Project Manager – Southern Appalachian Land Protection

Who We Are:

Trust for Public Land (TPL) is the leader of a movement to connect everyone in America to the outdoors. A national nonprofit, TPL partners with communities to create high-quality parks and protect public lands—especially in communities that need them most—to improve public health, create social cohesion, strengthen historic and cultural connection to place, and increase climate resilience. Since 1972, TPL has protected more than 4 million acres of public land, created more than 5,500 parks, trails, schoolyards, and iconic outdoor places, generated over $112 billion in public funding for parks and public lands, and connected nearly 10 million people to the outdoors. To learn more, visit tpl.org.

position Summary:

Trust for Public Land (TPL) seeks a Project Manager to further the Appalachia United Outdoors initiative. This is intended to be a permanent position with five-years of initial grant funding, and full-time position will support outdoor recreation–based economic development and community-driven land protection across Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

The Project Manager will play a central role in advancing strategic land acquisitions — including linear rail corridors, community forests, and other catalytic landscapes that strengthen local economies, honor cultural heritage, and expand close-to-home access to the outdoors.

This position will work in close collaboration with Tennessee Field Program staff, including the Tennessee State Director, the Director for Welcoming Places, and the Southeastern Land Protection Director, and public and private community partners and funders to deliver measurable high-impact, priority land acquisition projects.

Essential Functions:

• Support project planning and execution across Appalachia United Outdoors initiative geography, with a focus on the Appalachian regions of Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
• Work closely with the TN State Director, Appalachian United Outdoors Program Manager, and Southeastern Land Protection Director to align land protection projects with TPL’s regional priorities.
• With internal consultation, manage land acquisition projects, particularly linear trail corridors, community forests, and water access, by overseeing all aspects of the acquisition and conveyance of property, including negotiating purchase agreements and contracts for and reviewing appraisals and environmental assessments; assisting with legal document preparation; managing public review processes; organizing grassroots political support; completing internal approval documents/procedures, maps and photos; and related administrative tasks
• Build and strengthen collaborations with federal, state, county, local governments, nonprofit partners, and community leaders to advance outdoor recreation and land protection priorities.
• Coordinate with TPL philanthropy staff to support fundraising and reporting efforts for the Appalachia United Outdoors initiative.
• Prepare and write grant applications, project budgets, and report deliverables.
• Serve as a regional liaison and project spokesperson as needed, helping to highlight how outdoor recreation investments improve health, equity, resilience, and local economies.
• Track budgets, contracts, and timelines to ensure timely and successful delivery of projects.
• Other duties as assigned

Qualifications:

• Strong commitment to TPL’s shared values (Belonging, Creativity, Collaboration, Impact, and Hope) to effectively work across the organization.
• Minimum of four years of land conservation real estate transaction experience required.
• Bachelor’s degree [preferred] in landscape architecture, planning, natural resources, or a related field
• Demonstrated expertise in managing complex land acquisition and outdoor recreation access projects.
• Experience in outdoor recreation economic development or outdoor recreation business leadership, including collaboration with entrepreneurs and small businesses such as outfitters, guides, gear companies, and retailers.
• 5+ years’ experience in land acquisition, outdoor recreation, community engagement, and/or land use planning.
• Demonstrated ability to manage projects from concept to completion, including budgets, contracts, vendor administration, and partner communications.
• Familiarity with public funding sources for conservation and recreation and experience managing grant-funded projects.
• Comfortable building relationships with individual donors to support TPL’s work in the Southern Appalachians.
• Strong skills in building partnerships and engaging the community with experience working across multiple jurisdictions and diverse stakeholders.
• Experience engaging and building trust with under-resourced communities in the Southern Appalachians is strongly preferred.
• Ability to travel across Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina (up to 30%, including some evenings and weekends).

Special Knowledge or Skills:

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Capability to build philanthropic relationships in collaboration with TPL philanthropy staff to support TPL’s work with landowners, individuals, and institutional donors.
• Excellent working knowledge of the processes for obtaining public and private funding for land acquisition and nonprofit budget management.
• Sound understanding of real estate principles and economics.
• Expert knowledge of the real estate due diligence process and government real property acquisition review process.
• Facility navigating government land acquisition policies, procedures, funding Application processes, and the role of TPL political staff at the state and federal levels. Strong negotiator, able to build landowner and public partner trust/rapport to secure complicated real estate deals
• Knowledge of park, trails, and open space issues, growth management, urban and rural planning and development, or a related field, preferably with a statewide perspective.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively with senior program staff and manage multiple priorities simultaneously.
• Proven ability to organize and manage multiple projects with diverse and numerous public and private partners and processes to develop programs and use resources of the organization to accomplish larger initiatives
• A passion for community-driven engagement and economic revitalization through outdoor recreation.

Compensation:

Trust for Public Land is a hybrid work environment, and this role will ideally be located near a Trust for Public Land office. As a full-time employee, you will be eligible for the Trust for Public Land’s comprehensive benefits program which includes medical, dental, and vision insurance, vacation and sick pay plus holidays, a year end office closure, and a 403(b)-retirement plan, currently with up to a 7% company match. We offer competitive salaries commensurate with experience; the anticipated hiring range for this position is $82,423-$96,000 per year.

Trust for Public Land’s active goal is to be an inclusive and equitable place to work and build community. As the organization actively works to eliminate racial and other disparities it welcomes candidates with diverse backgrounds and/or multicultural skillsets. We are open to the possibility that a great candidate for this job may not precisely meet all the above criteria; if you believe you are the right person for this job and can persuasively make that case, we encourage you to apply.