Senior Land Agent

Job Description Summary

Salary: $98,176.00 - $147,264.00

Essential Functions and Responsibilities

• Aid in acquiring land rights, including fee title, easements, licenses, permits, leases, rights of entry for District projects.
• Negotiate with private landowners, tenants, developers, and governmental entities for property interests.
• Manage and enforce right-of-way corridors for canals, pipelines, reservoirs, detention facilities and other TRWD infrastructure projects.
• Oversee encroachment agreements, damage claims, crossings and permits affecting District property.
• Conduct and oversee title research, curative, and abstracting for surface and subsurface rights.
• Review title commitments, appraisals, surveys, plats, and legal descriptions for accuracy and completeness.
• Resolve title defects and coordinate with legal counsel on complex ownership issues.
• Work closely with Engineering, Legal, Operations, Environmental Services, Purchasing and GIS teams to support capital improvement projects.
• Identify property needs early in project planning and anticipate acquisition risks.
• Serve as point of contact for landowners impacted by District operations or projects.
• Handle sensitive negotiations and resolve disputes professionally.
• Represent the District in internal as well as public meetings, hearings and community outreach.
• Maintain accurate land records, GIS data, deeds, leases, easements and other agreements and contracts.
• Support implementation of land management systems and digital records.
• Ensure proper filing of instruments in county records.
• Provide guidance and supervision to staff land agents, consultants, and contract ROW agents.
• Manage outsourcing of land services and review contractor performance.
• May supervise staff land agents or contract land agents and consultants.
• Maintain familiarity with strategic district levels of service.
• Continuous improvement monitoring and innovation efforts.
• Perform other duties as required.

Required Experience

• Eight to ten (8-10) years of land experience, including significant time in Texas.
• Experience in public infrastructure, utilities, water districts, or pipeline ROW strongly preferred.
• Working knowledge of Texas real property law, title practices, eminent domain procedures and the Unform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970 (URA).
• Easements, ROW acquisition, and condemnation support.
• Surveying principles and legal descriptions.
• Excellent negotiation and conflict-resolution skills.
• Ability to read and interpret engineering drawings, plats and GIS mapping.
• Strong organizational and project management capabilities.
• High level of professionalism dealing with the public and elected officials.

Required Education/Certification/Licenses

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Real Estate, or related field.
• Valid Texas Driver’s License.
• Course work and/or experience in accounting, civil engineering, Texas real estate marketing, management, appraisal, Texas real estate law, and/or land surveying.
• Senior Right of Way Agent (SR/WA) Designation from International Right of Way Association (IRWA).

Success Factors/Job Competencies

• Self-motivated – ability to perform tasks without direct supervision.
• Teamwork – ability to collectively work together as a team for common goal.
• Leadership – demonstrated ability to effectively supervise people to obtain desired results through others.
• Planning – ability to think ahead and plan, sometimes over a multiple year time span.
• Exercise discretion and independent judgment with respect to matters of significance.
• Time Management – Managing one’s own time and the time of those under their supervision.
• Commitment to district values and goals.
• Character – trustworthy, respectful, ethical, responsible, fair, caring, good citizen.

Physical Demands and Work Environment

• While performing duties of job, employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; sit; use hand to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools, or controls; reach with hands and arms; balance; stoop; talk and hear.
• Employees must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds.
• Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.
• While residing within an office or cubicle, employees may have occasional fieldwork that will expose the employee to weather conditions prevalent at the time.