Forum For The Future is hiring a Senior Principal Change Designer

[Jack Leahy]

Senior Principal Change Designer

Job Posting

Current job holder	VACANT
Job title	Senior Principal Change Designer
Name of organisation	Forum for the Future US
Location	WeWork; 81 Prospect St, Brooklyn NY
Responsible to	Managing Director, Forum for the Future US
Working hours	37.5 hours a week. The job holder must be flexible with operational needs, including working at irregular hours across international teams.
Contract	This is a permanent contract. There is a probationary period of three months.
Holiday	All full-time staff based in US are entitled to take 20 days paid leave annually plus 11 Public Holidays. It is Forum practice to grant a further three grace days to be taken on specific dates scheduled by the Senior Managers, usually around Christmas and New Year; these days are not a part of your personal leave balance.
Benefits	Flexible working hours; retirement provisions and medical insurance cover.
Equal opportunities	All qualified applicants will be afforded equal employment opportunities without discrimination because of race, creed (religion), color, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, military status, age, disability, predisposing genetic characteristic, or marital status.
Date written	July 2019

 

 

Job Title: Senior Principal Change Designer, Forum for the Future US

Reports to: Associate Director, Forum for the Future US

FLSA Status: Exempt          

 

 

We are seeking a progressive, creative and ambitious manager to join our team of sustainability change-makers in Brooklyn, NY. This role is an exciting opportunity to help accelerate our impact in driving systems change in the US. One of the key responsibilities of a Senior Principal is to design and facilitate projects that lead to systemic and transformational change in one or more of our Challenge Labs addressing climate, sustainable nutrition and sustainable value chains and livelihoods. As part of this you will also cultivate deep partnerships with pioneering businesses, nonprofits, foundations and other organizations that are working to transform the way we work, live and consume in support of a just and sustainable future.

 

 

About Forum for the Future

 

Forum for the Future is an independent, global non-profit with a mission to accelerate systems change for a just and sustainable future. We have a 21 year track record in partnering with pioneering companies who recognize that social and environmental issues are already shaping their business context today, and want to actively create the conditions for their future success. In addition to working with these organizations one on one, we bring companies, NGOs, government representatives and others together to create action-oriented coalitions on particularly urgent and complex sustainability challenges. Examples include The Protein Challenge 2040, which is working to ensure we can feed 9 billion people with enough protein in the future; Cotton 2040, which is working to mainstream sustainable cotton; and The Net Positive Project, which is helping to create a movement of companies giving more back to society and the environment than what they take out. As a charity, we publicly share our learnings from this work through communications, events and our new School of Systems Change.

 

Forum has offices in London, New York, Mumbai and Singapore.

We operate as a global team, delivering both international and local projects.

 

Our US office is celebrating its eighth year, working with partners including Danone North America, FoodCorps, Target, Hershey’s, Omidyar Network, and Garfield Foundation, among others. We drive Forum’s full strategy – from advising organizations on a 1:1 basis to driving wider collaborations to running our School of Systems Change.

 

About the Role

 

Reporting to the Associate Director of Forum for the Future US, the Senior Principal Change Designer will support our work by (1) managing and delivering high impact systems change projects, primarily for individual partner organizations, (2) deepening our relationships and coaching partners in their journey towards transformational change, and (3) supporting our income generation and profile.

 

Key responsibilities include:

·       Project management: managing high quality sustainability projects with our partners that have a strong theory of change; apply futures, design and systems thinking; and demonstrate measurable outcomes and impact within budget.

 

·       Partner management: supporting partners individually, deepening our relationships and contributing to a dynamic community.

 

·       Income generation: supporting our office in growing our portfolio of work with US businesses, foundations and other organizations and expanding our reach and network.

 

·       Thought leadership and external representation: occasionally representing Forum and its work in channels from conferences to publications

 

·       Contributing to team culture. Ensuring that our work is conducted in ways that are aligned with our organizational values: courageous, adaptive, empathetic, inquisitive, playful and respectful.

 

About our ideal candidate

 

• You have at least 7 years of experience driving systems change for sustainable development outcomes within the private or non-profit sectors. Preference will be given to individuals that have worked in a consultancy capacity with business as part of this journey.

 

• You are passionate about enabling a just and sustainable future and have ambitious, creative and innovative ideas for getting there. You actively follow the latest innovations, trends, and signals of change that are getting us closer to that goal.

 

• Ideally you are a trained futurist and have applied futures-thinking to past projects, or you are a trained systems change practitioner and have applied systems change theory to past projects. You are curious and are energized by constantly building your practice.

 

• You have worked in at least one of the systems in which Forum for the Future US is actively driving change (food and agriculture, transportation, apparel, retail and consumer products). You have a good understanding of what drives impact in these areas. As we are looking to accelerate our response to the climate crisis, we strongly encourage those who have experience in climate science/developing climate response strategies to apply.

 

• You are strategic, able to diagnose complex sustainability problems and partner with the right people to drive solutions. You have strong facilitation skills to ensure you create a shared vision and strong buy-in along the way. Just as you craft strategy for individual projects, you are always looking for strategic solutions for the organizations you are a part of.

 

• You have strong written and verbal communication skills.  You have a knack for listening to what people need and distilling it into clear actions. You can create project proposals and workshop materials that are clear, concise and professionally written.

 

• You are nimble and responsive to a fast-changing environment. You are able to juggle multiple projects and consistently prioritize to deliver the most impact with the resources at hand. You are open to trying new things, working across sector, across issue area, and project type.

 

• You have strong financial and project management skills with a proven track record of managing income and keeping projects to budget and on time.

 

·       You enjoy working in teams, collaborating, and learning from others. Your preferred ways of working are embodied by Forum’s values (being courageous, adaptive, empathetic, inquisitive, playful and respectful).

 

• You don’t mind travel. This role will take you across the US up to 25% of your time, though some international travel may also be required including Forum’s annual staff meeting held in London.

 

• MBA graduates encouraged.

 

We look forward to meeting you!

 

To apply: please send your resume and a covering letter detailing how you meet the specifications of our ideal candidate to recru...@forumforthefuture.org. Application deadline is September 2^nd at midnight; further applications may be reviewed on a rolling basis if needed.

 

Forum for The Future US values diversity and is an equal opportunity employer. We strongly encourage and seek applications from women, people of color, including bilingual and bicultural individuals, as well as members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities. Applicants shall not be discriminated against because of race, religion, sex, national origin, ethnicity, age, disability, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, color, marital status or medical condition.