energy; a doer willing to work hands-on in developing and executing projects.
California experience (e.g., CEQA, HCD programs) plus at least one additional state.
Familiarity with tools such as Procore (or similar), GIS, and modern workflow/reporting stacks.
Bachelors in real estate, planning, engineering, construction management, or related; advanced degree/professional licensure a plus.
COMPENSATION & WORK CONDITIONS
The salary range for this position is $220,000 - $250,000, including comprehensive benefits. Final compensation range based on experience, market, and scope. This is a hybrid role with regular site/partner visits and occasional evening public meetings; the MDHS must be able to access active construction sites and comply with safety requirements. xsgimln
DignityMoves is an equal opportunity employer.