Director - NY State Trails

About this role

Director - NY State Trails

• New York, United States

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 is seeking a strategic and entrepreneurial leader to direct its New York State trails program and advance a high-impact portfolio of trail and greenway infrastructure projects across the state. Building on more than four decades of park, conservation, and trail leadership in New York, TPL partners with government, philanthropic, and community stakeholders to plan, fund, and deliver greenways and trails that connect people to parks, nature, jobs, and schools. Current signature initiatives include the Long Island Greenway and QueensWay, alongside a growing pipeline of trail and connectivity projects statewide. The NYS Trails Director will set the strategic direction for the program, lead a portfolio of large, complex infrastructure projects, and build the government, political, and philanthropic relationships needed to move them forward. This role calls for someone who thinks like an entrepreneur— spotting opportunity, building coalitions, and driving ambitious projects to completion within complex public systems.

Essential Functions:

• Strategic Leadership: Develop and oversee implementation of TPL’s New York State trails and greenways strategy, identifying where TPL’s resources and relationships can have the greatest impact. Translate long-term program goals into actionable projects, funding, and advocacy plans, and track progress against budgets, milestones, and outcomes.
• Government & Partnership Strategy: Build and sustain relationships with municipal, county, state, and federal agencies; elected officials; and community and advocacy partners. Navigate complex governmental and political environments to secure approvals, funding, and public support for priority projects.
• Project Development & Delivery: Lead the implementation of a portfolio of major trail and greenway infrastructure projects — including the Long Island Greenway and QueensWay — from concept through construction. Manage a small team and oversee consultants, contracts, schedules, and budgets, and resolve the technical, financial, and political challenges that arise along the way.
• Funding & Resource Development: Develop funding strategies that combine public and philanthropic sources. Identify and pursue public grants and appropriations, and partner with TPL’s federal affairs, local government affairs consultants and philanthropy teams to cultivate public and private investment in the program.
• External Representation: Represent TPL’s trails and greenways work in New York with elected officials, agencies, funders, media, and community stakeholders.
• Other duties as necessary

Qualifications:

• Strong commitment to TPL’s shared values (Belonging, Creativity, Collaboration, Impact, and Hope) to effectively work across the organization.
• An entrepreneurial, strategic mindset with the initiative to identify opportunities and the judgment to prioritize them; comfortable operating with ambiguity and building something new.
• 11+ years of professional experience leading complex public infrastructure, planning, or capital projects — trails, parks, transportation, or open space experience all relevant.
• Strong political and interpersonal skills, with experience navigating multiple levels of government, competing interests, and complex approval processes.
• Demonstrated experience working with or alongside government — direct experience in a public agency, or a strong track record partnering with municipal, state, or federal government on project delivery.
• Proven ability to advance large-scale infrastructure projects through planning, design, funding, and construction, including managing consultants, budgets, and schedules.
• Experience securing public and philanthropic funding for major projects, including grants, appropriations, and capital campaigns. Specific experience with transportation or working for local governments funding is a plus.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to represent TPL persuasively to officials, funders, media, and community members.
• Knowledge of the geography, communities, agencies and politics of New York City and Long Island are a plus.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience; advanced degree in planning, public administration, engineering, or a related field a plus.

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 salary for this position is $111,402-130,000. This role may be eligible for additional locality pay based on the candidate’s location.

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.