Future Currents is at a pivotal moment. Originally conceived of as a scenario planning project for a small number of progressive organizations, Future Currents has expanded into a movement utility organization for the progressive ecosystem and beyond, having an outsized impact for its size, scale, and position by combining visionary leadership, rigorous research, and action-oriented interventions. Future Currents is now poised to harness the collective intelligence and power of its projects and people into a configuration in which the whole supports and becomes greater than the sum of its parts.

Reporting to the Executive Director, the Director of Strategic Implementation is a new role responsible for ensuring that Future Currents has and executes a powerful organizational strategy that enables it to best pursue its mission. The Director of Strategic Implementation works in partnership with the Director of Strategic Foresight. This role will serve on the leadership team and serves as point of contact to both staff and fellows who carry out our organizational strategy. Future Currents is a project of New Venture Fund (NVF), a 501(c)(3) public charity that incubates new and innovative public-interest projects and grant-making programs.

Responsibilities:

This will include the following key duties:

Ensuring that Future Currents’ work aligns with its strategy
- Inform decision-making about what Future Currents does and does not do to ensure that it aligns with our strategy and is based in the highest and/or best use of time and resources
- Ensure that strategy translates into annual goals and work plans in coordination with other senior staff. Translate strategic priorities into project plans, timelines, and workflows
- Advise the Executive Director on how work is organized, including staffing and budgeting decisions, to best support the execution of the strategy
- Offer regular coaching and support to project leads and fellows to ensure that each project/area of the organization is working in service of that strategy and has clear goals and ways of working that support those goals
Cultivating strategic cohesion across the organization
- Connect the dots between projects and make strategic connections across the organization (and beyond)
- Ensure relevant people and projects are communicating and coordinating for the greatest impact
- Facilitate staff and fellows gatherings as appropriate
- Convene cross-departmental strategy planning as needed with relevant staff and fellows to share ongoing work and discuss evolving priority areas and participate in relevant strategic thinking and planning groups
Overseeing and leading programmatic areas.
- Manage Future Currents Fellows and teams to ensure alignment
- Develop overall plan and goals for each project to advance Future Currents’ strategy
- Support project leads with decision-making and day-to-day work
- Build team(s) of leaders with the talent and skills to do the work
- Ensure each team is driving clear, powerful, aligned, and budget-appropriate scopes of work that support the whole
- Cultivate a sense of team, purpose, joy, and togetherness that we need in these times to stay in and be sustained through the work
- Ensure that team members are working effectively together where it makes sense (and not where it doesn’t) so everyone can do their best work
Administrative, Finance, and Operations Support
- Support the development of funding proposals
- Collaborate with Communications Director and Operations Director to track and report on project work
- Work with operations team throughout consultant contract life cycle (developing scope of work and budgets, tracking spend down, making amendments as needed, tracking contractual needs as projects scale)
- Ensure strategic priorities are reflected within organizational project management tool (Monday.com).
Serving as an ambassador for the organization
- Join meetings, coalitions, configurations, and tables on behalf of Future Currents
- Partner with Executive Director and Communications Director to tell a powerful story of our strategy to all relevant audiences

Skills/Talents/Attributes

The Director of Strategic Implementation should be a seasoned strategist, facilitator, coach, manager, and project management expert with five to seven years of experience in a senior role.
They will be able to work with staff, fellows, consultants, partners, and funders in low-ego/high impact, emotionally intelligent, visionary ways to help Future Currents have the greatest impact in a time of significant threats and incredible opportunities.
This role is for a leader who is energized by complexity, comfortable holding boundaries, and skilled at translating strategic intent into consistent execution.
Demonstrated ability to build, sustain, and work in partnership with diverse coalitions
Curious learner who builds field expertise and is able to quickly gain a sense of the landscape and roles of relevant partners in order to identify unique roles for Future Currents to add value.
Ability to think strategically and systemically about a range of issues and how they relate.
Ability to manage multiple projects and competing priorities while meeting deadlines.

Status: Full-Time, Exempt

Location: Remote, with regular travel required.

Hiring Statement

Future Currents is a project of New Venture Fund (NVF), a 501(c)(3) public charity that incubates new and innovative public-interest projects and grant-making programs. NVF is committed to attracting, developing and retaining exceptional people, and to creating a work environment that is dynamic, rewarding and enables each of us to realize our potential. NVF’s work environment is safe and open to all employees and partners, respecting the full spectrum of race, color, religious creed, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, political affiliation, ancestry, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, and all other classifications protected by law in the locality and/or state in which you are working.

E-Verify/Right to Work Disclosure

NVF participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with employees’ Form I-9 information to confirm authorization to work in the United States. Job candidates and employees authorized to work may not be discriminated against on the basis of national origin or citizenship status.

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Director of Strategic Implementation