Director, Community Initiatives

The Rockefeller Foundation•New York, NY

5d•Onsite

About The Position

The U.S. Program and Policy (USPP) team advances the mission of The Rockefeller Foundation (RF) by partnering with communities, policymakers, employers, and other stakeholders to expand economic opportunity and improve outcomes for people across the United States. Through strategic grantmaking, partnerships, and place-based initiatives, the team develops and scales innovative solutions that strengthen workforce systems, increase access to quality jobs, and build more resilient communities.

Requirements

Generally expected to have 10+ years of relevant experience in philanthropy, public sector, or mission-driven organizations, with demonstrated expertise in sectoral strategies, workforce systems, or place-based economic development.
Bachelor’s degree; Master’s degree preferred.
Experience designing and managing grant portfolios or programmatic investments, ideally across one or more priority sectors.
Strong track record of working with community-based organizations, intermediaries, and cross-sector stakeholders.
Practical understanding of how sector strategies translate into implementation within diverse community contexts.
Demonstrated ability to operate with sound judgment in complex, ambiguous environments while maintaining alignment to strategic priorities and evolving responsibility over time.
Demonstrated experience leading measurement, evaluation, and learning (MEL) and/or complex special initiatives, including defining success metrics and translating evidence into strategy and action.
Ability to travel as required.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree preferred.

Responsibilities

Lead the design and execution of special initiatives and cross-cutting projects in the Foundation’s highest-priority jurisdictions, mobilizing partners, capital, and internal teams to move from strategy to measurable results.
Own sector-specific grantmaking for the US Program team under the direction of the Managing Director of Community Strategy, aligning investments to USPP priorities and ensuring a clear connection between sector strategies and community-level outcomes.
Identify, assess, and partner with community-based organizations, intermediaries, employers, and public agencies positioned to deliver job outcomes and system improvements.
Translate national and Foundation-wide sector priorities into actionable, community-based interventions that reflect local conditions, constraints, and opportunities, while remaining aligned to shared hypotheses and system-level goals.
Ensure place-based investments strengthen underlying community systems, including institutional capacity, workforce infrastructure, cross-sector coordination, and capital readiness, rather than funding stand-alone programs.
Manage relationships with community partners as a strategic thought partner, supporting implementation while maintaining accountability for outcomes and alignment to strategy.
Support the U.S. Program’s measurement, evaluation, and learning (MEL) agenda by defining success metrics and building the routines and systems needed to track progress and surface insights across the portfolio.
Collaborate across USPP and RF teams—including sector, policy, civic innovation, AI, and catalytic finance colleagues—to align investments and advance integrated system change.
Contribute to shared learning agendas, helping distinguish context-specific approaches from those with potential for replication or scale.