The City of Springfield, Missouri, seeks a creative, community-focused, innovative leader with an entrepreneurial spirit for its Director of Economic Vitality.

The City's newly created Economic Vitality department encourages reinvestment and quality economic growth, coordinates significant development projects that impact the community’s tax base, retains and facilitates the expansion of existing businesses, promotes entrepreneurship, and attracts new businesses by fostering a positive business environment. The Economic Vitality department also works closely with the City’s quality of place initiatives and regional economic development partners to leverage resources and enable the City to be attractive to quality business investments.

The ideal candidate will demonstrate strong leadership while leading a team of approximately six employees; the candidate will be creative while directing initiatives and activities to facilitate local business attraction, expansion, and retention; The candidate will also be a strategic thinker and strong negotiator while developing and implementing strategic plans for economic development and negotiating complex development agreements.  As the first director of the newly created Economic Vitality department, the incumbent will have the unique opportunity to make a significant difference in leading the department's impact in changing the Springfield community.

The Director of Economic Vitality will serve as principal advisor and liaison to the City Manager, Deputy City Manager, City Council, City boards and commissions, City staff, and other City officials and departments.

Experience, Education, and Training

• Graduation from an accredited college or university with specialization in Economic Development, Public Administration, Urban Planning, Business Administration, Finance, or related field

AND

• Five years of economic development experience with some supervisory experience.  
• A Master's Degree in a relevant field or Law Degree may be substituted for one year of required experience.  

PREFERRED

• Completion of IEDC and/or OU Economic Development Institute classes are desired, but not required.

Licensing/Certification

Professional certification as a Certified Economic Developer (CEcD) from International Economic Development Council is desired, but not required.

If operating a motor vehicle for the purpose of completing job duties, must possess a valid driver’s license.

The City of Springfield offers a competitive salary and benefits package including:

• No cost employee-only health insurance
• Pension through the Local Government Employee Retirement System (LAGERS) with no employee contribution and vesting after five years
• Deferred Compensation 457(b) Plan
• Generous leave time benefits including holidays and floating holidays, vacation, sick, and exempt leave.
• A car allowance of $430 per month

The Springfield community offers an excellent quality of life, including medical, retail, and education services, coupled with high-quality cultural, entertainment, and recreation venues.  Springfield’s cost of living is 10% lower than the national average and offers strong community support and involvement. To discover more about life in Springfield, visit https://www.liveinspringfieldmo.com/.

Applications received by November 1, 2021 are guaranteed review.