Job Details

Job Description
Title: Sr. Director, Community Impact - Income and Assets Strategy

Department: Community Impact

Reports to: VP of Community Impact

Salary: $135,000 - $153,000

Position Summary:

The Senior Director oversees the next phase of the Income & Assets portfolio, one of the Trust's three critical areas of work toward asset-building, including active oversight, assessment and refinement of the current strategies and initiatives that advance the Trust's ultimate goal to create economic mobility for Chicagoans by increasing income and financial assets and reducing debt for households and communities in the region that have faced systemic barriers to building wealth.

The Senior Director will focus on increasing Chicagoans' access to and participation in career paths that lead to a diverse portfolio of assets, including homeownership and investments vehicles like retirement funds. This high-level position serves as the Trust's subject matter expert and is the stakeholder interface and spokesperson for the Income & Assets strategy, including with donors, community residents, and private, institutional and public sector partners. The Senior Director ensures internal collaboration and close communication across five other Community Impact teams and across critical Trust functions, including Philanthropic Services, Learning & Impact, and Strategic Communications. The Senior Director also works with operations, including finance and IT, to ensure efficient administration of discretionary and restricted grant investments.

Responsibilities:

• Develops and manages the strategic growth and development of the Income & Assets portfolio, creating and refining strategies, leading related initiatives, and overall managing the success of the work.

• Directs budget and resources related to the Income & Assets portfolio, including staff and grants.

• Collaborates with other Community Impact teams to enhance the integration of the work, and cross-functionally within the Trust with Philanthropic Services, Learning & Impact, and Strategic Communications teams to:

• Define and articulate the impact of the integrated strategic priorities

• Increase donor engagement and giving to the Trust's strategic goals

• Communicate the story of the work across the entire range of Trust stakeholders

• Works cooperatively with Trust operations functions, including finance and IT to ensure efficient administration of discretionary and restricted grants.

• Manages, coaches and supports development of Director, Program Manager and Impact Coordinator; supervises the Trust-housed Chicagoland Workforce Funders Alliance; and works closely with co-funder Kinship Foundation.

• Additional responsibilities relating to strategic priorities, Trust initiatives, or opportunities that may arise as assigned by Vice President, Community Impact.

Position Competencies:

To perform the job successfully, an individual should demonstrate the following key competencies:

• Strategic Thinking - Understands, synthesizes and articulates the "big picture", i.e., the underlying assumptions, including industry context, trends, and business drivers; goes beyond transactions details and provides broader context for recommendations, based on analysis that accounts for more than one perspective or approach or outcome.

• Decision Making - Must engage in the process of selecting a logical choice from the available options, weighing positives and negatives, consider alternatives, then be able to forecast the outcome of each option as well, and based on all these items, determine which option is the best for that particular situation.

• Community Leadership and Influence - Is recognized as a leader within the community and possesses the ability to engage and persuade others to inspire action in line with the Trust's strategic priorities; can comfortably communicate with various stakeholders to discuss issues, achieve consensus and influence decision-making; and can serve as a thought leader and subject matter expert through publications, media and execution on identified goals.

• Collaboration - Serve as a highly effective partner across teams, fostering strong cross-functional relationships to advance shared goals. Actively collaborates with colleagues in Community Impact, Philanthropic Services, Learning & Impact, Strategic Communications, and Operations (including Finance and IT) to ensure alignment, seamless execution, and integration of strategies. Demonstrates the ability to co-create solutions, navigate differing perspectives with diplomacy, and build shared ownership of outcomes among internal teams, external partners, funders, and community stakeholders.

• Coaching and Development - Works to improve and reinforce performance of others. Takes responsibility for one's direct reports' performance by setting clear goals and expectations, tracking progress against the goals, ensuring constructive feedback and addressing performance problems and issues promptly. Works with, coaches, and supports direct reports in developing knowledge, skills, and abilities in the interest of performance improvement and employee's career development.

Experience and Skills
Position Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree; Master's degree in a relevant field of study is preferred although we welcome all candidates regardless of educational background

• Minimum of 10 years preferred

• Candidates must have experience in at least two of the following areas:

• Economic development

• Workforce development

• Post-secondary education

• Strategies to grow income and assets

• Proven work experience as a team leader or supervisor.

• Prominence and demonstrated thought leadership in the field of growing income and financial assets, ranging from post-secondary education to income stabilization to wealth-building jobs.

• Demonstrated ability to work in partnership with residents, local and civic leaders and employers to increase income and financial assets.

• Experience working with racially and ethnically diverse and low-income urban communities on economic development challenges.

• Experience in the development, implementation, and evaluation of strategies to further the above goals and in promoting and contributing to a strong learning culture.

• Experience in project development and management.

• Strong verbal and interpersonal communication skills, including the ability to listen well, convey thoughts clearly, speak in public, and work effectively as a member of a team.

• Demonstrated skills in facilitation, relationship building, and collaborative planning.

• Technical skills in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Power Point, Outlook, Access).