Community Relations Manager

Tatu City Limited is seeking an experienced and proactive Community Relations Manager to lead all community engagement, stakeholder management, and social impact initiatives across Africa's largest mixed-use development. This is a strategic leadership role that sits at the intersection of people, place, and sustainable development — ensuring that Tatu City maintains harmonious, trust-based relationships with surrounding communities, local government structures, and key institutional stakeholders.

The successful candidate will also provide strategic oversight of the Tatu City Labour Desk, driving local workforce development programs, ensuring contractor compliance with community hiring commitments, and overseeing the Tatu City Training Academy. This is a high-visibility role requiring diplomacy, data-driven thinking, and genuine passion for community empowerment.

• Develop and implement comprehensive community engagement strategies aligned with Tatu City's vision, growth objectives, and sustainability agenda.
• Build and sustain strong working relationships with local residents, residents' associations, county government officials, chiefs, sub-chiefs, youth groups, schools, and community-based organisations (CBOs).
• Serve as the primary liaison and official point of contact between Tatu City Limited and all surrounding community stakeholders.
• Coordinate and facilitate regular stakeholder forums, barazas, sensitisation meetings, and community engagement sessions.
• Monitor community sentiment continuously and deliver timely, evidence-based feedback to senior management on emerging risks, issues, and opportunities.
• Support the CSR Officer in developing and overseeing CSR programmes that generate measurable social impact and align with the company's sustainability framework.
• Receive, investigate, and resolve community complaints and grievances professionally, impartially, and within agreed service level timelines.
• Lead conflict resolution and mediation processes between the company and community stakeholders, designing scalable grievance management mechanisms and escalation procedures.
• Ensure all community-related incidents are thoroughly documented, tracked, and closed within stipulated timelines.
• Prepare high-quality monthly and quarterly reports covering community engagement activities, risk trends, and impact metrics for management and board-level review.
• Provide strategic oversight and day-to-day operational supervision of the Tatu City Labour Desk and its administrative functions.
• Supervise and mentor the Labour Desk Administrator to ensure efficient, inclusive, and professional service delivery to community members.
• Maintain accurate databases of registered skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled community labourers, including tracking employment and unemployment statuses.
• Conduct regular labour market and skills needs analyses in collaboration with contractors to align training initiatives with actual workforce demand.
• Oversee implementation and continuous improvement of the Tatu City Training Academy curricula to upskill local workforce candidates.
• Monitor and report on graduate placement outcomes and employment uptake across Tatu City projects and contractor networks.
• Enforce contractor compliance with local labour employment obligations and community hiring commitments as defined in contractual agreements.
• Manage community expectations around employment opportunities, recruitment timelines, and selection processes in a transparent and equitable manner.
• Oversee coordination of casual labour requirements across projects and operational areas within Tatu City.

• Demonstrated ability to design and execute multi-stakeholder community engagement strategies in a large-scale real estate, infrastructure, or development project context.
• Proven track record of building trust with diverse community groups including traditional leaders, youth organisations, county officials, and CBOs in Kenya.
• Ability to facilitate high-stakes barazas, public meetings, and mediation sessions with tact, neutrality, and cultural sensitivity.
• Experience managing structured grievance mechanisms and resolving complex community conflicts with documented outcomes.
• Strong capability to oversee workforce development programmes, labour desk operations, and contractor compliance monitoring.
• Proficiency in preparing board-ready reports, stakeholder briefings, and impact measurement frameworks.
• Bachelor's degree in Social Sciences, Community Development, Public Administration, Sociology, Development Studies, or a related discipline; a postgraduate qualification is an added advantage.
• Minimum 5–7 years of relevant experience in community relations, stakeholder engagement, or social performance roles, preferably within real estate, large-scale infrastructure, or SEZ (Special Economic Zone) environments.
• Strong understanding of Kenya's devolution structures, community land rights, and county-level governance frameworks.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English and Swahili; additional local languages are a distinct advantage.

Tatu City offers a competitive remuneration package commensurate with the seniority and scope of this role. Based on market benchmarks for senior community relations and stakeholder management professionals in Kenya's real estate and infrastructure sector, the estimated monthly gross salary range is KES 200,000 – 350,000. Specific compensation details will be discussed during the selection process.

Ideal Candidate: A seasoned community engagement professional with deep roots in stakeholder management within large development projects in Kenya. You are a natural relationship-builder who can navigate complex political and social dynamics, command respect in the field, and simultaneously produce sharp, analytical reports for senior leadership. You are passionate about inclusive development and local economic empowerment.

Do NOT apply if: You have no hands-on experience working directly with community groups in Kenya, if your background is purely theoretical or academic without fieldwork, or if you are uncomfortable with frequent site visits, field-based engagement, and working in a fast-paced, multi-stakeholder environment.

• Prepare an updated CV (maximum 4 pages) clearly highlighting your community engagement experience, specific stakeholder management achievements, and any workforce development programmes you have led.
• Write a concise cover letter (one page) explaining why you are the right fit for this role at Tatu City and what specific value you would bring to the community relations function.
• Submit your application through the Tatu City careers portal or the job platform where this posting was found.
• Shortlisted candidates will be contacted for an initial screening interview followed by a structured panel interview at Tatu City, Ruiru.
• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. If you do not hear from us within three weeks of the closing date, please consider your application unsuccessful.