The Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins University (the Center) seeks a Senior Advisor to join the Innovation Practice. The first of its kind in the world, the Center aims to advance the field of public sector innovation by marrying cutting-edge practice with world class research in order to transform the culture of government, deliver exceptional results for residents, and inspire trust in public service.
Reporting to the Innovation Director, Senior Advisors play a critical role in supporting programs in the Innovation practice area, helping local government practitioners and leaders build innovation capacity in city halls and deliver better results for residents. Senior Advisors are subject matter experts who train city hall teams to engage residents more effectively, design creative initiatives to tackle urban challenges, and apply approaches such as human-centered design, crowdsourcing, and behavioral science.
The Center is committed to addressing structural and entrenched racism and recognizes the public sector’s role in perpetuating these legacies. We are looking for candidates committed to dismantling structural and entrenched racism and addressing these issues, both as we build a new organization and advance this work in communities.
Specific Duties & Responsibilities
- Provide direct technical assistance to city teams in the design, development, and delivery of new services and policy approaches in coordination with staff, partner organizations, and philanthropic funders.
- Design and facilitate direct connections and collaborative learning opportunities among cities.
- Serve as a subject matter and political context expert for internal collaboration with other practice areas and operational teams.
- Collaborate on the design and execution of new grant opportunities and practice offerings.
- Prepare reports, summaries, presentations, and other work products for dissemination to the Center’s leadership and external partners, including Bloomberg Philanthropies.
- Organize and support meeting facilitation with external stakeholders including governments, philanthropy, nonprofit organizations, and academic and public sector leaders.
- Contribute to internal strategy development and continuous improvement.
- Other duties as assigned.
Special Knowledge, Skills & Abilities
- Experience in local government, design, or management consulting.
- A thorough understanding of the types of challenges municipal governments typically face.
- Experience project-managing complex initiatives from design to their completion.
- Superior organizational skills and ability to set priorities and respond quickly as priorities change.
- Strong interpersonal skills with an ability to build good relationships with peers and to interact with diverse stakeholders.
- Experience interacting with senior officials from public sector organizations and supporting them in advancing complex issues and goals.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills and ability to collect and synthesize information.
- Ability to represent Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation and its partners before mayors and other government officials.
- Ability to thrive in relationships with leaders in the civic sector.
- Ability to manage external stakeholders and workflows.
- Excellence public speaking and training skills.
Minimum Qualifications
- Master’s Degree in related discipline.
- One year related experience.
- Demonstrated ability on significant graduate project or additional doctoral education may substitute for experience to the extent permitted by the JHU equivalency formula.
Preferred Qualifications
- Five years experience working in public policy, public administration, or a related field, particularly with local government.
- Experience or familiarity with government innovation efforts, including a strong conceptual and practical understanding of innovation tools and the role of human centered design, data and policy in the public sector.