Business & Economic Development Analyst

About the role

The City of Tacoma, Community and Economic Development Department is recruiting for the valuable position of Business and Economic Development Analyst in the Economic Development Services Division. This position leads the City’s business recruitment, expansion, and target-sector development efforts.

Responsibilities

• Manages the business pipeline, conducts BRE visits, develops recruitment materials, creates marketing content and supports the Make It Tacoma brand.
• Strengthens Tacoma’s competitive position by identifying high-growth companies, cultivating relationships with traded-sector firms, and advancing initiatives that drive job creation and private investment.
• Supports the implementation of the Community and Economic Development 2026-2030 Strategic Plan and the Tacoma 2035 Strategic Plan through livable wage job creation by recruiting companies to Tacoma and assisting in the creation of additional housing through support of the Multifamily Property Tax Exemption program.
• Makes complex recommendations to the Program Manager(s) regarding implementation of the work assigned.
• Provides essential subject matter expertise on the City’s business recruitment, expansion, and target-sector development efforts, marketing, and Make It Tacoma brand, along with performing complex economic development, business recruitment, retention and expansion activities via execution of the Division’s strategic plan.
• Coordinates Business Retention and Expansion visits and coordinates with City staff and external partners/stakeholders regarding outreach and marketing of the City’s business development advantages and services.
• Creates and manages a client database of businesses in traded sectors and businesses that may be recruitment/expansion targets within the City’s target sectors.
• Manages the Make It Tacoma brand marketing efforts by creating content, preparing and sending the periodic Make It Tacoma business newsletter, monitoring and responding to the MakeItTacoma.com inbox and contact forms, and supporting administration and technical assistance of the MakeItTacoma.com website, while also working closely with the Department Director and Program Manager(s) to provide reports and analysis of a range of items upon request.

Requirements

Minimum Education: Bachelor's degree in business or public administration, urban planning or directly related field. Minimum Experience: 2 years of program administration, economic development, federal grant administration and/or community engagement experience. Desired Qualifications: 5 years progressively responsible analytical and/or program management in area related to Community and Economic Development. Understanding of the role of Economic Development in a municipal government. High level analytical and quantitative skills, multi-task oriented, strong oral and writing skillsets. Ability to articulate complex information to a variety of groups and cultural backgrounds throughout the community. Project and/or Program Management experience. Preparing budgets, and compliance/performance measurement tools/reporting. Database management Knowledge & Skills. Knowledge Understanding of various scopes of work related to Business Retention and Expansion. Knowledge of, or experience with marketing. Understanding of frameworks commonly used in public-sector organizations, including principles that guide equitable service delivery, community engagement, and fair decision-making (such as the City of Tacoma’s Equity & Empowerment Framework).

Qualifications

• Impeccable Customer Service skills with ability to problem solve.
• Communicate effectively orally and in writing.
• Work independently and as part of a team.
• Cultural competency.

Skills

• Fiscal Accountability: Responsibly allocate and account for use of fiscal resources, evaluating alternatives and weighing their benefits.
• Contract Administration: Practices, procedures, and techniques of contract administration, implementation, and evaluation.
• Performance Leadership: Create and nurture a continuous improvement performance-based culture that supports efforts to accomplish the organizational mission and goals. Set meaningful expectations. Communicate, prioritize, and monitor goals.
• Interpersonal Influence: Influence others within the organization to be committed to furthering the organization’s objectives through persuasion, positive attitude, optimism, conflict management, assistance to others, feedback, goal setting, etc.
• Results Orientation and Initiative: Focus on results and desired outcomes and how best to achieve them. Identify what needs to be done and proactively take appropriate action.
• Written and Oral Communication: Effectively convey ideas and information using language that is appropriate to both the complexity of the topic, the knowledge and understanding of the other person, and the power dynamics of the moment.

Pay

Hourly Rate: $40.89 - $57.57
Annual Salary: $85,051.20 - $119,745.60

Benefits

Employee Benefits | City of Tacoma
Get Assistance
For questions regarding this specific recruitment contact Kat Flores, HR Analyst. We primarily communicate via email during the application process. Emails from Tacoma.gov and/or governmentjobs.com should be placed on your safe domain list to ensure that you receive notifications in a timely manner. As a precaution, you may also want to check your junk email folders. For assistance with the NEOGOV application process, questions regarding this job announcement, or if you are experiencing complications while applying, please contact the Human Resources office at 253-591-5400 by 4:00 pm of the closing date of the job announcement. This will allow time to assist you before the job announcement closes. (For technical difficulties using the NeoGov system, call the applicant support line at 1-855-524-5627 between 6:00 AM and 5:00 PM Pacific Time.)