Associate Director, Global Exchange

Urban Design Forum seeks an Associate Director to lead our new Global Exchange program.

About the Role

Our Associate Director will lead Global Exchange, a new program connecting New York City’s civic community to the world’s foremost urban leaders and inspiring creative change around the city’s most entrenched challenges. The Associate Director will lead the program implementation of our inaugural cohort and help to define the long-term strategy for the program. We are searching for a warm convener, thoughtful facilitator, and entrepreneurial strategist with experience in the built environment field in New York City and beyond.

About Global Exchange

Global Exchange is a new peer learning initiative supporting emerging leaders to survey the world for solutions to challenges facing New York City. Anchored by a fellowship for 40 emerging professionals, Global Exchange supports a new generation of New York City leaders to build bridges between New York and its peer cities to unstick local debates. 

Our inaugural cycle will be a ten-month, 145-hour leadership development program from July 2024 to March 2025. Fellows will gather monthly for day-long experiential workshops investigating courageous public policy and cutting-edge projects that exemplify how other cities are confronting their housing challenges. Fellows will travel together to a peer city— Berlin in 2024— to gain insights into a relevant peer city. Fellows will also publish case studies, meet with elected and agency leaders, and present at conferences and events. In addition, we will host public programs that invite esteemed international speakers to connect with the fellows and address our broader membership.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Program Design & Strategy – Define program goals, develop engaging curricula, and set goals for future cycles.
• Program Management – Manage complex program timelines, coordinate multi-stakeholder engagement, and ensure initiative stays on track to meet goals.
• Facilitation – Engage our cohort of Global Fellows – 40 mid-career professionals entering senior leadership who are passionate about urban issues – to spark peer learning, produce actionable research, and support their leadership development.
• Documentation, Evaluation, and Impact – Work with our Communications Manager to capture teams’ progress and impactful findings to share with key decision-makers, media outlets, and our broader community of practitioners, partners and funders.
• Fundraising – Steward relationships with current supporters and support fundraising strategy for future cycles. 
• Cross-Sector Liaising – Independently manage relationships with external partners, such as peer organizations, city governments, stakeholders, and media. 
• Recruitment – Develop and execute recruitment plans to engage prospective Global Fellows for future cohorts

Qualifications: 

• Broad familiarity with and deep passion for urban issues in New York City and cities abroad.
• Excellent interpersonal communication skills.
• Experience with facilitating groups to learn, debate, and achieve shared outcomes. 
• Experience working with diverse stakeholders, including City government, design firms, philanthropy, community-based organizations and more. 
• Experience with managing competing priorities and complex timelines.
• Experience building bridges across groups with diverse backgrounds and experiences, including through team-building and conflict resolution.
• Experience in nonprofit development and strategic fundraising is a plus.
• Experience in policy campaigns and strategic communications is a plus.

We hire candidates based on the responsibilities of the role, rather than years of experience. We expect that a successful candidate may bring 5+ years of relevant work experience in design, planning, or policy in New York City or cities abroad, but we are open to candidates with more or fewer years of experience who believe they fit the role.

We believe this is a wonderful opportunity for a thoughtful and entrepreneurial emerging leader to build a program from an initial vision to a major institution over time. The Associate Director will work directly with the Executive Director, Board Chair, and civic and industry leaders to implement the inaugural year and strategize how international exchange can more broadly shape our public policy research and advocacy. We expect the Global Exchange team will grow in the coming years, and this role will be instrumental in its development. 

We are an equal opportunity employer and are committed to attracting and retaining a talented and diverse team of professionals that resembles the city we serve. People of color, women, people who identify as LGBTQIA2S+, and individuals with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply. Employment data show that women and people from underrepresented groups apply to jobs only if they think they meet 100% of the criteria. If you meet many but not all the criteria and feel you may be a good fit for the role, we encourage you to apply.

Location & Schedule

We work together in our New York City-based office three days per week, and welcome our team to work remotely two days per week. We also offer several weeks per year when everyone is welcome to work remotely. We host events on nights and weekends and offer flexible scheduling when staff are expected to work at those times. The Associate Director will attend, organize, and facilitate the annual Global Exchange study trip to an international city.

About Urban Design Forum

Urban Design Forum connects and inspires New Yorkers to design, build and care for a better city. We are a member-powered organization of 1,000+ civic leaders committed to a more just future for our city. We believe the built environment—our neighborhoods, buildings, public spaces and infrastructure—shapes our city’s health, culture and economy. We bring together New Yorkers of diverse backgrounds and experiences to learn, debate, and design a vibrant city for all. 

Our programs are guided by the following values:

1. We believe the design and development communities must address enduring injustices in New York City, such as housing segregation, economic inequality, and environmental racism.
2. We believe New York should learn from international cities for pioneering and inspiring solutions to urban challenges.
3. We believe creating interdisciplinary cohorts of emerging leaders can empower more diverse civic leadership.
4. We believe government agencies should develop a long-term vision for the built environment, rather than achieve short-term wins.
5. We believe decision-makers must build with, and not for, traditionally disenfranchised communities–such as women, people of color, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities.
6. We believe the public should be mobilized around the value of design in achieving equity, inclusion, and sustainability in the built environment.

Please submit your resume/CV and cover letter via urbandesignforum.org. Applications are due by May 31 and will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Questions?

Please contact submissions@urbandesignforum.org.