Deputy City Manager Recruitment in Victoria, Texas
A Deputy City Manager Opportunity Focused on Continuity of Progress
The City of Victoria, Texas is recruiting its next Deputy City Manager through Clear Career Professionals. In this PositionCast™ episode of The Clear Voice, Host James Groom is joined by Kelly Kuenstler, retired city manager and recruiter for this position, and Jesús Garza, City Manager for the City of Victoria, to discuss the role, the organization, and the type of leader who may be the right fit.
Victoria is a regional hub of approximately 65,000 residents located between San Antonio, Houston, Austin, and Corpus Christi. The community offers a strong combination of regional access, local identity, outdoor recreation, retail, restaurants, and quality of life amenities. As Jesús describes it, Victoria provides big city living with small town charm. This Deputy City Manager opportunity is especially important because Victoria is not simply filling a vacancy. The City is being intentional about executive leadership capacity, succession planning, and what Jesús calls continuity of progress. Victoria has momentum, and the next Deputy City Manager will help the organization continue moving forward.
A Stable Council Manager Environment
One of the strongest selling points for this opportunity is Victoria’s stable leadership environment. Victoria operates under the council manager form of government. The City Council includes the Mayor and six Council members, with single member districts and two super districts. In the episode, Jesús describes a governing body that works for the betterment of the entire community and avoids the kind of internal conflict that can slow progress in other cities. For Deputy City Manager, Assistant City Manager, and City Manager candidates, that matters. Political stability, professional governance, and alignment between the Council, executive team, and community create the kind of environment where experienced local government leaders can do meaningful work.
Why Victoria Is Hiring a Deputy City Manager
The Deputy City Manager role was created after Victoria reviewed its executive structure and considered how to best support the organization’s future needs. Victoria previously had a City Manager, two Assistant City Managers, and a Chief Financial Officer within the City Manager’s Office structure. After internal promotions and a review of organizational needs, the City determined that reclassifying the Chief Financial Officer position into a Deputy City Manager position would better support the organization. The purpose of this role is not to slow down, reset, or simply maintain operations. The purpose is to help Victoria protect and continue its progress during a time of leadership transition, community investment, and strategic opportunity.
Two Distinct Candidate Pathways
A key point for candidates is that Victoria is considering two distinct candidate pathways for this Deputy City Manager recruitment. The City is not expecting one candidate to bring both backgrounds. The right candidate may come from a public safety leadership background, or the right candidate may come from an economic development and growth background.
Either pathway may be the right fit depending on the candidate’s experience, leadership style, and ability to complement the existing executive team. This is important because Victoria is not searching for a unicorn. The goal is to find an experienced municipal executive who brings strong judgment, operational maturity, and meaningful depth in one of these two areas.
Candidate Pathway 1, Public Safety Leadership
One pathway is for an experienced public safety leader. Victoria has made major investments in public safety, including a new 70,000 square foot public safety headquarters that brings several public safety functions under one roof. Police, fire administration, municipal court, the fire marshal’s office, and 911 dispatch are now positioned in a way that creates new opportunities for collaboration, coordination, and strategic planning. A public safety focused Deputy City Manager could help Victoria build on that investment.
This pathway may be a strong fit for someone with experience in police, fire, emergency management, dispatch, municipal court, civil service, collective bargaining, labor relations, or public safety operations at the executive level. Victoria is also implementing civil service and collective bargaining for the fire department for the first time. A candidate with experience in those areas could bring immediate value by helping the organization move through that transition thoughtfully, while balancing employee needs, service expectations, recruitment, retention, and long term financial realities.
Candidate Pathway 2, Economic Development and Growth
The second pathway is for an experienced economic development or growth focused leader. Victoria is a strong regional hub, but it is not directly attached to the rapid suburban growth occurring around larger metro areas. That creates both opportunity and responsibility. The City must be intentional about population growth, tax base growth, business investment, redevelopment, and long term financial sustainability. Victoria’s Growing Victoria initiative is focused on that work.
