Head of Growth and Impact, Urban Transformation

Strategic Leadership for Growth and Engagement

Set the strategic direction for the Centre’s global growth, engagement and retention efforts, ensuring alignment with institutional priorities.
Oversee and enable a globally distributed team responsible for engagement, communications and knowledge delivery, strengthening performance and clarity of execution.
Refine and articulate a differentiated value proposition that delivers measurable strategic value to participating organizations.
Cultivate and steward senior executive relationships, serving as a trusted advisor on growth, trust and place-based impact.
Partner with Forum business development and regional teams to achieve retention and growth targets, supported by clear performance metrics.

Executive Engagement on Trust and Place-Based Impact

Lead the continued evolution and positioning of a senior executive platform focused on how companies earn and sustain trust and license to operate through credible, place-based impact.
Build trusted relationships with executives shaping enterprise-wide strategy, corporate affairs, sustainability and market presence, positioning the Centre as a partner in aligning corporate priorities with local competitiveness and resilience.
Advance place-based impact as a driver of long-term business performance, brand strength and talent attraction and retention across key markets.
Catalyse cross-sector collaboration by connecting business leaders with public officials and ecosystem partners to better align strategy, investment and implementation at the local and regional level.
Translate executive dialogue into practical leadership frameworks, coalition-based initiatives and strategic opportunities that strengthen communities while delivering enterprise value.

Strategic Alignment, Team Leadership and Impact Delivery

Work closely with the Head of the Centre to guide and support teams delivering thematic initiatives and communities.
Ensure executive engagement translates into strategic priorities, programme coherence and measurable impact.
Integrate communications and knowledge strategies as core tools to enhance partner value and influence.
Foster alignment, collaboration and shared accountability across focus areas and geographies.
Strengthen the Centre’s overall positioning and effectiveness as a leading global platform for place-based growth and impact.

People Management

Set clear objectives, provide strategic guidance, support professional development, foster cross-team alignment and ensure high-quality execution.
The successful candidate will be assessed on Execution of a coherent growth and engagement strategy, including performance against retention and growth targets.
Strength and depth of senior executive relationships cultivated.
Growth, influence and sustained impact of executive engagement focused on trust, license to operate and place-based outcomes.
Ability to translate executive dialogue and insight into clear strategy and measurable impact.
Stakeholder feedback on the relevance, quality and value of engagement.
Overall contribution to the Centre’s positioning, impact and team effectiveness.

Requirements and Experience

• 10+ years of senior leadership experience in the private sector, business associations, and/or government or civil society roles closely engaged with the business community.
• Advanced university degree in a relevant field.
• Experience engaging CEOs and C-suite leaders, with a track record of driving growth, strategic partnerships or revenue.
• Strong commercial judgment and strategic instincts, with the ability to translate executive dialogue into clear priorities and measurable outcomes.
• Proven ability to build and lead multi-stakeholder collaborations across business, government and civil society.
• Staff management experience with culturally diverse, matrixed teams across time zones; abilities conducive to developing staff and maintaining a learning environment.
• Entrepreneurial mindset, with comfort operating in ambiguity and evolving platforms.
• Exceptional communication, facilitation and executive relationship-building skills, with experience leading high-performing teams.
• Strong digital fluency, including the use of CRM platforms, data analytics and emerging AI tools.
• Fluent in English and comfortable with global travel (up to 40%).