Economic Development Project Manager III

This position is a non-state service position (X-16). The Economic Development Specialist III will serve as a Project Officer III, which is a third level professional role within the Global Recruitment and Existing Industry and Business Division. This is a non-state service position. The Project Officer III has principal responsibility for recruiting global and U.S. companies to Mississippi, supporting the retention and expansion of existing Mississippi companies, and assisting communities through their role in the corporate location or expansion process. The Project Officer III has a command of the technical disciplines necessary to perform their responsibilities through academic and real-world experience and an intellectual curiosity for the things that drive corporate success and the government’s role in enabling that success. They operate under the guidance of their team leader or supervisor as directed by the Deputy Director and Chief Economic Development Officer. Project Officer III’s operate with a great degree of autonomy and are expected to interact with and often lead interdisciplinary teams that include corporate “C” Suite executives, global site selection consultants, lawyers, engineers, real estate brokers, tax and financial services professionals, human resource and workforce development experts, economists, academics and a wide variety of political influencers and decision makers. The Project Officer III is highly visible in the site location process and often directly represents the State at meetings and forums where they are expected to deliver the general sense of the State’s commitment to certain projects and the business climate of the state. They must develop a command of MDA/State/Federal tax and incentive policy and grant programs and always be prepared to communicate the State and local value propositions to interested companies. Travel can be extensive and often without much notice. The work is heavily deadline driven and requires a commitment to get the job done. The Project Officer III is supported by a variety of internal specialists from grant program administrators to deal structurers to tax analysis experts to economic impact modelers to internal decision makers. The Project Officer III will work well in this team environment and be the motivator for the internal delivery of time sensitive items. Excellent written and verbal communication skills are priceless to this role. Duties and Responsibilities include, but are not limited to: Economic Development Project Management to include global and domestic industry recruitment, existing industry expansion projects and assisting local communities as they execute the economic development process. Primary Work: • Proactively identify prospects interested in establishing business operations in Mississippi. • Identify and maintain relationships with existing industries within Mississippi and support their expansion/retention needs. • Receive and process Requests for Information (RFI) or Proposals (RFP) from consultants and corporations. • Initiate tax analysis and incentive proposals in coordination with financial services staff and present and interpret results to prospective companies. • Assist in the organization of site visits, participate in presenting relevant information and identify follow-up steps. • Work down selected projects to closing and administer all necessary internal processes. • Prepare decision briefings to leadership and answer all relevant questions. Prepare commitment letters. • Provide post close follow up to include incentive and grant application distribution, stewardship through the approval process and collaborative support with financial services during implementation. • Address conflicts, disappointments, and controversy in a tactful and professional manner. Take ownership of the internal decisions. • Attend Ribbon Cuttings and Celebrations as MDA representative. • Document the entire process using Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM program. • Mastery of the Microsoft Office Suite including, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, Word and Dynamics 365 are essential to performing the tasks. Adobe Acrobat Professional is routinely used. Secondary Work: • Conduct familiarization tours to become acquainted with “product” (industrial parks and workforce) within the state. • Attend core and aspirational sector (see below) conferences and trade shows to promote Mississippi and to engage in prospecting activity, networking and professional development. • Conduct business retention and expansion interviews and take actions as necessary. • Engage and inform local economic development organizations and elected bodies of relevant programs so that the efforts of MDA can be crowdsourced. • Maintain professional industry affiliations, including economic development organizations. • Assist with visits by foreign delegations. Plan and staff foreign direct investment missions. • Performs related or similar duties as required or assigned.

Typically requires a Bachelor’s Degree and 3-5 years of experience. Agency preferred qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in business, economic development, finance, accounting, urban and regional planning, engineering, architecture, or closely related field from an accredited four-year college or university. Three (3) to five (5) years of direct experience in local, regional or state wide economic development programs including, but not limited to: business retention and expansion, marketing and communications, domestic or international recruitment, chamber of commerce administration, government administration, urban planning, engineering, environmental science, architecture, federal or state infrastructure or workforce grant writing, international trade promotion (export sales or marketing) OR three (3) to five (5) years of direct experience in a corporation or management consulting firm that is engaged in industrial operations for which the candidate can demonstrate skills in finance, site selection, real estate/property management, tax analysis, audit, real property management, paralegal, facility operations and maintenance, procurement, international sales or energy and environmental management. Preference given to demonstrable experience in one of the Mississippi Development Authorities target markets, which includes: Advanced Manufacturing, Aerospace/Defense, Agribusiness/Food and Beverage, Automotive, Distribution and Logistics, Forestry/Energy/Chemicals, Blue Economy, Renewable Energy, Headquarters site selection, Knowledge-Based Industries/Information Technology, Operations and Data, Life Sciences/Biotechnology, Mobility Technology Innovation.