Innovation Delivery Team Project Manager Opening

JOB DESCRIPTION:  Innovation Delivery Team Project Manager
LOCATION: Memphis, Tennessee
Travel:  10-20%
 
BACKGROUND:
 
The City of Memphis was selected by Bloomberg Philanthropies as one of five cities nationwide to receive an Innovation Delivery Team grant. The three-year grant ending in October 2014 represents one of the largest private-sector commitments to social innovation in our nation’s history.  The grant will fund local teams, housed within the Mayor’s Office, charged with developing innovative, effective solutions to some of the city’s most pressing challenges. Reporting directly to the Director of the Mayor’s Innovation Delivery Team, the Innovation Delivery Team Project Managers are responsible for coordinating all work across their respective priority areas, from facilitating idea generation through implementation planning and delivery.  This includes creating work plans, developing working relationships and liaising with agency heads and other stakeholders in order to deliver on the established innovation delivery targets.  Since January 2012, the team has been working on two challenges:  reducing incidences of handgun violence, particularly among young people, and generating economic vitality  in core city neighborhoods.  A series of initiatives is already underway for these two challenge areas.  The newly selected project manager would add capacity to the daily management of those initiatives, but would principally be charged with leading a third as yet to be selected challenge area.
The Project Manager will also be an active participant in an exclusive learning network of five cities implementing the Innovation Delivery Team model, applying a set of public sector management best practices and programmatic reforms aided by extensive technical assistance from Bloomberg Philanthropies.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
  • Leading the interagency process for idea generation, developing implementation plans, and managing progress towards defined targets
  • Managing and maintaining strong relationships with a broad set of stakeholders, including government officials and private and nonprofit sector leaders
  • Consulting with internal and external experts to generate innovative solutions and assess their feasibility
  • Leading the development of detailed charters and implementation plans for delivery on all major initiatives in the identified priority areas
  • Ensuring effective performance monitoring vehicles are in place and regularly monitoring progress of initiatives; making recommendations for correction where appropriate
  • Communicating progress to all relevant stakeholders, including initiative Sponsor, Initiative Lead, and the Innovation Delivery Team Director
  • As required by the Director, actively participate in Bloomberg Philanthropies’ cohort activities with other Innovation Delivery Team grantees and ensuring all grant requirements are met
  • In the absence of the Director and when so assigned, perform the functions of the Mayor’s Innovation Delivery Team Director.
QUALIFICATIONS:
 
The ideal candidate possesses a passion for making meaningful, sustainable change in the City of Memphis and is ready to work in a high-energy, openly collaborative work environment.  The Innovation Delivery Team will guide the City through a successful process of generating ideas, developing detailed implementation plans, and delivering solutions to meet specific targets, while setting an environment for change and open collaboration.  To that end, Team members need to be able to simultaneously balance dogged adherence to an innovation process and protocol that is critical to delivery, but also must think creatively and asymmetrically and bring abstract concepts to practical implementation in a very time constrained environment.   Characteristics of successful candidates for the Innovation Delivery Team Project Manager position include:
  • Ability to lead transformations that involve multiple stakeholders, constituencies, and/or agencies;
  • Experience developing and managing a high-performing team;
  • Track record of establishing targets and delivering measurable results on time and within budget;
  • Direct experience working with government or private sector leaders; and
  • Ability to thoughtfully communicate with and respectfully engage diverse stakeholders around a shared vision for achieving results
Experience in the fields of economic development and/or community development is favorably considered, but not essential.
Application letters and resumes must be received by April 19th and may be mailed to:
Mayor’s Innovation Delivery Team
Attn: Maria Fuhrman, 7th Floor
125 N. Main
Memphis, TN 38103

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