-
Job Description
Description
Organized, compassionate, and steady under pressure? Come join our team and help build practical solutions to expand safe parking and services, while reducing neighborhood impacts with respect and accountability.
Exciting Opportunity
The City is seeking a service-minded and solutions-oriented Unhoused Services Specialist to join the City Manager’s Office. On October 20, 2025, City Council approved a phased approach to address oversized vehicle impacts, including two years of funding to support urgent, time-sensitive program implementation and administration. The Unhoused Services Specialist will play an important role in implementing new initiatives that are practical, data-informed, and grounded in respect for community members, including people experiencing homelessness, while also addressing neighborhood impacts.
The position is responsible for developing, coordinating, and implementing a set of connected efforts, possibly including an RV buyback program, RV storage, safe parking expansion, and a permit pilot with enhanced services. The specialist will also support related regulatory and sanitation approaches by coordinating implementation, tracking outcomes, and reporting progress to the community.
Ideal Candidate
We’re looking for a strong communicator who is detail-oriented, proactive, and committed to advancing programs that strengthen community outcomes. The ideal candidate is resilient, discrete, and professional, able to maintain kindness and good humor even in challenging situations. They are organized and solutions-oriented, able to track tasks, deliverables, timelines, and documentation with strong follow-through. They are proactive, comfortable stepping into new work, and able to collaborate across departments and with community partners. They adapt as programs evolve to keep projects on track and translate complex information into clear, accessible updates for diverse audiences.
Key strengths include:- Experience with programs serving unhoused individuals, or other vulnerable populations, and addressing community impacts
- Managing multiple projects, including contracts, program implementation, and coordination with partners
- Communicating clearly in writing and verbally
- Tracking budgets, monitoring performance measures, and preparing reports
- Administering grants and grant reporting (preferred)
The Department
The City Manager’s Office supports the delivery of City services through cross-department collaboration, strategic problem-solving, and responsive public services. The office plays a key role in advancing City Council priorities by coordinating Council actions, guiding interdepartmental initiatives, and ensuring alignment between policy direction and day-to-day operations.
Through executive leadership, communication, and coordinated decision-making, the City Manager’s Office bridges policy development and on-the-ground implementation, addressing complex, high-visibility issues across departments and with community partners. Learn more about the City Manager’s Office.
(This position is a limited term position, currently budgeted for a two-year term)
Essential Duties
Essential and other important responsibilities and duties may include, but are not limited to, the following:- Help develop and implement an RV buyback/parking program, including program set-up tasks, coordinating partners, and supporting day-to-day administration.
- Coordinate and support safe parking expansion (which may include helping define processes, supporting site/project coordination, executing and monitoring contracts, and aligning services).
- Support development and implementation of permit pilot, including enhanced services, in coordination with internal departments and external providers.
- Plan and support regular engagement opportunities (with community members, partner agencies, service providers, and internal stakeholders) to help ensure programs are informed, responsive, and well understood.
- Support oversized vehicle regulatory and sanitation approaches, including coordination, reporting, and alignment across departments.
- Coordinate and manage multiple projects and program workstreams at once, including organizing timelines, tracking tasks, supporting deliverables, and maintaining clear documentation.
- Track spending; support basic budget tracking, invoice/documentation coordination, and program status updates.
- Draft reports, summaries, and presentations that clearly explain results (including how measures were derived) for leadership and community audiences.
- Performs related duties of a similar nature or level.
To see the full job description, click Here .
Minimum Qualifications
Sufficient education, training and/or work experience to demonstrate possession of the following knowledge and skills, which would typically be acquired through:- Bachelor’s degree in a related field and three years of professional experience in public or business administration, public affairs, or a related field; or,
- An equivalent combination of education and experience sufficient to successfully perform the essential duties of the job such as those listed above.
Licensing Requirements:- None.
Supplemental Information
Tentative Recruitment Schedule (may be subject to change):- Application Deadline: March 8, 2026
- Review of submissions: Week of March 9 th
- Panel Interview: Week of March 23rd
- Final Interview: TBD
The Selection Process:- Recruitment status notifications will be sent via email or text (please enroll in text alerts when applying).
- Updates can also be found on your governmentjobs.com account.
- Applicants will be screened throughout the posting process and highly qualified candidates may be invited to interview at any time.
- The screening process for this position may include a virtual recorded interview and/or panel interviews preceding final interviews with the hiring manager or their designee.
Our online application system is provided by NeoGov. If you have problems while applying online, please contact NeoGov's Live Applicant Support at (855) 524-5627 between 6:00 AM and 5:00 PM Pacific Time, Monday - Friday.
The City of Palo Alto is an Equal Opportunity Employer. In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the City will provide reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities and encourages both prospective and current employees to discuss potential accommodations with the employer.
