Vice President, Strategic Communications, Policy, and Research

URBAN LAND INSTITUTE•Washington, DC

1d•$153,959 - $175,204•Hybrid

About The Position

The ULI Impact Lab is ULI’s philanthropy-supported, outcomes-driven do-tank: a platform that brings together ULI’s research, convening power, technical assistance, practitioner network, and philanthropic capital to accelerate practical, scalable solutions in the built environment. The Impact Lab is seeking a senior leader to build and lead its strategic communications, policy, and research function. This position will ensure that the Lab’s knowledge, insights, member expertise, and field-based work are translated into timely, actionable, business-forward content that shapes practice, informs public dialogue, supports fundraising, and advances measurable impact. The Vice President will work closely with the Chief Impact Officer, Impact Lab leadership, ULI Membership and Marketing, ULI Knowledge and Learning, District and National Councils, ULI members, and external partners. The role will be especially connected to the Lab’s market analysis, engagement, and scaling functions, helping ensure that what the Lab learns from members, markets, and place-based work is captured, packaged, and distributed in ways that meet core audience needs and inspire action. This role will lead the development of audience-specific communications strategies for the Impact Lab, as well as playbooks, case studies, white papers, policy-relevant briefs, research products, funder-facing narratives, and impact storytelling systems. It will also help the Lab develop an anticipatory policy intelligence approach that identifies emerging federal, state, and local policy windows so that ULI’s interventions, case studies, and member insights can strategically inform public dialogue while remaining consistent with ULI’s nonpartisan, educational role. This position is based in Washington, D.C. and requires working from the ULI headquarters office in downtown D.C. in accordance with ULI’s hybrid work policy.

Requirements

10 to 15 years of related senior-level experience in strategic communications, policy, research, public affairs, urban planning, real estate, climate, resilience, housing, infrastructure, philanthropy, or a related field.
Demonstrated experience leading cross-functional work in a complex, matrixed organization, including managing staff, consultants, contributors, or project teams.
Experience working in fast-paced policy, public affairs, civic, philanthropic, or issue-oriented environments, with strong judgment about timing, positioning, risk, and audience.
Experience developing or overseeing research products, policy briefs, case studies, playbooks, toolkits, reports, thought leadership, or other knowledge products for external audiences.
Bachelor’s degree required.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree in communications, journalism, public policy, urban planning, real estate, environmental studies, climate science, public administration, business, or a related field preferred.
Experience developing funder-facing narratives, strategic briefs, proposals, impact stories, investment cases, or donor and stewardship materials for foundations, institutional funders, or major donors.
Substantive knowledge of the built environment, including urban planning, real estate, housing, land use, climate science, resilience, infrastructure, public policy, community development, health, insurance, or capital markets.
Familiarity with federal, state, and local policy dynamics affecting the built environment.
Experience with nonprofit, philanthropic, member-based, public-sector, or mission-driven organizations.
Understanding of 501(c)(3) nonpartisan public education principles, lobbying limitations, or policy-adjacent communications.
Familiarity with communications platforms and workflows — including email marketing, content management, webinar, social media, analytics, and member relationship systems.
Experience using project management tools such as Microsoft Planner, Smartsheet, Asana, Trello, or similar systems.