A Deputy City Manager with economic development experience could help move that initiative forward, support strategic growth, strengthen partnerships, and help the City take full advantage of its regional position. This pathway may be a strong fit for someone with experience in economic development, development services, tourism, downtown revitalization, redevelopment, strategic planning, or Type B economic development corporations. The City is especially interested in how growth can support long term service delivery, quality of life, public infrastructure, parks, public safety, and financial sustainability.
A Full Service City With Significant Responsibility
Victoria is a full service city with broad operational responsibility. The organization has 656 authorized full time employees and a fiscal year 2026 operating budget of approximately $255 million. The City operates water and wastewater utilities, owns its landfill, provides residential trash collection, manages tourism in house, and provides a wide range of core municipal services. This is not a narrow executive role in a limited service environment.
The next Deputy City Manager will be joining a complex municipal organization with real operational depth. That makes executive judgment especially important. The successful candidate will need to understand how city departments connect, how strategic priorities move through an organization, and how to support directors while keeping the larger mission in focus.
Culture, Retention, and Leadership
The episode also highlights Victoria’s focus on workplace culture and employee retention. Jesús makes the point that employees have a choice in where they work, and Victoria takes that responsibility seriously. The City is working to provide the tools, resources, compensation, facilities, and leadership environment employees need to be successful. That culture is especially visible in public safety. Victoria has invested in a new public safety facility, improved compensation, and promoted leadership from within. Those changes are already having an impact on recruitment and morale. For candidates, this means the Deputy City Manager role is not only about managing departments. It is about helping people succeed, strengthening internal trust, and supporting a workplace where employees can grow.
Strategic Priorities and Long Term Momentum
Victoria’s strategic direction is guided by the Victoria 2035 comprehensive plan and supporting master plans. Those priorities include public infrastructure, economic development, quality of life, development patterns, growth, downtown improvements, parks, drainage, facilities, and other long term community needs. The City has already made major investments, including downtown improvements, parks projects, street infrastructure, public safety facilities, and future community center improvements.
Victoria also has important momentum around education and workforce development. The University of Houston Victoria has become part of the Texas A&M University System as Texas A&M University Victoria, and Victoria College continues to play a major role in preparing the local workforce. For a Deputy City Manager candidate, this is the kind of environment where strategic planning is not just a document. It is already connected to projects, investments, and organizational action.
Preparing for the Interview Process
Candidates interested in this opportunity should do their homework. Victoria’s plans, priorities, facilities, growth initiatives, and strategic documents matter. Candidates who take time to understand the community and the organization will be better prepared to explain how their experience aligns with the role. That preparation is also a chance for candidates to decide whether Victoria is the right fit for them. This is a city with stability, momentum, and clear expectations. The successful candidate should be ready to contribute at a high level and help the organization continue moving forward.
Learn More About the Victoria Deputy City Manager Opportunity
The Deputy City Manager recruitment in Victoria, Texas offers experienced local government leaders a chance to join a stable, full service city with strong leadership alignment and significant momentum. Candidates do not need both public safety and economic development backgrounds to be competitive. The City is considering two separate pathways and is looking for the right executive fit.
Learn more about the opportunity and apply through Clear Career Professionals:
https://clearcareerpro.com/clear-news/victoria-deputy-city-manager-opportunity
About The Clear Voice Podcast
The Clear Voice is a dedicated platform for transparency and expert led dialogue within the professional and public sectors. The show serves as a vital resource for leaders who want to move past surface level discussions and dive into the real world mechanics of governance, management, and organizational growth. James Groom is the host of the program. As the Vice President of Clear Career Professionals and a retired Police Chief, James brings a unique, high stakes perspective to every conversation. His background in public service and executive leadership allows him to extract practical, actionable insights from industry experts that help modern organizations function with total clarity.
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About Clear Career Professionals
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