Director, Transactions

Housing Affordability Practice Director

HR&A Advisors, Inc. (HR&A) is an employee-owned company advising public, private, non-profit, and philanthropic clients on how to increase opportunity and advance quality of life in cities. We believe in creating vital places, building equitable and resilient communities, and improving people's lives. From Brooklyn to London, Medellin to Hong Kong, we have guided hundreds of clients in transforming real estate and economic development concepts, and public infrastructure, first into actionable plans and then into job-producing, community-strengthening assets.

Our clients include real estate owners and investors, hospitals and universities, cultural institutions and philanthropies, community development organizations, and governments. HR&A has offices in Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Raleigh, Washington D.C. and the Bay Area. We come from diverse backgrounds, have a breadth of lived experience, and share a passion for cities. We are former city officials, executive directors, planners, lawyers, architects, and economists.

The Housing Affordability Practice works at the state and community level to create and preserve homes that meet the needs of the community. We develop housing plans and strategies that address local housing needs and priorities. We design and implement solutions, from inclusionary zoning policies to affordable housing investment funds. And we underwrite and close housing transactions on behalf of public and private sector clients.

This range of work, from planning to deal making, makes us better at designing policies and tools that achieve their goals in practice. We enjoy understanding and working with the complexities of the housing market to advance the public good in partnership with our clients. Our work is changing how impact investors approach affordable housing fund design and deployment. Over the past several years we have launched several affordable housing funds and have facilitated over $300 million annually of impact-oriented debt for our clients and our underwriting is as much about maximizing impact and public good as it is about financial return.

We represent several of the most catalytic impact investors in affordable housing and take ensuring their mission goals are met very seriously when negotiating with counter parties.

The Housing Affordability Practice is seeking a full-time Director with a focus on housing transactions to structure funds and underwrite and close loans and investments in mixed-income and affordable housing developments. The Director will join our Los Angeles or San Francisco Bay Area office. We are also open to remote candidates located in the Seattle metro area. Directors are seasoned career professionals with 6-10 years of professional experience who will collaborate with the Partner-in-Charge of HR&A's Housing Practice, other Directors and Principals, and direct the work of Analysts.

Most work will be organized into small teams of three to five members.

Day-to-day tasks will include:

• Screen, underwrite, and close loans, grants, and investments in mixed-income and affordable housing acquisitions and developments.
• Manage relationships with project sponsors (typically for-profit and non-profit housing developers and owners).
• Structure and negotiate business terms of loans and investments to maximize public benefit and mission and mitigate risk based on established underwriting guidelines.
• Oversee the work of analysts assigned to transactions. Ensure the completeness and quality of all client deliverables including screening, underwriting, and closing memos and Excel financial underwriting models. Effectively present analysis and approval recommendations to internal investment committee and to clients.
• Collaborate with client's business, legal and finance teams, as well as third parties including outside legal counsel, to conduct due diligence, review and approve third-party reports, and negotiate legal documents.
• Coordinate the closing process by working with project sponsors, lenders, and other stakeholders such as public agencies and subsidy providers.

Product Development

• Develop innovative…