Responsibilities

Lead an integrated strategic communications, policy, and research function for the Impact Lab, connecting strategy, content, audience engagement, and dissemination.
Develop and manage a clear approach to Impact Lab knowledge products, including playbooks, case studies, white papers, briefs, toolkits, implementation guides, op-eds, presentations, and funder-facing materials.
Translate complex programmatic work, technical research, and member expertise into clear, compelling, business-forward narratives that connect built environment challenges to market realities, investment decisions, risk, value creation, and community outcomes.
Create editorial standards, content development processes, and publication priorities that improve the quality, consistency, timeliness, and usefulness of Lab outputs.
Partner with ULI Membership and Marketing to align Impact Lab messaging with enterprise marketing and communications strategy, media opportunities, executive visibility, events, and external positioning.
Help senior leaders and subject matter experts sharpen key messages for members, funders, public-sector audiences, media, and strategic partners.
Work with Impact Lab program teams and ULI Knowledge and Learning to shape research agendas grounded in member needs, market trends, policy relevance, and implementation challenges.
Ensure that research and publications are designed with clear audiences, use cases, distribution strategies, and calls to action from the beginning of the project.
Strengthen the Lab’s approach to aggregating and translating member knowledge, field intelligence, market analysis, and place-based learning into actionable resources.
Oversee a pipeline of research and publications, including managing editorial calendars, internal review processes, external contributors, consultants, and production timelines.
Identify opportunities to use data, surveys, interviews, case studies, and market analysis to strengthen the credibility and usefulness of Impact Lab products.
Support research partnerships with universities, think tanks, consultants, philanthropic partners, public agencies, and member firms where appropriate.
Develop and maintain a policy intelligence function that anticipates federal, state, and local policy windows — identifying where the Lab’s research, convenings, and member expertise can land with the most force, and ensuring the Lab is positioned before those windows open.
Analyze policy trends, emerging debates, implementation signals, and field conditions related to housing supply, land use, decarbonization, resilience, infrastructure, insurance, capital markets, health, community development, and related areas.
Identify opportunities where ULI’s research, case studies, convenings, member expertise, and technical assistance can inform public dialogue early, strategically, and in a timely, nonpartisan, educational manner.
Translate policy windows, trends, and field signals into actionable intelligence for Impact Lab teams, ULI leaders, District and National Councils, members, and partners.
Support development of policy-relevant materials, including issue briefs, explainers, educational resources, public comments where appropriate, and materials for convenings or member engagement.
Ensure policy-relevant work is consistent with ULI’s 501(c)(3), nonpartisan, educational posture and internal review processes.
Build a more disciplined system for identifying, tracking, and telling stories about ULI’s influence and impact over time.
Work with Lab teams, District and National Councils, ULI members, and external partners to identify examples where ULI helped shape projects, policies, investment decisions, partnerships, or market practice.
Develop a process for revisiting past ULI engagements to understand what changed five, ten, or more years after ULI’s involvement.
Produce and oversee compelling impact stories for use in case studies, short-form written pieces, videos, presentations, donor materials, member communications, and executive briefings.
Use member interviews, convenings, technical assistance, Advisory Services Panels, Technical Assistance Panels, cohorts, and other ULI activities to capture insights and translate them into broader learning.
Strengthen the evidence base for the Impact Lab’s value proposition to members, funders, public-sector partners, and internal stakeholders.
In partnership with the VP of Strategic Partnerships and Advancement, develop and maintain funder-facing materials — including impact stories, narratives, case studies, and strategic briefs — that translate the Lab’s work into compelling investment opportunities for foundations, institutional funders, and major donors.
Partner with Impact Lab leadership, program teams, and advancement colleagues to tailor core collateral, concept notes, briefing materials, and issue-based narratives for specific funding opportunities.
Ensure funder-facing materials connect the Lab’s strategy, theory of change, outcomes, and field-based evidence to the priorities of catalytic philanthropy and other strategic investors.
Serve as a strategic partner to the Lab’s market analysis, engagement, and scaling functions, ensuring that research, communications, policy intelligence, and storytelling are embedded in the Lab’s operating model.
Work across Impact Lab flagship initiatives and centers, including climate, resilience, housing, health, capital markets, technical assistance, and place-based implementation.
Help ensure that insights from one market, program, or initiative can be adapted and shared across ULI’s broader network.
Manage staff, consultants, writers, researchers, and external partners as the function grows, ensuring high-quality delivery and clear accountability.
Coordinate with Strategic Partnerships and Advancement so the Lab’s research, communications, and impact evidence support donor stewardship, executive communications, and strategic funding conversations.
Model a collaborative, strategic, and execution-oriented approach that helps the Lab move from insight to demonstration, replication, and scale.