Director, Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics (Boston, MA)

MONUM explores and tackles prototypes that cover a range of ideas, focused on experimentation of delivering city services in new ways, blending both physical and digital civic experiences – and anything else that may not fit neatly into a city department…yet! MONUM is the City of Boston’s engine for learning, risk-taking, discovery – and the delivery of new ideas to positively impact the lives of Boston residents. The Director leads MONUM, and will spearhead the Office’s direction and strategy in close alignment with Mayor Wu’s transformation agenda. See the team’s portfolio of work from last year here.

The Director of the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics will report directly to the Mayor’s Chief of Staff and collaborate closely with the Department of Innovation & Technology, the Mayor’s Policy Team, and many other city departments. Based on a successful history of MONUM co-leadership and depending on the skillsets of candidates we interview, we are open to the possibility of two co-directors. Salary: $109,023 - $142,6220

To view this job and apply, click here.

Responsibilities:

• Deliver and implement new, cross-cabinet projects that push the Mayor’s agenda forward:

  • Work with Mayor’s Office leadership to establish priority projects. 

  • Oversee project work from discovery to delivery across MONUM.

  • Work closely with all departments that need to contribute to the project, including departments that will enable the work (eg. People Ops, Finance, Technology, Property Management, etc.)

  • Listen, learn, and focus on delivering structural transformation, even when cosmetic small wins on the edges may seem easier to do.

  • Previous examples of success range from: the launch of 311; redesigning the lobby of City Hall; enabling digital libraries at bus stops; streamlining ADUs; piloting electric cargo bikes; kicking off the Boston Area Research Initiative (BARI) with universities; and many more.

• Lead the City’s R&D team (research & development) in relentless, urgent pursuit of the best constituent experience: 

  • Over time, the City has created many solutions that cater to keeping the silos of the bureaucracy comfortable. Help the city better identify and articulate problems at their root source (Is it a lack of communication? A paperwork problem? Business process? Technology?).

  • Use rapid prototyping, human-centered design, and iterative testing of policies/programs so we can quickly understand the full problem space before landing on an assumed solution.

  • Collaborate with stakeholders (internal departments, external funders) to ensure priorities, scope, staffing, and budgets align. 

• Partner deeply with and enable other departments to prototype and experiment in order to scale a culture of human-centered services:

  • Model good experimentation in government: identify a problem, set a hypothesis, try an experiment, evaluate the impact, and document and evolve based on what was learned. Quickly decide if something’s working (continue and possibly expand) or not working (abandon, move on, try something else).

  • Help build the muscle of experimentation across departments and empower city employees to try to solve persisting problems we know impact our constituents. How can MONUM empower other teams with new techniques and unleash their creativity?

• Attract, recruit, and lead a team of talented individuals who may not otherwise choose to engage or work in city government:

  • Incubating talent is just as key as incubating new ideas; Continue MONUM’s incredible track record of recruiting non-traditional experts to government service, via summer and full year Fellows programs, and providing a training ground to nurture their talents before launching them into partner departments.

Minimum Entrance Qualifications:

• You are not an “ideas person." You are a doer. You see the red tape and bureaucracy of government and aim to cut through the noise to get things done with a humble, empathetic approach, building goodwill and trust along the way.

• You have a people-first, user-centered mindset, and have led cross-functional projects across complex organizations from concept to delivery.

• Constant curiosity for what’s new, what other organizations are doing, ongoing evolution of best practices in cities, research, and academia – and bringing that knowledge to Boston. You believe in projects and initiatives that expand our perspective and deliver impact.

• You are a natural, authentic leader - when you bring new ideas to an organization, others gravitate towards you and you are able to influence change, whether there is formal org chart hierarchy or not.

• You push the envelope around collaboration and can see the potential in connecting seemingly disparate initiatives across different teams in a unifying, motivating force.

• You’re a skilled communicator and effective listener with the ability to manage diverse teams and rally them around a vision.

• Know (or are excited to know!) Boston’s neighborhoods and its people.

• Bachelor’s Degree in urban planning, architecture, public policy, business, design, law, or a related field is required. Master’s preferred.

• Recommended ten [10]+ years of experience in diverse and highly-collaborative environments in related fields where creativity and innovation are at the forefront of the work.

• Leading or managing a team of staff members OR Two (2) - Four (4) years of supervisory experience required OR Leadership experience required.

Boston Residency Required

Terms:
Union/Pay Grade:
Non-union/MM2- Grade 12
Hours per week: 35