Director, Innovation

The Biomimicry Institute • Seattle, WA

1d • $90,000 - $125,000 • Remote

About The Position

The Director, Innovation is an entrepreneurial leader accountable for advancing biomimicry solutions toward measurable impact by turning Impact Team strategy into effective accelerator programs, partnerships, funding pathways, and pilot projects. The Director develops and tests new approaches to advance promising solutions toward adoption and scale while building a financially sustainable innovation model for TBI.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional background required, advanced degree preferred.
• 7+ years of progressively responsible work in accelerators, venture development, climate innovation, entrepreneurship support, impact investing, innovation ecosystems, or related fields.
• Demonstrated success leading, evolving, or scaling accelerator, incubator, venture-support, or comparable innovation programs.
• Track record developing sustainable funding, sponsorship, partnership, or revenue models for accelerator or innovation programs.
• Demonstrated success helping early-stage ventures secure pilots, customers, corporate partnerships, investment, or other pathways to adoption and scale.
• Development or oversight of pilot and demonstration projects that advance emerging solutions toward real-world implementation.
• Knowledge of venture and environmental impact measurement across areas such as climate, biodiversity, materials, water, or waste.
• Knowledge of biomimicry, sustainability, climate, biodiversity, materials, regenerative design, or related fields.
• Strong leadership, judgment, and decision-making.
• Ability to translate direction into clear priorities, projects, and results.
• Effective people leadership, delegation, and accountability.
• Strong program, budget, and resource management.
• Analytical and systems thinking with a results orientation.
• Excellent communication and relationship-building skills.
• Strong cross-functional collaboration and coordination.
• Entrepreneurial and opportunity-oriented, with the ability to develop, test, and refine new program and partnership models.
• Commitment to biomimicry and TBI’s mission.
• Proficiency with Asana, Google Workspace, Zoom, Airtable, and related tools.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Ray of Hope Accelerator against clear annual goals for venture development, biomimicry integration, environmental impact, and program performance.
• Translate department priorities into cohort plans, budgets, resource requirements, and measurable outcomes.
• Evolve the accelerator model to increase its effectiveness, scale, and long-term financial sustainability, including evaluating pillar-aligned cohorts or tracks in climate, biodiversity, and materials.
• Establish and monitor measures of participant and alumni progress, including funding, pilots, adoption, business growth, and environmental impact; use results to improve the program and demonstrate its value.
• Set clear direction and expectations for the Manager, Ray of Hope Accelerator, while holding the Manager accountable for successful day-to-day delivery.
• Develop and execute a sustainable long-term funding model for the accelerator, in close coordination with Development, diversifying corporate, philanthropic, investor, and other funding pathways to support program continuity and growth.
• Build, in coordination with Development, a network of corporate, investor, funder, and innovation partners that creates tangible opportunities for biomimicry ventures and supports the financial viability of the Ray of Hope program into the future.
• Lead innovation-focused corporate engagement in coordination with the Director, Community and Development team.
• Develop and test new partnership and engagement models, including corporate roundtables, that create pathways to pilots, customers, expertise, investment, and other resources for biomimicry ventures.
• Develop and oversee a focused portfolio of pilot and demonstration projects that move promising biomimicry solutions toward implementation, adoption, and scale.
• Establish clear objectives, partners, funding, measures of success, and learning for each initiative, prioritizing opportunities with meaningful potential in climate, biodiversity, and materials.
• Translate Impact Team strategy and organizational priorities into clear annual and seasonal goals, projects, budgets, staffing, and resource priorities.
• Establish clear accountability for results through defined ownership, roles, workplans, timelines, and performance expectations; coach and develop staff to succeed against them.
• Allocate budgets, staff, contractors, and capacity according to priorities and expected results.
• Establish operating rhythms and performance measures that surface progress, risks, dependencies, and decisions early enough to act.
• Coordinate actively across Inspiration, Community, and Innovation so that knowledge leads to practitioner capability and engagement, and practitioner engagement leads to solutions advanced—delivering TBI’s theory of change as an integrated system.
• Contribute to Impact Team planning, budgeting, measurement, and continuous improvement.

Benefits

• Comprehensive Health Insurance: Enjoy 100% coverage for employees for medical/dental/vision provided by Biomimicry Institute. (Please note, employees are responsible for coverage for spouses and/or dependents.)
• Retirement Plan: Begin your retirement savings after just 6 months of employment.
• Paid Time Off (PTO): Benefit from our generous PTO policy, allowing you to recharge and maintain a healthy work-life balance.
• Paid Holidays: Take advantage of paid holidays as outlined in our Employee Handbook.
• Home Office Stipend: Receive a monthly stipend to help support your home office setup.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director