Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives

About the role

The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) seeks a Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives to lead key strategic initiatives driving growth and transformation in the Asset & Capital Management (A&CM) division. The successful candidate will oversee a small team and will initially focus on:

• Cross-divisional program management office (PMO) to strategically coordinate scale-up of A&CM priority capital programs (Clean Heat for All, Hurricane Ida Resiliency & Mitigation, etc.) and build alternative project delivery capability across the division.
• Strengthening handover of newly built capital assets to operations and maintenance teams, including supporting integration with operation and maintenance procedures and work order systems, staff training, and other related areas for new technologies.
• Identifying high-impact artificial intelligence use cases across major application types (digital assistants, customer interfaces, process and workflow automation and reengineering) and areas of application such as architecture and engineering design, construction and project field management, and submittal and invoice validation and other back-off type functions.

Responsibilities

The Senior Director will serve as a thought partner to the CACMO and other A&CM senior leadership on strategic issues and division-wide strategies, priorities, and performance management. They will identify and coordinate implementation of policy, procedural, and systems improvements in A&CM departments and work with other divisions. They will join meetings and touchpoints with executives and senior staff in other NYCHA divisions in relation to specific strategic initiatives, ensuring effective agenda-setting, preparation, and follow-up by team members. They will actively guide team members in structuring analysis or operational approaches, develop outputs, and effectively coordinate activities across diverse teams, coach, and support team members to do the same. They will address high-priority requests and urgent coordination needs, working closely with senior staff within A&CM Divisions, across NYCHA, and externally.

Requirements

Candidates should have excellent strategic, analytical, problem-solving, and interpersonal skills, demonstrated experience successfully leading major capital programs and operational change initiatives, and the ability to effectively represent A&CM within the organization. Specific experience with building capital projects delivery capacity and alternative project delivery capabilities, operating and maintaining large capital assets, sustainability and resiliency, and architecture and engineering, are also critical.

Qualifications

To be considered, candidates must have:

• A four-year high school diploma or its educational equivalent and six years of satisfactory, full-time, progressively responsible experience in real property management, at least 18 months of which must have been in a managerial capacity involving the supervision of a large staff of property management agents and/or housing development specialists and requiring independent decision-making concerning program management or planning, allocation of resources, and the scheduling and assignment of work.
• A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college and four years of experience described in "1" above, including eighteen months of experience in managerial capacity.
• A satisfactory combination of education and/or experience equivalent to "1" or "2" above. However, all candidates must have eighteen months of managerial experience.

Preferred Skills

Key Competencies - Strategic Leader & Innovator: A proven leader with demonstrated capabilities in organizational strategy and transformation, program/project management, and operational excellence. A strategic thinker and structured problem-solver, able to design and execute analysis to support decision-making, policy-setting, innovation, and operational planning. Experience building and managing high-performance teams through cultivating alignment with industry best practices, ownership, and collaboration.

Exemplary Communicator & Collaborator: Excellent interpersonal skills with a demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively with internal and external stakeholders across diverse backgrounds and cultures. Strong political acumen and practiced in facilitating multi-stakeholder meetings designed to achieve consensus on objectives. Exceptional verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to convey complex, technical concepts or analysis to non-technical audiences.

Change Manager & Capacity-Builder: Demonstrated record of supporting complex organizational initiatives with a focus on rigorous and practical use of data, program/project management, stakeholder coordination, cross-functional teaming, process streamlining, and resource optimization. Able to drive change and institutionalize continuous improvement. Passionate and skilled at developing people and organizational capabilities.

Preferred Qualifications, Skills & Experience - A bachelor's degree in a relevant field is required. A master's degree is preferred. - Minimum of 10 years of progressive experience in government, business strategy and operations, management consulting, housing finance and development, capital projects management, or a related field. At least 2 years of this experience must have been in a responsible consultative, managerial, or executive capacity. - Strong technology skills, including Microsoft Office Suite, construction and broader program/project management software, data visualization and analytics, workflow automation and artificial intelligence approaches and platforms, and architecture and engineering software including building information modeling and digital twins, are required. - Knowledge of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, New York State and City regulations related to public and affordable housing, as well as prior experience with public or affordable housing, is a strong plus.