Community Manager- Student Housing

Student housing management draws on a specific blend of skills that most conventional multifamily experience doesn't fully develop: the ability to run a full annual turn at scale, manage a high-energy leasing cycle tied to an academic calendar, and maintain financial performance against revenue targets that reset every year. The Community Manager role at Lark Baton Rouge calls on all of those at once.

The Skills This Role Puts to Work Daily

Scion places this position at the center of property operations, and the skill set reflects that. Financial management is a constant: you'll own the budget process from preparation through month-end close, manage NOI through both revenue growth and expense discipline, and produce variance explanations that hold up under scrutiny. Alongside that, you'll carry full responsibility for leasing velocity, gain-to-lease performance, concessions strategy, and market rate positioning. Those two tracks, financial and leasing, run in parallel and require fluency in both.

People management is the third skill set this role demands heavily. You'll hire, develop, and hold accountable a team of leasing and maintenance staff, and you'll need to be the kind of leader who can plan for succession so the property runs smoothly when you're not on site. On-call responsibility is real here. Student housing communities don't pause for off-hours, and the GM is the primary responder when escalations arise.

What the Work Actually Looks Like

• Lead the annual turnover process: coordinating vendors, setting team expectations, managing overtime budgets, and hitting make-ready deadlines before move-in
• Monitor KPIs in property management platforms (Entrata preferred) and act on the data rather than just reporting it
• Oversee facilities compliance including permits, preventative maintenance schedules, and curb appeal across common areas and amenities
• Manage reputation across review platforms as part of the broader customer experience strategy
• Partner with legal and accounting teams on vendor contracts, risk management, and monthly financial reporting
• Ensure Fair Housing compliance and safety training across all onsite staff

The Baton Rouge Context and What Sets Strong Candidates Apart

Baton Rouge is a student housing market anchored by LSU's enrollment, which runs well above 35,000 students. The demand cycle here is reliable but compressed: pre-leasing for the following fall starts early, competition among purpose-built student communities is real, and the annual turn window between July and August is intense. A GM who has managed high-volume turn seasons at a similarly sized property will have a clear operational advantage over someone learning that process for the first time here.

What separates strong candidates from average ones in this role is comfort operating at the intersection of numbers and people. Plenty of managers can read a T-12 or run a leasing team. Fewer can do both well while also being the face of the community to residents, the accountability partner for staff, and the primary contact during a 2 a.m. emergency. Scion's model asks for all of that in one person, and the candidates who thrive are the ones who find that range energizing rather than exhausting.

Scion brings a dedicated student housing platform to this role, which means the training, systems, and organizational infrastructure are built specifically for this asset class rather than adapted from conventional multifamily. For a manager who wants to grow within student housing specifically, that focus has real career value.