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Our Values

With a small but dynamic core staff, team members at the Terner Center take on a variety of different roles on many projects in a fast-paced, data-driven environment. We hold our work and each other to high standards through constructive feedback and iterative review. Most of all, we are committed to the success and growth of each member of our team. We encourage staff to share their knowledge, time, and perspectives, and to seek out opportunities for professional and educational development.

A key aim of our work is to guide and elevate the scholarship and leadership of students at UC Berkeley on issues in housing policy, development, and design. We regularly hire UC Berkeley graduate and undergraduate students from a variety of programs for semester appointments. Please check below for opportunities for students.

Our Culture

  • We strive to foster collaboration and team engagement. Impactful research and policy development are rooted in exchange, both within our team and with external partners and organizations.
  • We expect our staff to value research that is independent, based in evidence, and rigorous. We look for team members who are committed to producing high-quality and impactful work that advances the Terner Center’s mission. 
  • We believe our work is stronger when it engages a broad set of stakeholders. We look for team members who are always thinking about new ways to amplify our work and reach new audiences. 
  • We are family-friendly. With several working parents on our team, we offer flexibility in scheduling and enjoy when kids of all ages visit our office or pop up on video calls. 
  • We are committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace where every team member is welcomed, valued, and supported. The quality of our ideas, analysis, and execution is improved by learning from and supporting the diverse perspectives and experiences of our staff and partners, particularly those from groups who have experienced marginalization and oppression.
  • We are an equal opportunity employer and seek applications from people with diverse backgrounds of all kinds. We strongly encourage Black people, indigenous people, and people of color; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer+ people; women; people with disabilities; veterans; formerly incarcerated people; and people with lived experience of homelessness or housing challenges to apply.

Benefits

  • Comprehensive medical insurance, including health, dental, and vision coverage through UC Berkeley. Click here to learn more.
  • Retirement savings or pension opportunities as well as retirement counseling and education through UC Berkeley. Click here to learn more.
  • Paid vacation, sick time, and holiday leave.
  • Access to the educational and professional development benefits of a world-class academic institution.

CURRENT OPENINGS

Terner Center Open Positions:

Postdoctoral Scholar

Salary range: $60,000 to $71,952 annually, depending on experience, with a scheduled increase in October of 2023

First review date: June 1, 2023

Please apply on the UC Berkeley website here.

We are hiring a full-time Postdoctoral Scholar on land use, housing supply and climate policy. The postdoc’s primary role will be to support data analysis and writing on Terner Center research projects that seek to inform state and federal policy at the intersection of land use planning, housing production, and climate mitigation. These projects could include evaluations of state policies to streamline or increase the supply of infill housing, assess the relationship between housing production and areas impacted by climate events, and/or research that explores the role of housing on GHG emissions (either through location or design and construction materials).

The above will account for about 80 percent of the appointment. The remaining 20 percent of time will be available for the successful applicant’s own research. In addition to salary, the Terner Center will provide the postdoc with $4,000 to attend academic or professional conferences. The term will be two years with the possibility for additional renewal up to five years total.

This position will be located at the Terner Center’s offices in Oakland, California but flexibility may be available for hybrid work.

QUALIFICATIONS

Basic Qualifications

  • PhD expected by summer 2023 in Urban Planning, Public Policy, Climate or Environmental Science, or any related discipline
  • Demonstrated interest and knowledge of housing and land use policy, including through research publications and presentations, or other policy-relevant professional experience
  • Experience in quantitative data analysis with varied data sources
  • PhD must have been awarded by an accredited institution within the past 10 years

Preferred Qualifications

  • Record of peer-reviewed publications in the fields of urban planning, housing, climate mitigation, or related areas
  • Familiarity with designing and executing causally identified quantitative research
  • Experience working in collaborative research teams

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS

  • Document requirements
  • Curriculum Vitae – Your most recently updated C.V.
  • Cover Letter – including a statement describing research interests (including any specific faculty collaborators and/or projects they would like to pursue as part of your post-doc)
  • Representative manuscript – (either published or unpublished)
  • 3-5 references (contact information only)

Please apply on the UC Berkeley website here.

 

Research Director

The Terner Center seeks an accomplished, thoughtful Research Director to lead its efforts to produce timely, evidence-driven and policy-relevant research. The Research Director oversees Terner Center’s research team including providing direct supervision to the Associate Research Directors, who are each responsible for a specific area of housing policy research, while supporting their supervision of research staff and graduate students. As part of the Leadership Team, the Research Director works collaboratively with Terner Center’s senior leadership to grow the organization’s scope and reach in line with the Terner Center’s mission, while working to align research and organizational priorities with available resources.

The Research Director brings a broad set of research design skills to this role, along with an orientation toward staff development and strong supervisory skills. We are particularly interested in candidates that have a record of policy research in areas such as affordable housing and/or real estate development, land use, poverty and welfare, or urban policy and planning, and who have conducted research for both academic and policy audiences. The ideal candidate is curious and engaged with all things housing, and their work is aligned with the Terner Center’s ethos of pursuing both transformative and pragmatic solutions to the nation’s housing crisis. For this leadership position, candidates must have a strategic perspective, the ability to collaborate within the leadership team to foster alignment on organizational goals, and the ability to represent the organization externally. The Research Director will be expected to oversee the research team’s budget and participate in fundraising activities.

