Community Manager- Student Housing

About the role

Student housing management draws on a specific blend of skills that most conventional multifamily experience doesn't fully develop: the ability to run a full annual turn at scale, manage a high-energy leasing cycle tied to an academic calendar, and maintain financial performance against revenue targets that reset every year. The Community Manager role at Lark Baton Rouge calls on all of those at once.

Responsibilities

• Lead the annual turnover process: coordinating vendors, setting team expectations, managing overtime budgets, and hitting make-ready deadlines before move-in
• Monitor KPIs in property management platforms (Entrata preferred) and act on the data rather than just reporting it
• Oversee facilities compliance including permits, preventative maintenance schedules, and curb appeal across common areas and amenities
• Manage reputation across review platforms as part of the broader customer experience strategy
• Partner with legal and accounting teams on vendor contracts, risk management, and monthly financial reporting
• Ensure Fair Housing compliance and safety training across all onsite staff

Skills

• Financial management: own the budget process from preparation through month-end close, manage NOI through revenue growth and expense discipline, produce variance explanations that hold up under scrutiny
• Leasing velocity: carry full responsibility for leasing, gain-to-lease performance, concessions strategy, and market rate positioning
• People management: hire, develop, and hold accountable a team of leasing and maintenance staff; plan for succession
• On‑call responsibility: primary responder for escalations, as student housing communities don’t pause for off‑hours

Qualifications / Requirements

• Experience managing high‑volume annual turn seasons at a similarly sized property (advantage)
• Comfort operating at the intersection of numbers and people – able to read financials, run a leasing team, and be the face of the community to residents, accountability partner for staff, and primary contact during emergencies
• Familiarity with the Baton Rouge student housing market: LSU enrollment >35,000 students, reliable but compressed demand cycle, early pre‑leasing, intense July‑August turn window
• Ability to work with Scion’s dedicated student housing platform (training, systems, and infrastructure built specifically for this asset class)
• Strong candidates find the combination of financial, leasing, and people management energizing rather than exhausting