Project Director, Center for Political Economy at Columbia World Projects

Position Summary

Columbia World Projects (CWP) is a university-wide initiative that aims to forge closer and more useful connections between Columbia University's vast research capabilities and the needs of the world. CWP leverages and consults with colleagues and faculty to develop projects that we staff and operate with partners (governments, organizations, businesses and communities) in New York City, across the United States and around the world. Committed to attracting and retaining a diverse staff, CWP is dedicated to increasing diversity in its workforce and in all its initiatives in order to achieve continued excellence and align with Columbia’s commitment to create a vibrant, diverse, equitable and inclusive university community.

Columbia World Projects seeks a Project Director (PD) for its groundbreaking Center for Political Economy at Columbia World Projects. The Center’s mission is to identify and advance the most promising and innovative post-2008 developments within economics, and to promote a new political economy with robust philosophical underpinnings, distinctive for our time, with an institutional, cross-disciplinary orientation connecting economics to, among other subjects, history, law, political science, sociology, public health, engineering and data science. At the core of its work, the Center will develop “idea labs” to advance fresh thinking, shape research agendas, affect graduate training and serve as intellectual and policy incubators across distinct themes in political economy.

Working with the Center’s faculty Co-Directors, and reporting to Center’s Principal Investigator and CWP’s Deputy Director of Research and Engagement, the incoming Director will lead the day-to-day operations of the Center and guide its strategic growth. This includes planning, managing, and coordinating implementation of the Center’s work plans, activities, and initiatives. The PD is also responsible for the successful establishment and management of key collaborations with partners, stakeholders, and supporters.

Responsibilities

• Oversees and provides strategic direction of all center activities ensuring that programmatic directions are sound and consistent with donor and stakeholder priorities.
• Ensures that Center’s objectives and mandates are implemented in a timely fashion and meet donor and stakeholder requirements.
• Works with faculty co-directors, CWP staff and affiliated faculty to manage and execute the Center’s research portfolio to position the Center for rapid growth and deepen the integration of the Center with faculty across Columbia University and those from partner institutions.
• Designs and operationalizes an annual project planning cycle based on comprehensive, integrated annual project work plans and budgets.
• Develops and ensures systems for effective monitoring and evaluation of work plans, initiatives and activities by instituting and adapting management strategies and identifying and adopting lessons learned in the context of a dynamic operating environment.
• Conducts regular reviews to ensure accountability of all project activities as well as accurate and timely reporting of programmatic and financial deliverables.
• Oversees the development of technical reports, documents results and impact of the Center for publication in peer-reviewed journals and other outlets, and prepares oral and written documents detailing progress, challenges and opportunities to Center stakeholders, governance bodies, donors and supporters.
• Cultivates and strengthens positive, productive relationships and serves as the Center’s main point of contact to donors, contributors, partners, and counterparts.
• Organizes Center gatherings and workshops, including a launch event, policy and pedagogy seminars, capstone conferences, public lectures and panel discussions.
• Administers faculty and graduate student seed research grants and manages the programmatic activity of the Center’s postdoctoral fellows.
• Manages center staff’s work planning and professional development. Assists with the recruitment of Center staff and contracting with consultants.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required. Minimum 7 years related experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Candidate possesses an advanced degree.
• A commitment to policies and practices that promote a political economy fit for the twenty-first century.
• Demonstrated entrepreneurial experience, including formulating and executing a strategic plan in support of growing and scaling an organization’s staff, budget, activity and impact.
• Proven experience both exercising strategic thinking and deploying resources for implementation purposes.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills. The person should possess the executive presence, energy and confidence to foster relationships with diverse constituencies, including faculty; staff; industry, nonprofit and public sector partners; and colleagues across a complex institution.
• Demonstrated leadership practices that foster diversity, equity and inclusion within an organization, and a history of promoting initiatives and practices that support scholars and practitioners from underrepresented groups.

Hybrid Schedule

Columbia Global maintains a hybrid work environment that ensures that we preserve the important aspects of our unique in-person university campus culture that support meaningful collaboration and advancement of CG key initiatives. Colleagues will work onsite three of five workdays and two virtual days

Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran

Columbia University is committed to the hiring of qualified local residents.