See our Benefits at a Glance Bookletfor more details.
Learn more about our Compensation Plan HERE.
Closing Date/Time: 3/8/2026 11:59 PM Pacific -
ABOUT THE COMPANY
-
-
City of Palo Alto
Show moreThe Community
The birthplace of Silicon Valley, Palo Alto, is a community of approximately 68,000 residents and nearly 100,000 jobs. Located on the mid-Peninsula between San Francisco and San Jose, Palo Alto is recognized worldwide as a leader in cutting-edge technology, medicine, and green innovation. The community's treelined streets and historic buildings reflect its California heritage, and, at the same time, many world-class businesses maintain or started offices here, such as Stanford Health Care and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Amazon, Broadcom, Hewlett-Packard, Houzz, Rivian, SAP and SAP Ariba, Tesla, and Varian Medical Systems. Numerous start-ups are also at home in Palo Alto, arguably making it the start-up capital of the world. Stanford University is foundational to the history and prestige of Palo Alto, reflected in the community's dedication to lifelong learning. Stanford's cultural and educational offerings are integral to the vibrancy and charm of Palo Alto, while the City's exceptional K-12 school district ranks among the top public-school systems in the country. With more than 50% of adult residents holding a graduate degree or higher, Palo Alto is frequently listed as one of the most educated cities in the nation. Palo Alto boasts a genuine sense of community and an active citizenry with strong environmental values. Beautiful neighborhoods are complemented by vibrant commercial corridors and a bustling economy featuring premium shopping and dining options. Excellent healthcare facilities, performing arts, and diverse recreational opportunities are some of the community's incredibly desirable and cherished amenities. To learn more, visit https://www.paloalto.gov/Departments/City-Manager/Latest-NewsCity Government
Palo Alto is a full-service charter city with a council-manager form of government. The seven-member City Council is elected at large, and the City Council annually selects the Mayor and Vice Mayor from among its members. The Mayor and City Council appoint the City Manager, City Attorney, City Clerk, and City Auditor. The City Manager is responsible for the strategic direction and day-to-day operations of the City. Palo Alto is organized into 15 departments/offices with 1,093.10 authorized positions in FY 2025. There is also a FY 2025 capital budget of $316.2 million. Palo Alto owns and operates its own utilities, including electricity (carbon-neutral), gas, water, wastewater, and an expanding fiber network. This dynamic municipal environment ensures an ever-engaging platform for unique problem-solving and advances new initiatives, including sustainability, broadband, and effective service delivery. Community assets also include five libraries, 36 parks, five community centers, a museum and zoo, youth centers, a general aviation airport, an 18-hole golf course, a regional water treatment plant, and wildland open space preserves at the San Francisco Bay and in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains offering 41 miles of walking/biking trails in addition to its police, fire, and ambulance services. Palo Alto has long been a leader in sustainability, and the City's ambitious greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction goals are part of what sets it apart. Since the City's first Climate Protection Plan was passed in 2007, Palo Alto has set goals that exceed State and Federal targets. Today, the City's goal to reduce emissions 80% below 1990 levels by 2030 (the "80x30" goal) and achieve carbon neutrality by 2030 guides sustainability efforts. An award-winning City, Palo Alto is recognized nationally as innovative and well-managed. City services and performance also receive impressive marks from community members in the Palo Alto Community Survey.
Many of those ratings put City programs and services in the highest percentiles among the hundreds of benchmark cities. Palo Alto makes decisions through comprehensive processes and proactively seeks to involve its extremely informed, educated, and engaged residents. Projects are naturally a cooperative effort among the City Council, Boards, Commissions, Committees, engaged residents, neighborhoods, businesses, property owners, and staff.
Join an Award Winning Team
Palo Alto is an award-winning City recognized nationwide as innovative and well-managed. Palo Alto is one of a small number of California cities with a AAA bond rating. Recently, Palo Alto became one of the most livable cities in the U.S. by Livability.com. It's the only city to receive the Platinum Beacon Award in sustainability best practices by California’s Institute for Local Government. We offer a variety of career paths that relate to building and improving communities. The City has fourteen departments employing 1,000 full-time staff. Police officers, fire fighters, paramedics, and building inspectors keep us safe. Engineers and public works staff build and re-build the physical infrastructure. City planners help envision and shape future community growth. Recreation, arts and library professionals enhance community life. Utilities provides electric, gas, water, sewer and other services. Internal services departments help manage, staff, and protect the City.
Want to learn more about our benefits? Learn more by reviewing our "Benefits at a Glance Booklet."
Contact Us
Phone: 650-329-2376
Email: Recruit@paloalto.gov
Location: City Hall, 1st Floor | 250 Hamilton Ave 94301 | View Map
-