About the Agency:
The New York City Department of Housing Preservation Development (HPD) promotes quality and affordability in the city's housing, and diversity and strength in the city’s neighborhoods because every New Yorker deserves a safe, affordable place to live in a neighborhood they love.
- We maintain building and resident safety and health
- We create opportunities for New Yorkers through housing affordability
- We engage New Yorkers to build and sustain neighborhood strength and diversity.
Your Team
The Office of the Commissioner provides strategic leadership and cross-agency coordination for HPD, advancing the agency’s mission to promote quality, affordable housing and strong, diverse neighborhoods. The team works closely with divisions across HPD, City Hall, and external partners to support decision-making, drive priority initiatives, and ensure effective execution of agency goals.
Your Role
The Senior Advisor to the Commissioner serves as a senior attorney and strategic advisor within HPD’s Office of the Commissioner, helping to develop, coordinate, and advance cross-cutting legal, policy, and operational priorities. This role requires a sophisticated legal thinker who can assess complex issues, translate legal and policy considerations into actionable strategy, and build alignment across agency divisions and external stakeholders.
Your Responsibilities
- Provide legal analysis and strategic counsel to the Commissioner and senior leadership team on discrete matters, special initiatives, and cross-cutting priorities, in coordination with the Office of Legal Affairs.
- Identify and analyze emerging legal, regulatory, and policy issues with implications for HPD’s programs, priorities, and mission.
- Work collaboratively across the agency to develop innovative legal and policy strategies that advance affordable housing, preservation, enforcement, tenant protection, and neighborhood planning goals.
- Liaise with HPD divisions and senior staff to provide strategic support on sensitive, complex, or high-priority matters requiring executive-level coordination.
- Represent HPD in interagency working groups, policy discussions, and meetings with City Hall, government partners, and external stakeholders.
- Initiate, organize, and coordinate complex projects and special initiatives from conception through implementation.
- Prepare and review legal memoranda, briefing materials, presentations, and other executive-level materials for senior leadership and external audiences.
Preferred skills
- Exceptional judgment, discretion, and political acuity, with the ability to advise senior executives on sensitive, complex, or high-profile matters.
- Strong executive-level writing, editing, and communication skills, including the ability to translate complex legal and policy issues into clear, actionable recommendations.
- Ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced executive office environment, managing ambiguity, competing priorities, and relationships across legal, policy, operational, and external stakeholders.
Minimum Qualifications
Admission to the New York State Bar; and four years of recent full-time responsible, relevant, satisfactory legal experience subsequent to admission to any bar, eighteen months of which must have been in the supervision of other attorneys, in an administrative, managerial, or executive capacity, or performing highly complex and significant legal work.
Incumbents must remain Members of the New York State Bar in good standing for the duration of this employment.
EXECUTIVE AGENCY COUNSEL - 95005
Authorization to work in the United States is required for this position. The NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development does not provide sponsorship for international employees for visa applications, extensions, or status changes, including H-1B visas. Applicants are responsible for ensuring that they meet all qualifying requirements for this position at the time of application.
Admission to the New York State Bar; and four years of recent full-time responsible, relevant, satisfactory legal experience subsequent to admission to any bar, eighteen months of which must have been in the supervision of other attorneys, in an administrative, managerial or executive capacity, or performing highly complex and significant legal work.
Incumbents must remain Members of the New York State Bar in good standing for the duration of this employment.
The City of New York is an inclusive equal opportunity employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally protected status or protected characteristic, including but not limited to an individual's sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, or pregnancy.
The City of New York is the most iconic and dynamic city on the planet. With a population of more than 8.4 million people, New York is not only the largest city in the United States — it is the academic, cultural, commercial, and financial capital of the world.
City government is filled with opportunities for talented individuals seeking to improve their communities and make a meaningful difference in the lives of their fellow New Yorkers. Every day, the City’s more than 300,000 employees improve infrastructure, provide vital social services, build technology, protect health and safety, and so much more. Join us today at: http://www1.nyc.gov/jobs
The City of New York offers its employees:
• A chance to build the future of this city. New York City government is at the crossroads of where policy, great ideas, city services, and smart urban planning meet the lives and needs of every day New Yorkers.
• Competitive salary and benefits. Hiring packages include a competitive salary, health benefits, various pension plans, employee assistance programs, and individual retirement accounts.
• Diverse career opportunities. As the largest local government in the United States with more than 40 agencies, the City of New York offers a broad spectrum of opportunities — from education, housing development, and public health to sustainability, economic growth, technology, and emergency management.
• Career Satisfaction. As a City employee, you will have the chance to shape the future of New York City and improve the quality of life for your family, neighbors, and fellow New Yorkers.
• Equal Opportunity and Inclusion. The City of New York is an equal opportunity employer that prohibits discriminatory action against City employees and applicants for employment based on their actual or perceived race, color, national origin, ethnicity alienage, citizenship status, gender, religion, creed and all other protected categories.
