Community Manager

Skills This Role Runs On

The Community Manager position at Hawthorne Residential Partners in Kannapolis draws on three skill sets more than any others: financial literacy, team coaching, and leasing judgment. You'll read monthly reports, track delinquency, manage deposit accounting, and make budget decisions. You'll also hire, develop, and hold accountable a mixed office and maintenance team. And when occupancy softens, you'll be in the leasing process yourself, conducting tours, following up on leads, and pushing renewals alongside your team.

This is a full-scope role at Hawthorne at Concord Lake. There's no siloing between the business side and the people side. You own both.

What the Work Actually Looks Like

Day to day, you're splitting time between the desk and the property. Morning might mean reviewing Yardi reports, following up on outstanding balances, or checking in with maintenance on work order status and vendor schedules. Afternoons can shift to walking the property for curb appeal, handling an escalated resident situation, or jumping on a leasing tour when traffic is high. Saturdays are part of the schedule (10 AM to 4 PM), and resident events occasionally push into evenings.

• Budget management, rent collection, and financial reporting
• Delinquency tracking and deposit accounting
• Leasing, renewals, and pricing strategy to meet occupancy targets
• Team hiring, training, and weekly performance alignment
• Vendor oversight and maintenance coordination
• Resident communication, conflict resolution, and online reputation management
• Social media content tied to community events and resident engagement

Yardi and Knock are the primary platforms. Comfort with both puts you ahead on day one.

What Separates Strong Candidates

The posted requirement is two years of property management experience that includes time as both a leasing consultant and assistant community manager. Six months of direct community manager experience is strongly preferred. That path matters here because the role asks you to read a financial statement and conduct a leasing tour in the same workday, often without much transition time between them.

Candidates who do well in community manager roles tend to be comfortable with accountability on both sides: holding the team to standards while staying accessible enough that people actually bring problems to them early. The ones who struggle usually lean too far one direction. A CAM, CAPS, or real estate license strengthens your application but isn't required.

Hawthorne's internal career path program points community managers toward regional manager roles, which makes this position a reasonable next step if you're already in multifamily and looking to grow toward a portfolio-level seat. The company operates across the Southeast and ranks among the 50 largest multifamily management companies nationally, so the infrastructure for career movement is genuine.