Community Manager

Community Manager roles at mid-size multifamily operators tend to sit at an interesting intersection: you're close enough to daily operations to feel the pulse of the property, but accountable enough to ownership that your financial decisions actually matter. At Hawthorne Residential Partners, a Southeast-rooted company that ranks among the top 50 largest multifamily managers in the country, that dynamic is very much in play at 1287 Shoals Apartments in Athens, GA.

What the Role Actually Covers

This is a full-scope community manager position. You'll own the financial side: budgets, rent collection, delinquency tracking, deposit accounting, and reporting through Yardi. On the leasing side, you're not just supervising the process, you're participating in it. Conducting tours, responding to leads, guiding renewals, and managing occupancy through both traffic conversion and resident retention are all part of the job. You'll also handle vendor relationships, property inspections, maintenance coordination, and online reputation management.

The team leadership piece carries real weight here. You'll hire, train, and coach both office and maintenance staff, run weekly team meetings, and serve as the primary point of escalation for resident concerns. Hawthorne emphasizes their "Live It" culture, which in practical terms means they expect their community managers to model the service standards they want the whole team to deliver.

What Hawthorne Is Looking For

• At least two years of property management experience, with time in both leasing consultant and assistant community manager roles
• Six months of direct community manager experience in multifamily, strongly preferred
• Familiarity with Yardi and Knock preferred
• CAM, CAPS, a real estate license, or a property management license is a plus
• Valid driver's license required
• High school diploma or GED equivalent

The schedule runs Monday through Friday, 9 AM to 6 PM, with Saturdays from 10 AM to 4 PM. One weekday off is provided to keep the week at 40 hours. Some evening and weekend availability may come up for resident events or community needs.

Where This Role Can Take You

Hawthorne explicitly names the path: Community Manager to Regional Manager. That trajectory is realistic in multifamily, and the skills you build here are the exact ones regional roles demand. Reading a T-12, managing NOI under budget pressure, developing leasing staff, handling ownership communication, keeping occupancy steady through a slow lease-up season. All of it compounds. Community managers who can demonstrate clean financials, low delinquency, and a team that retains strong performers are the ones regional operators promote.

Athens is a college market, which adds its own rhythm. Seasonal traffic spikes, a high MTM exposure near the academic calendar, and turnover patterns that differ from a typical suburban garden-style community. If you've worked a university-adjacent property before, that experience transfers directly. If you haven't, it's a genuine learning curve worth acknowledging.

Compensation includes a base salary plus monthly leasing and renewal commissions and quarterly performance bonuses. Benefits include medical, dental, and vision coverage, a 401k match, paid parental and adoption leave, pet insurance, and paid time off that includes your birthday.