Boston City Hall

The first flicker of Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s avowed effort to reform development practices in Boston has appeared, in the form of a job posting for a new cabinet-level “chief of planning.”

Wu tweeted out a link to the job description Wednesday afternoon, an unusual move when her other key appointments have been announced without a public hiring process.

Wu’s administration also simultaneously announced job searches for a chief of human services, chief of information technology and “Senior Advisor, Boston Green New Deal.”

“Boston needs a City planning department that empowers our communities with long-term vision. We’re searching for a Chief of Planning to lead planning for a greener future & make Boston a city for all,” the mayor wrote on Twitter

During an interview with Banker & Tradesman’s editorial board during last year’s campaign for mayor, Wu said she planned to put her pledge to “abolish” the Boston Planning & Development Agency into action over time, with a planning chief playing a critical role coordinating both planning for new development and the permitting process for development proposals.

“[W]e need to start to build and set up that parallel structure so that we can switch over the development pipeline when it is stood up,” she said. “The way I’ve been trying to describe this is the way we’ve approached bridge reconstruction projects in the Boston area. There are multiple ongoing [where construction crews are] working on a parallel structure but keeping that predictability in the pipeline as we go.”

The job posting revealed Wednesday appears consistent with that vision, describing the role as an “unprecedented opportunity” to implement Wu’s vision of “a more equitable, resilient, transit-oriented, and affordable city.”

“The Chief of Planning will serve as the Mayor’s point person to coordinate and direct all City plans, land use directives, and all related development policies and procedures,” the posting says, including zoning code reforms and “the planning functions of the Boston Transportation Department, the Environment Department, the Mayor’s Office of Housing, Public Works, Public Facilities, Boston Public Schools, Boston Public Libraries and other departments, while ensuring these efforts align into a comprehensive vision for the future of Boston.”

Unlike many previous heads of development, the posting asks for applicants who are technical experts in planning, with a master’s degree in the field and at least 10 years of experience leading urban planning efforts and at least five years of senior management experience. Other must-haves include “[d]eep experience engaging with diverse communities and building trust around a shared community-oriented vision of the future” and “[e]xcellent ability to connect the city’s built form to advancing public-policy goals for equity, health, affordability and climate resilience.”

Boston has not had an academically trained urban planner in its top development job for many years. Current BPDA director Brian Golden was a state representative, state telecommunications commissioner and federal Department of Health and Human Services regional director before his appointment in 2009. Decades prior to Golden’s appointment, directors of the then-Boston Redevelopment Authority were often lawyers, developers, public housing officials or political friends of the sitting mayor.

The job description also leaves the post’s relationship with the current BPDA structure and development approval process hazy. The new chief of development will be “assuming a top leadership role in the existing organization” while playing “a central role in considering structural reforms” to the agency. And the posting makes no specific mention of the current BPDA director.

“From that position, the Chief will work with the BPDA Board and BPDA staff to advance reforms that ensure a planning-led approach to development review,” the posting says.