Business Development

The Opportunity

Do you inspire people to think about what’s possible? Do you love building long-term relationships with people? Do you believe the tech industry must be more equitable and responsible? Do you see the tech industry falling short of its promise to solve global challenges? Do you want to help create economies that value people as well as the planet? We do, and would love to meet you if you do too.

SecondMuse is seeking a motivated, strategic, relationship-driven and detail-oriented Business Development Director to support our fast growing global company. This role will support the growth of a number of tech focused programs across our domestic US portfolio, including but not limited to GET Cities, Headstream and SpaceApps), and potentially internationally that focus on building a more equitable and responsible tech industry.

This role is a part of a Global Growth team, which is responsible for driving company growth through the advancement of our global programs. Working directly with senior program leadership and reporting to the company’s Business Development Director, this role will lead partnership, business development and fundraising activities to grow the company, with a specific focus on our tech and economic development programs that include addressing gender and racial equity in the sector, ensuring that social tech tools and platforms are developed with the wellbeing of at risk adolescents in mind, and using technology to address global climate challenges.

In this role, you will be intimately involved in conversations about the direction of our company. You will work closely with program leadership to refine and implement program growth strategies. You will help develop and implement the Growth team’s strategy. And you will help manage a growing North America business development team.

If you are highly motivated to build a more equitable and responsible tech industry, and a better economy, if you are people-oriented and bring experience and relationships working with funders and investors, if you balance the ability to think strategically as well as implement a strategy, this could be the perfect role for you. Other things that make you a great fit for this role include experience in economic development, innovation, workforce development, entrepreneur support, incubation and acceleration, community development, policy development, gender equity and racial justice as well as experience working with philanthropic, public and private sector funders.

About SecondMuse

Over the past 13 years, SecondMuse has collaborated with visionary governments, corporations, foundations, and startups to navigate and collectively solve complex problems and build 21st-century economies. At the core of our economies are people, communities, and networks. Since 2008, our team has refined a process and built communities to select, mentor, and accelerate high-potential businesses and entrepreneurs from around the world. We have led programs in more than 200 cities and 100 countries, with 70+ clients including the World Bank, Google, Nike, NYCEDC, Pivotal Ventures, The Southwest Florida Community Foundation, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Through three SecondMuse entities, for-profit, Foundation and Capital, we have directly engaged over 200,000 people to understand the structural barriers to building resilient economies, lead the prototyping of over 30,000 solutions, manage over $100m in debt and equity vehicles, facilitated over $600m in investment and the incubation of over 500 companies, which have yielded over $10B in positive social impact. Additionally, 80% of our innovators, over half of whom are women or come from underrepresented communities or developing countries, are still in business. Each has challenged our teams to develop targeted approaches to find, and then support visionary leaders with a diverse range of experiences, motivations and cultures. We invite you to help build with us; leverage our proven strategies to build strong communities and influence local, regional and global networks, and add your own contribution to our growing team and portfolio of programs.

Responsibilities

• Work with the Growth team, and program leadership to refine and execute program growth strategies for our tech related programs.
• Lead the implementation of tech program growth strategies, including proactively identifying and building relationships with existing and prospective private, nonprofit and public sector funders.
• Support the Sr. Director of Growth to manage North America business development team members.
• Support the company’s global work to build partnerships with economic development, technology, workforce, entrepreneurship and innovation funders.
• Represent SecondMuse in global, regional and local events, workshops and conferences.
• Work with the broader growth team to build out and manage a global opportunity and relationship database; contribute to management of internal databases, conducting regular analysis of our performance and developing insights from this information to inform strategy and implementation.
• Support the development and implementation of the company’s strategy to identify potential funding opportunities, particularly for our work to build a more equitable and responsible tech economy.
• Lead the follow up on priority opportunities, including working with a team or independently to write proposals in response to RFPs, including aggregating, sorting and tailoring existing knowledge from across the company and writing new content to respond to specific opportunity needs.
• Support the Sr. Director of Growth to coordinate global growth strategy, communications and implementation across and at all levels of the company.

Key Competencies/Skills

• People-oriented and able to easily establish and follow up with new relationships.
• Collaborative - strong team player, able to work with colleagues.
• US Domestic economic or community development, innovation, workforce and/or tech industry experience
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Deep knowledge of the US federal, state and local funding landscapes, including experience with tech and corporate CSR functions, national and regional economic development, health, education and or innovation agencies, and philanthropic funders.
• Impact driven and action / solution-oriented.
• Disciplined in working independently.
• People management experience, with a focus on nurturing team members to achieve their personal and professional goals.
• Capacity to work and thrive in a growing, fast-paced entrepreneurial organization within a collaborative environment.

Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.

Work Environment / Travel

All SecondMuse offices are currently operating virtually. Once it is safe to return to in-person working environments, this position will be located in our Chicago, IL or Washington D.C. offices. Considerations may be made for a San Francisco, CA based applicant. This role will require moderate regional and occasional international travel.

Expected Hours of Work

This is a full-time position that will report to SecondMuse’s Senior Director for Growth in San Francisco and work closely with senior program leadership. Some flexibility in hours is allowed, but the employee’s schedule must overlap with North America work hours and must be able to take and hold meetings across time zones. Occasional early morning and evening work may be required due to the international scope of the company and our clients.

Requirements

• Competitive annual salary
• Medical, dental and vision insurance with employer contribution
• 401(k) with employer 3% guaranteed contribution
• Employer monthly mobile phone contribution
• Flexible work options
• Generous paid time off program, including paid holidays
• Generous paid parental leave programs for all new parents
• Short-term disability insurance
• Employee Assistance Program
• Paid time to participate in volunteer activities that enhance and serve our communities

SecondMuse provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.