Title: Program Manager, Public Challenge
Start Date: April 2024
Target Salary Range: $80,000
Hours: Full-time, salaried with benefits
Location: Miami, FL, with hybrid options
Level: Manager

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MDIA is looking for a Program Manager, Public Challenges to play a pivotal role in overseeing our core program, the Public Innovation Challenge.

This person must possess the curiosity and rigorous strategic mindset required to recruit, identify, and assess emerging startups who are well positioned for procurement and commercial revenue opportunities.  Additionally, this team member must leverage strong business and network development experience to build a local, national and international ecosystem of pipeline partnerships to enhance the quality of startups solutions submitted in response to each challenge. Experience operating within startups to drive meaningful strategies would be highly beneficial.

This person possesses the deep understanding and versatility to nimbly leap from the nuances of competitive landscape to deep technical topics, as necessary, with the fearlessness to engage comfortably with the most senior leaders or leading startups, investment firms, or large enterprise and institutional players.

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About the Public Innovation Challenge

The Public Innovation Challenge is a competitive open call designed to de-risk capital investment in startups with market ready solutions that address pressing local issues.

Through partnerships with regional economic engines, our program creates a continuous flywheel that accelerates the pace of discovery and commercialization of technology within the public sector.  Structured around a strategic investment to defray the cost of a product or solution pilot test, it helps clear the pathway to revenue and growth for winning companies.

In addition to the six-figure investments, selected companies participate in a product testing program directly with Challenge Host partners. MDIA oversees each testing process and works closely with its portfolio companies to publish a report on the outcomes and results, as well as activate its network of partners and resources to publicize the report and key findings.

Each year, MDIA runs three public challenges and distributes more than $1 million in investments to portfolio companies.  We invest in solutions across the following priority focus areas: climate, health, housing, mobility, and talent.  Ultimately, MDIA endeavors to create a replicable blueprint for civic innovation that can be modeled by other cities and municipalities around the world to drive improvements in the quality of life for their residents.

The general implementation stages for MDIA’s Challenges include:

1. Challenge focus area selection and refinement
2. Challenge launch
3. Pipeline activation + recruitment
4. Challenge participant selection
5. Pilot testing + product validation
6. Evaluation and reporting

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Responsibilities

Program Execution

• Own the overall responsibility for the successful execution of Public Innovation Challenges, a programmatic calendar of 3 Challenges per year, and lead program adjustments and refinement
• Responsible for the careful oversight of Public Innovation Challenge launch including creation of collateral for web pages and outreach toolkits, communication to stakeholders and reporting.
• Support relationship management with Challenge Hosts partners and subject matter experts (SMEs).
• Manage the logistics for the program calendar, info sessions, SME sessions, selection panel trainings, due diligence review process and final selection of companies and ensure the applicant companies, SMEs, partners, etc. are fully informed about all program facing activities.
• Develop SOPs to document program processes for excellence in execution that will stand the test of time and transitions. Responsible for leading the team in best practices and executing upon outlined SOPs for the Public Innovation Challenge.
• Manage the logistics of the application, screening, and due diligence process.
• Design Challenge application processes that ensure the MDIA selection panel and investment committee members have all information needed to identify, vet, and execute challenge grants/ investment awards.
  
• Work with the Strategic Impact Manager to verify we are collecting and reporting on data required for investment memos, all grant requirements and community impact reports.
• Support research and analysis of finalist companies’ to assess risk and reputation of investment.  

Leadership

• Develop strong relationships with business and technology leaders locally, nationally and internationally to understand their strategic priorities, challenges and needs vis-a-vis designated challenge verticals.
  
• Work with the MDIA team and external advisors to surface high potential Challenge Participants and pilot opportunities.
• Represent MDIA in the local community and ecosystem.

Due Diligence & Analysis

• Leverage understanding of vertical specific innovations, technology, business models, and emerging trends to evaluate potential Challenge Participant startups that would create the most shared value and possess the highest potential to scale responsive technology and innovation solutions within the scope of designated challenge areas.
  
• Manage the implementation and support for Public Innovation Challenge due diligence stages among the MDIA team and external stakeholders.
• Identify and work with team members to create training materials and other collateral for external SMEs and panelists.

Startup Support and Pipeline Partnership Development

• Identify networks, resources, and opportunities to promote the growth and scale of the selected cohort of startups for each Challenge.
• Develop strategic partnerships with key stakeholders within the local, national and global venture and startup ecosystem to source promising startups and deal flow opportunities from investors.
  
• Activate diverse and subject matter specific advisory groups to help refine and inform the scope of challenges issued and individual challenge reports.

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You’d be a good fit if you:

• Have  a passion for working with startups and patience for working with large enterprises
• Five or more years of experience in project/program management.
  
• Strive for a high-impact, low-ego working style, have a passion for working with others (being collaborative) and a deep commitment to mission and team.
• Are goal-oriented, driven, determined, highly energetic, hard-working, an out-of-the-box thinker and unfailingly dependable.
• Hunger to learn about and understand complex technology and business problems, and experience developing and evaluating new business strategies
  
• Have a willingness to learn new skills and adapt to the needs of the organization.
• Are a good listener. You know when it is pertinent to speak and when it is better to be quiet. Highly developed self-awareness and leadership skills.
• Deliver well ahead of deadlines.

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Qualifications

• A bachelor’s degree in any field.  Advanced degrees add significant value.
• 3+ years of work experience and a specific skillset in project management or operations.
• 3-5 years of full-time working experience with accelerators, ecosystem building, startups, entrepreneurship, impact investing, venture capital, economic development, financial services, corporate social responsibility, or a combination of related experience and skill-sets;
• Experience working in/with early stage companies in one or more of the following domains: Climate Tech, Fintech, Enterprise, Data, Sustainability, Housing, Transportation/ Mobility, Economic Inclusion / Education
• Excellent stakeholder, organizational, and project management skills.
• Facilitation/training skills (in-person and virtual).
• Ability to manage complex multi-month projects.
• Strong oral and written communication skills in English.
• Proficient with Google Suite, Hubspot, Notion, Slack with other advanced computer skills desired.
• Experience with Good Grants, or similar awards and grants management software desired, but not required.

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Salary & Benefits

Target Salary Range: $80,000

Benefits Include:

Please read about our team’s culture and practices, which we believe to be truly unique in the non-profit space: view team culture overview

• Fully covered medical (includes mental health coverage), dental, and vision insurance premiums for employees and 90% premium coverage for immediate family members
• FSA
• Flexible working hours (overlap at least 5 hours with the 9am-5pm work day to allow for meetings)
• Paid time off (at least 21 days), in addition to a company-wide standard “low power mode” for the last 2 weeks at the end of the calendar year
• 5 days of paid sick leave
• Remote work flexibility
• Family leave
• Life insurance
• 401(k) (with up to 4% match contributions) after 1 year of employment
• Disability benefits
• Educational Expense Reimbursement
• Adoption Expense Reimbursement

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Location

‍Miami, FL, with hybrid options

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MDIA reserves the right to revise or change job duties and responsibilities as the need arises. This scope of work and role description does not constitute a written or implied contract of employment. MDIA’s hiring and employment policy is to provide equal opportunity to all persons without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, citizenship, sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, marital status, veteran status, physical or mental disability, or other  protected classes prohibited by applicable law. Further, we take special and intentional consideration to ensure that applicants are evaluated equally without regard to any of these characteristics. We do not tolerate discrimination of any type or form.

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