The Terner Center is committed to Equal Employment Opportunity. Terner Center seeks candidates with the skills and experience to contribute to our goals for diversity, equity, and inclusion in our internal management practices and to produce research and policy work that furthers equity goals. We welcome and encourage applications that reflect a variety of backgrounds based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, veteran status, ideology, lived experience of housing challenges, and other statuses protected by law.

This position will be located at the Terner Center’s offices in Oakland, California but flexibility may be available for hybrid work. Salary will be between $175,150 – 209,900 annually, commensurate with experience.

Position is open until filled. Applications are being reviewed on a rolling basis.

For external candidates, please apply via the link here.

For internal UCB candidates, please apply via the link here.

Associate Research Director

The Terner Center seeks talented Associate Research Directors to join our research team. These positions will oversee a research portfolio and staff and will help advance a specific portfolio of housing-related work. The Associate Research Director’s primary responsibility is to lead a research portfolio in support of the Terner Center’s work to address the multiple, layered crises of housing affordability, entrenched inequities, and climate change.  Reporting to the Research Director, the Associate Research Director identifies, designs and leads both short-term and long-term research projects, provides supervision to staff researchers and graduate students, and assists in managing the budget and funding relationships relevant to the assigned research portfolio.

The Terner Center is prioritizing candidates who bring expertise in either of two areas: 1) land use and housing supply, including issues related to zoning, regulations, and the costs of development;  and 2) housing topics related to climate change and environmental sustainability. The Associate Research Director will maintain focus on a particular subject area, staying current on research literature and leading research projects that speak to urgent policy needs, while still being able to cover other housing related topics depending on need and capacity.

The Associate Research Director will have research expertise in one of the areas mentioned above, as well as a broad set of qualitative and quantitative research skills capable of executing impactful work in a fast-paced environment. The ability to understand research as a lever for policy change, along with the ability to collaborate across the Terner Center’s Research & Policy team and with other external research partners and stakeholders, is critically important.

Terner Center seeks candidates with the skills and experience to contribute to our goals for diversity, equity, and inclusion in our internal management practices and to produce research and policy work that furthers equity goals. We welcome and encourage applications that reflect a variety of backgrounds based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, veteran status, ideology, lived experience of housing challenges, and other statuses protected by law.

This position will be located at the Terner Center’s offices in Oakland, California but flexibility may be available to work on a hybrid basis. Salary will be between $138,250 – 164,400 annually, commensurate with experience.

Position is open until filled. Applications are being reviewed on a rolling basis.

For external candidates, please apply via the link here.

For internal UCB candidates, please apply via the link here.

 

New to applying for jobs at UC Berkeley?

Here are a few tips:

Because the Terner Center is part of UC Berkeley, it is important that all candidates follow the same process. Please understand that we are not able to accept resumes and cover letters directly (i.e., applications that don’t go through the UC Berkeley system).

It may feel like a lot of steps, but we hope you will take the time! We are looking forward to considering your application.

 

Terner Center Student Roles

The Terner Center regularly recruits Graduate and Undergraduate students to assist in a range of projects and roles each semester and over the summer break.

We are not currently soliciting applications for GSRs. Please check back soon for future opportunities.

 

Terner Labs Open Positions:

Communications Fellow

The Communications Fellow will support Terner Labs in executing a range of communications projects to further our mission and increase awareness about Labs programs and initiatives. The Fellow will work approximately 5 hours per week until the end of August 2023. For interested parties, there may be an opportunity to continue work with additional hours during the fall. Strong written and oral communication is required. Experience in social media and design is preferred. Fellows will be paid $35/hour. The strongest candidates will have some understanding of the housing industry or a strong willingness to learn.

To apply, please send resume and writing sample to Kara Murray-Badal. If you are a UC Berkeley student, you can apply via Handshake; the job number is 7852712.

Responsibilities:

Social Media:

  • Work with Terner Labs staff to draft and organize social media content to promote Housing Lab blogs, videos and media coverage on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram
  • Monitor and research housing influencers, trending topics and tools. Repost with Housing Lab perspective

Writing and Editing:

  • Support blogs on the Housing Lab accelerator application process, other graduate student fellows, and Housing Lab companies
  • Draft photo captions for social media
  • Copyedit blog post, emails, press releases etc
  • Potential to support development and writing of press releases

Miscellaneous Task:

  • Support overall communications strategy
  • Attend and contribute to weekly communications planning meetings

About the Housing Lab

The Housing Lab identifies and accelerates creative models to lower housing costs with a focus on addressing systemic racial and economic inequity. Members of the cohort receive a $75,000 grant, 6 months of advising to navigate the policy environment, and access to the Lab’s national network of policymakers, developers, and investors. It is the only accelerator program in the United States dedicated to advancing early-stage innovations to promote housing affordability.

The Housing Lab started in 2019 and is in the process of completing its third annual cohort program, (the 2022 cohort; You can read more about them here.) The nearly dozen alumni from the first two cohorts (2020 and 2021) have gone on to improve housing and wealth outcomes for 50,000 people, raise nearly $400 million to expand their work, and secure significant partnerships with the state and federal government.

About the Terner Housing Innovation Labs

Terner Housing Innovation Labs (Terner Labs) is a nonprofit organization that formulates and advances bold strategies to house families from all walks of life in vibrant, sustainable, and affordable homes and communities. As a sister organization of the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley, we transform innovative research and policy expertise into actionable tools, programs, and partnerships with the public and private sectors. We currently operate two programs: The Housing Lab and a Housing Affordability Data Lab.