Director of the Future of Government Talent Program

Democracy Forward•Columbia, WA

16h•$150,000 - $170,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Are you a future-focused leader eager to reimagine the talent structures of the federal government? If so, Democracy Forward Foundation (“Democracy Forward”) is hiring a Director of the Future of Government Talent Program to join our team. The next era of effective government depends on the teams behind it—how they’re structured, how they work, and who’s on them. Democracy Forward is launching a bold, multi-year initiative to reinvent how the federal government organizes and deploys its talent —and we’re seeking a visionary and operationally grounded Director of the Future of Government Talent Program to lead this work. This is a chance to lead a systems transformation effort that will design the teams, skills, and staffing models our federal government needs to deliver—now and in the decades ahead. By building modern talent and team structures across government functions, this initiative will help ensure the government is ready with the people and capacity to deliver results when it is ready to build and hire. This position is full-time. Democracy Forward’s office is located in Washington, DC. While this position offers flexibility to work remotely, it requires regular in-office presence eight (8) times per month (averaging 2 times per week) to effectively support the nature of the role. Remote candidates within the United States will also be considered. If a candidate is outside of the DC area, travel to DC is expected 1-2 times per quarter. The Director of the Future of Government Talent Program will report to the Director of Democracy Works 250 and work closely with staff and fellows on the Civil Service Strong team. Our North Star: Democracy Works 250 is designing the teams—and finding the people—that will power a modern federal government. This initiative will create the talent models and actually find the people needed to equip government with agile and interdisciplinary teams that can deliver on the policies and programs Americans expect. By transforming how government organizes its people, we aim to transform how government shows up for the people it serves.

Requirements

10+ years of experience in workforce development, organizational design, talent strategy, or public sector innovation.
Experience managing small, high-capacity teams in cross-functional and collaborative environments.
Deep understanding of both federal hiring systems and modern, mission-aligned talent models.
Demonstrated ability to build distributed strategies and work across technical, policy, and community-based teams.
Excellent project management, facilitation, and stakeholder coordination skills.
Well-developed collaborative and interpersonal skills including demonstrated self-awareness, commitment to diversity and inclusivity, and ability to work with colleagues and stakeholders across diverse cultures and backgrounds.

Responsibilities

Design Interdisciplinary, Future-Ready Government Teams: Lead a team of fellows to redesign process across key federal functions (e.g. HR, procurement, regulation, customer experience, technology, AI, public engagement).
Build and manage a small internal team of HR and technical experts supporting cross-functional design and research.
Support organizational leadership in cultivating a culture of accountability, inclusivity, and excellence, including through providing real-time support and skills-development for your team.
Convene and collaborate with external domain experts (AI, regulatory, HR, tech, etc.) to co-design staffing models that reflect how modern delivery actually works.
Ensure new team models are agile, tech-enabled, interdisciplinary, and built to solve real problems, not replicate outdated org charts.
Build a National Strategy to Source and Prepare Talent: Develop and implement a strategy to identify and recruit mission-ready talent from federal alumni and state/local leaders to private-sector innovators and community-rooted practitioners.
Define the skills, values, and lived experience needed for 21st-century public service and shape the strategies that bring those people in.
Oversee Development of a Civic Talent Platform & Training Curriculum: Lead the development or procurement of a digital platform to match individuals with redesigned teams and government missions.
Lead partnership development with organizations to provide training on key, cross-cutting skills for future talent.
Co-Design with Communities and Institutions: Build and manage partnerships with academic institutions, public interest orgs, workforce programs, and civic tech networks.
Lead co-design sessions with partners across the ecosystem—bringing in the lived expertise of those who know what functional teams must look like (e.g., regulators, procurement specialists, technologists).
Bridge Strategy Across Projects: Align the talent initiative with the other projects in Democracy Works 250: federal oral history project, personnel policy, and agency redesigning efforts.
Collaborate with legal, research, and communications partners to test, refine, and package talent transformation and recruitment efforts.
Contribute to and collaborate across other DW250 projects.