Policy Advisor for Land Affairs and Real Estate

Number of hours: 24–32 hours per week (36 hours negotiable)
Pay scale: 11
Contract type: temporary assignment / option to convert to permanent employment

Do you see yourself working at the intersection of land affairs, real estate, and area development, where your work directly contributes to the development of our municipality’s living environment? Then we’re looking for you!


Where will you fit into the organization?
You’ll be part of the Spatial Policy team. This team focuses on policy issues and challenges in the physical domain. In doing so, we collaborate extensively with colleagues within the organization and with partners outside our organization.
It is precisely the size of our organization that offers so much flexibility: you’ll have the opportunity to tackle a variety of issues and develop your skills broadly within the field. The team is constantly evolving and growing. We maintain direct lines of communication with the board, deploy talent in an increasingly targeted manner, and combine the knowledge of experienced colleagues with the fresh perspective of new colleagues. This creates a dynamic and learning-oriented environment where you can truly contribute and grow. Within the team, there are various subteams, each of which contributes to these tasks based on its own expertise.
One of these is Land Affairs and Real Estate, which encompasses this position. This team is responsible for municipal land policy, the acquisition and allocation of land, real estate transactions, and support for housing construction and area development projects.
Diligence is central to this work: we strive to ensure a transparent and lawful process regarding land affairs and real estate, within the administrative frameworks and applicable laws and regulations. This directly contributes to the reliable and forward-looking development of the municipality.


What will you be doing?
You will play a strategic and substantive role within the Land Affairs and Real Estate subteam. In this role, you’ll oversee the broader landscape, identify relevant developments, and actively take the lead on complex and politically and administratively sensitive issues and projects. You move seamlessly between strategy and execution and know how to bring structure, clarity, and direction to a dynamic environment. In doing so, you serve as a strong point of contact for the board, management, and external parties, and you know how to reconcile diverse interests into clear, well-supported recommendations that truly advance decision-making and implementation. You’ll work on projects that impact the living environment of our municipality: from strategic land acquisition and real estate transactions to facilitating housing construction and community facilities. You’ll ensure that plans don’t remain mere ideas but actually yield results.

Your primary responsibilities will include:

• Providing advice on complex and strategic land and real estate issues, such as purchases, sales, and contractual agreements;
• Conducting and facilitating negotiations with landowners, developers, and other parties through to the completion of transactions;
• Preparing and overseeing real estate and land transactions through the notarial closing;
• To actively contribute to the quality and professionalization of municipal land policy and real estate management by drafting and updating policy documents and implementation frameworks;
• Making a substantive contribution to housing construction and area development initiatives based on land holdings, acquisition opportunities, and strategic land strategies;
• Balancing legal, financial, strategic-political, and spatial interests in comprehensive recommendations;
• Identifying opportunities, risks, and bottlenecks in policies and work processes, and making recommendations for improvement;
• Preparing administrative decisions and carefully briefing the executive committee and the council;
• Resolving complex issues related to land acquisitions, such as those for infrastructure, recreational facilities, and social initiatives;
• Participating in or leading complex projects that often span the entire organization or extend beyond individual teams.

Who are we looking for?
We are looking for a Policy Advisor for Land Affairs and Real Estate with experience in this field. You know how to take a holistic approach to issues and challenges. You have strong analytical skills, an understanding of administrative dynamics, and the ability to translate strategic issues into clear recommendations for the board and management. You can easily navigate between policy and implementation, combining a practical mindset with independence, decisiveness, and strong communication skills. You possess:

• HBO/WO working and thinking level
• Experience as a strategic advisor to the board and management
• Experience with project-based work
• Experience in the field of area development
• The ability to provide strategic advice, look ahead, and set the direction
• An understanding of social and political developments or other environmental factors, and the ability to respond to them
• At least 3 years of verifiable work experience, within the past 5 years, as a land affairs advisor within a municipal organization

In addition, you possess our five core competencies: teamwork, responsibility, customer focus, results orientation, and flexibility.


What do we offer you?
In addition to a position in which you truly contribute to the spatial quality of Aa en Hunze, you can count on:

• An attractive salary in pay scale 11 (max. €6,422 gross per month based on full-time employment, effective July 1, 2026) corresponding to the generic job description for Policy Advisor A;
• A one-year contract (through a staffing agency) with the possibility of permanent employment, for 24–32 hours per week. A 36-hour workweek is negotiable in consultation with the team;
• A beautiful workplace in the lush Aa en Hunze region, plus the option to work hybrid;
• An enthusiastic and dedicated team where collaboration is key.

Working for the Municipality of Aa en Hunze
The Municipality of Aa en Hunze is one of the largest rural municipalities in the Netherlands, with approximately 25,000 residents, 35 villages and settlements, and an area of over 270 km². All of this stretches across the sandy Hondsrug and the peatlands of the Veenkoloniën. If you work for the municipality of Aa en Hunze, you’ll join more than 350 colleagues in doing work that matters. Our mission is to keep Aa en Hunze beautiful and to make it a little more beautiful every day. We work together with our residents on a wide range of social issues. In doing so, we’re open to initiatives, listen and adapt, connect, and support. We do this by increasingly reaching out into the community and maintaining contact with residents, organizations, and associations. This allows us to respond effectively to what matters most to our residents. Staying connected is at the heart of what we do.