Firm overview, non-discrimination, and diversity and inclusion statements
Firm overview
CommunityScale LLC is incorporated as a limited liability company with the organization structure of partnership.
CommunityScale is an urban planning consultancy focused on helping communities across the country improve equity, economic mobility, and housing attainability. We provide a range of services and analytics products designed to help our clients make more informed and targeted decisions around policy and investment, from development opportunity assessments to regulatory and zoning reviews to housing needs assessments. Our work is data-driven and forward-focused, leveraging new tools and resources to deliver actionable analysis and insights.
Non-discrimination
CommunityScale does not discriminate against employees or applicants for employment based on race, creed, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, citizenship status, or any other legally protected status.
Diversity and inclusion
At CommunityScale, we are committed to a culture of diversity and inclusion. We understand that our core strength lies in the collective and diverse experiences, backgrounds, and skills of our team. We recognize that each employee’s unique perspectives, ideas, and experiences contribute to the innovative solutions we provide in urban planning. We embrace and encourage our employees’ differences in age, color, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, and other characteristics that make our employees unique.
Current openings
CommunityScale is hiring the position(s) below
Lead Python Developer for Housing App (posted October 2025)
About the job
The CommunityScale Housing Forecast is a web-based application designed to help communities understand and plan for housing needs and population growth. We process large-scale demographic, geographic, and economic datasets to create dynamic forecasts, interactive maps, and data visualizations. We’re a small, focused team looking for a skilled developer to help us build, scale, and refine our platform. You will be leading software development within our urban planning company to have a real-world impact on urban planning and community development.
About you
We are seeking a mid-level developer with strong Python and data engineering skills to take a leading role in the development and maintenance of our housing forecast application. The ideal candidate is passionate about data engineering, building performant APIs, designing robust data pipelines, and, in a perfect world, has experience with geospatial data analysis. You will be responsible for turning complex demographic analyses into interactive features, optimizing our database for large-scale spatial queries, and helping us build a scalable, future-proof tech stack.
Required Skills and Experience
- 3+ years of professional experience building web applications with Python.
- Strong proficiency with SQL and experience designing/optimizing relational database schemas (PostgreSQL preferred).
- Demonstrated experience with a modern Python web framework (FastAPI, Flask, Django).
- Familiarity with geospatial data concepts and tools (PostGIS, GeoAlchemy2).
- Experience building and maintaining data processing pipelines (ETL/ELT).
- Proficiency with Git for version control in a collaborative environment.
- A pragmatic approach to problem-solving and a keen eye for detail.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with our specific stack: Pandas, FastAPI, SQLAlchemy, Pydantic, HTMX.
- Hands-on experience with U.S. Census data products (ACS, Decennial) and geographic formats (TIGER/Line).
- Background in GIS, urban planning, or demographic analysis.
- Familiarity with deploying and managing applications on GCP.
- Experience with data orchestration frameworks like Prefect.
What you’ll be working on
This is a hands-on role where you’ll directly contribute to our core product. Based on our current roadmap, your work will include:
- Extending Core Features:
- Develop and implement dynamic, interactive features, including charts for key metrics like “Housing Affordability” and “Household Growth by Income Group”.
- Improve and refine our geographic analysis capabilities, including resolving spatial data challenges like the z-index rendering of overlapping geographies (e.g., townships within municipalities).
- Update and maintain our map interfaces, including refreshing Mapbox tilesets with the latest U.S. Census TIGER data.
- Data Engineering and Pipeline Automation:
- Build and automate data ingestion pipelines for new and existing sources, such as Zillow, FRED, and the American Community Survey (ACS), using modern ELT tools.
- Optimize and refactor data transformation logic, migrating complex Python processing into more efficient SQL/dbt models.
- Design and implement database migrations to manage schema changes as the application evolves.
- Backend and API Development:
- Extend our FastAPI application with new analytical endpoints to support user-driven forecast overrides (e.g., custom population bins, adjustable mortgage rates).
- Optimize application performance by addressing challenges like database query bottlenecks and initial load times (e.g., caching mortgage rate data).
- Configure and manage deployments on Google Cloud Run, including running containerized jobs for intensive processes like population forecasting.
- Improving the Tech Stack and Reducing Tech Debt:
- Contribute to our long-term technical vision, which includes implementing orchestration with tools like Prefect and leveraging BigQuery for large-scale analytics.
- Enhance our local development environment
- Collaborate on improving our CI/CD pipeline in GitHub Actions for more robust testing and deployment.
Our Tech Stack
We believe in using modern, effective tools. Our environment includes:
- Backend: Python 3.13+, Pandas, FastAPI, SQLAlchemy 2+, Pydantic
- Databases: PostgreSQL 16+ with PostGIS, DuckDB
- Data Transformation: dbt for SQL-based transformations
- Frontend: HTMX 2.0+, TailwindCSS 4, Jinja2, Mapbox GL JS, Datawrapper for charting
- DevOps and Tooling: Docker, Google Cloud Run, GitHub Actions, uv, pre-commit (Ruff, Pyright), pytest, direnv
Future Direction: We are actively planning to integrate orchestration, dlt (for ingestion), and Google BigQuery.
