Associate Director, Capital Innovation - Living Cities

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced leader to blend public, private, and philanthropic financial resources in new ways to better meet the needs of cities and improve the lives of low-income people. Reporting to the Director of Capital Innovation and partnering with an outstanding team of colleagues, associates, consultants and external partners, the Associate Director will serve as a strategic partner to the Director and a key thought leader in the domestic impact investing field, supporting Living Cities’ programmatic priorities and accelerating the adoption of innovative financing for the benefit of low-income people and the communities in which they live.

Primary responsibilities include:

Strategic Cluster Leadership:

• Partner with the Director of Capital Innovation to refine team strategic goals and priorities
• Together with the Director, frame key strategy decisions and prepare materials for the Capital Innovation Advisory Committee, which includes leading social investment representatives from Living Cities’ member organizations
•  Initiate and manage relationships with a wide array of stakeholders, including current and prospective loan recipients, philanthropic partners, community development financial institutions, staff, etc.
• Source, develop, and expand mutually beneficial partnerships with aligned external organizations and initiatives
• Work with the Capital Innovation team to identify key issues and learnings for further exploration and knowledge dissemination; convene key partners to share knowledge and best practices
• Share emerging trends, insights, and lessons learned through blogs, papers, webinars, and conference presentations

Capital Innovation:

• Source innovative deals suitable for investment by the Living Cities Catalyst Fund. The deals will include lending to support traditional community development, economic development, workforce development, small business, pay for success, and other new lending areas
• Develop new, innovative ways to leverage private capital to spur social change with a human development focus (e.g., developing pay-for-success models in areas such as education, workforce, and homelessness)
• Identify opportunities to support organizations, groups, and consortia seeking to accelerate change through capital innovation in their cities
• Work on other programmatic areas as identified by the Director

Internal Collaborations:

• Work with Living Cities Integration Initiative team and partners in the Integration Initiative cities to analyze options for using debt to help the sites achieve better social outcomes on the ground. Develop and execute plans for Living Cities’ involvement in such financing
• Collaborate with Living Cities’ Public Sector Innovation team to enhance all areas of work
• Serve as an engaged collaborator and coach to capital innovation team members and other Living Cities staff

CANDIDATE REQUIREMENTS

Required Experience and Knowledge:

• Bachelor’s degree required; graduate degree preferred
• 15+ years of professional work experience, with at least 5 years serving in a leadership role
• Direct lending experience required; experience in lending to financial institutions, small businesses, and/or real estate projects, and/or corporate or structured finance experience is preferred
• Robust understanding of lending principles that transcend sectors
• Track record of working effectively with multiple sources of capital (e.g., commercial bank debt, philanthropic capital, grants)
• Experience in credit risk analysis and management is required; formal credit training will be beneficial
• Knowledge of urban policy and the issues affecting low-income urban residents from multiple perspectives
• Moderate travel (approximately 20% of time) required

Desired Qualifications:

• Strong creative, strategic, and analytical skills, combined with high level of organization and attention to detail
• Excellent writing and verbal presentation skills
• Superior relationship building and management skills
• Strong interpersonal skills, ability to manage and work in teams, interacting constructively with diverse constituents
• Highly energetic, entrepreneurial thinking, creative problem solver exhibiting sound judgment and deep commitment and passion for Living Cities’ mission
• Demonstrated ability to synthesize and clearly communicate complex issues to a range of audiences
• Good sense of humor and teamwork

Living Cities is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes candidates from diverse backgrounds.

COMPENSATION

Salary and benefits are competitive and commensurate with experience.

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION

Living Cities, a collaborative of 22 of the world’s largest foundations and financial institutions, supports bold and promising approaches to bring opportunities and the power of mainstream markets to urban neighborhoods and residents historically left behind. Living Cities executes its mission through strategic deployment of loans, grants, and the intellectual capital and convening power of its membership. Over the past 15 years, Living Cities' members have collectively invested more than $1 billion in America’s cities, an investment that has resulted in over $16 billion in development and follow-on investments. Yet members are not simply funders. They participate at the senior management level on the Living Cities Board of Directors and contribute the time of 80+ expert staff toward crafting and implementing the Living Cities agenda.

The Capital Innovation Team (Cluster) is responsible for the development and implementation of a diverse portfolio of Living Cities’ activities, focused on blending and deploying all types of capital – grants, philanthropic debt and commercial capital – to improve the lives of low-income residents. These activities include:

• The Catalyst Fund and Blended Catalyst Fund, Living Cities’ impact investing funds which we use to test innovative financing vehicles;
• Pay for Success, a nascent vehicle to invest in human capital and to develop a commercially viable market for doing so;
• Work to harness the power of domestic impact investing to improve the flow of private capital to low-income communities;
• Capital aspects of cross-cutting Living Cities’ programs including the seven-site Integration Initiative;
• The generation of knowledge from these and other activities to influence the broader field of capital innovation.