This role offers a unique opportunity to work on a meaningful product at a pivotal stage of its growth. If you are excited by geospatial data, modern development practices, and building tools for social good, we encourage you to apply.
About CommunityScale
CommunityScale is an urban planning consultancy focused on helping communities across the US improve equity, economic mobility, and housing attainability. We specialize in housing plans, market analysis, zoning, and related tasks. We are interested in breaking the mold in this industry through methods and deliverables that are more interesting, efficient, effective, and profitable than the competition. We consider every project and every task an opportunity to invent, both in terms of technical creativity and also business model innovation.
We work for clients large and small across the country. In 2025, we are working in places such as Colorado, North Carolina, Nebraska, Ohio, and across New England. CommunityScale is primarily remote work with regular meet-ups and somewhat frequent travel for projects (about monthly).
We offer competitive pay, 401(k) match, paid vacation, and health insurance stipends.
How to apply
Please send your resume and work samples to [email protected] with the subject line “Job application: Lead Python Developer, [YOUR NAME]”.
We do not require a custom cover letter. Instead, include in the body of your email a response to the following question in about 100 words: What are the tools and skills you would like to learn next in your professional development and why?
Planner / Analyst (posted July 2025)
About the job
CommunityScale seeks a new colleague to support data-driven urban planning project work and help develop our technical capabilities in a variety of ways. At first, the role will involve jumping into project tasks including GIS mapping, quantitative analysis, data visualization, and digital documentation for urban analytics. The role will evolve based on the person’s skills and interests.
About you
Our ideal candidate is an analytical systems thinker that brings a solid foundation of spatial and statistical data analysis capabilities but, more importantly, is excited to learn new things and can quickly teach themselves new skills.
To start, you should be comfortable with GIS mapping and spatial analysis, statistical modeling and analysis with R or Python, and communicating complex ideas and concepts through clear graphics and language. Our client-facing work is primarily delivered via Google Suite (Sheets, Slides, Docs), Datawrapper, Mapbox, and custom dashboards.
You should have relevant educational and potentially professional experience. You should be interested in a full-time, salaried junior position. We are fully remote and have a slight preference for candidates who are based in New England and interested, but we work with people across the country and are open to creative arrangements for the right person.
About CommunityScale
CommunityScale is an urban planning consultancy focused on helping communities across the US improve equity, economic mobility, and housing attainability. We specialize in housing plans, market analysis, zoning, and related tasks. We are interested in breaking the mold in this industry through methods and deliverables that are more interesting, efficient, effective, and profitable than the competition. We consider every project and every task an opportunity to invent, both in terms of technical creativity and also business model innovation.
We work for clients large and small across the country. In 2025, we are working in places such as Colorado, North Carolina, Nebraska, Ohio, and across New England. CommunityScale is primarily remote work with regular meet-ups and somewhat frequent travel for projects (about monthly).
We offer competitive pay, 401(k) match, paid vacation, and health insurance stipends.
How to apply
Please send your resume and work samples to [email protected] with the subject line “Job application: Planner / Analyst, [YOUR NAME]”.
We do not require a custom cover letter. Instead, include in the body of your email a response to the following question in about 100 words: What are the tools and skills you would like to learn next in your professional development and why?
Open application
We’re always on the lookout for driven individuals who bring fresh ideas and expertise to our projects. If you’re passionate about planning, analytics, or policy we encourage you to apply. We believe that great talent can come from unexpected places, and we value the unique perspectives each person brings to our team. We’ll reach out if we see a strong fit for your skills and interests.
About us
CommunityScale is an urban planning consultancy focused on helping communities across the US improve equity, economic mobility, and housing attainability. We specialize in housing plans, market analysis, zoning, and related tasks. We are interested in breaking the mold in this industry through methods and deliverables that are more interesting, efficient, effective, and profitable than the competition. We consider every project and every task an opportunity to invent, both in terms of technical creativity and also business model innovation.
We use a hybrid work model with regular meet-ups, along with a permanent presence at coworking spaces in Cambridge and Greenfield, MA. We enjoy working hard, but we also encourage a healthy work-life balance.
We offer competitive pay, 401(k) match, paid vacation, and health insurance stipends. As we grow, we will continue to add benefits and incentives to the mix.
How to apply
Please send your resume and work samples to [email protected] with the subject line “Job application: Open application, [YOUR NAME]”.
We do not require a custom cover letter. Instead, include in the body of your email a response to the following question in about 100 words: What are the tools and skills you would like to learn next in your professional development and why?