Program Manager, Government Innovation

About this role

Background

Bloomberg Philanthropies works to create catalytic change across five areas of focus: arts and culture, education, the environment, government innovation, and public health. Our mission is to ensure better, longer lives for the greatest number of people. Our approach is rooted in Mike Bloomberg’s unique experience and success across business, government, and philanthropy.

The Government Innovation programs build the capacity of local governments to solve problems effectively. Its initiatives – ranging from large-scale international innovation competitions to domestic efforts that help mayors hone their management skills and better use data in decision-making – equip local leaders with practical tools and approaches they can use to address local challenges. We currently invest in municipal governments worldwide through grants, technical assistance, and participation programs. Our team is collegial and collaborative with an orientation toward learning at the individual, group, and portfolio levels. We are energized to advance our mission, while also working to ensure team members have full and balanced lives and opportunities for growth.

The Position

The Ideas Initiatives , including initiatives like the Bloomberg Mayors Challenge and Bloomberg Cities Idea Exchange, identifies and grows promising ideas that help city governments solve their most pressing challenges. We support cities in generating ambitious solutions, adapting proven approaches, and accelerating the spread of ideas that improve residents’ lives. The Program Manager will support the delivery and continued development of the Ideas Initiatives, including future initiatives that identify, develop, test, grow, and spread promising ideas for city governments.

The role is based in New York City and will require occasional domestic and international travel.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Program Delivery & Partner Management

• Manage day-to-day delivery of key components of the Bloomberg Mayors Challenge, Bloomberg Cities Idea Exchange, and related initiatives. As an example, delivering key components of the Bloomberg Mayors Challenge competition, including developing the application, review, evaluation, selection and event processes.

• Serve as a relationship manager for external partners delivering major components of the portfolio, providing strategic guidance, candid feedback, and ongoing problem-solving support.

• Monitor partner performance, deliverables, milestones, budgets, and risks across multiple initiatives, ensuring work meets Bloomberg Philanthropies’ standards.

• Support the planning and execution of workshops, convenings, site visits, and other program activities involving cities, partners, and external stakeholders.

• Ideas Development & Evidence Building

• Manage key components of idea evaluation across idea initiatives, including coordinating partner-led evaluations of select Bloomberg Mayors Challenge-supported ideas and overseeing the Bloomberg Cities Idea Exchange idea evaluation fund.

• Supporting the sourcing and initial assessment of promising city-led ideas with the potential to improve outcomes for residents and be adopted by other cities.

• Synthesize research, evaluation, and learning activities that strengthen the evidence base for supported ideas and inform decisions about further investment or expansion.

• Portfolio Operations & Project Management

• Design, maintain, and continuously improve dashboards, trackers, workflows, templates, and other portfolio management tools.

• Coordinate integrated project plans, timelines, budgets, dependencies, and cross-team workflows across multiple initiatives.

• Provide day-to-day operational support across initiatives by maintaining files and trackers, documenting decisions and action items, processing contracts and invoicing, and periodically supporting meeting coordination.

• Strategic Projects & Internal Initiative Learning

• Draft memos, briefing documents, presentations, and recommendations for Bloomberg Philanthropies leadership.

• Prepare program summaries, reports, talking points, and other communications that translate initiative activity and results into clear insights for institutional decision-making.

• Conduct research and synthesize lessons from programs, partners, cities, and external sources to strengthen existing initiatives and inform future program design.

• Monitor emerging trends and developments in public innovation, civic technology, implementation, and city government.

Qualifications of the ideal candidate

• 8+ years of relevant, full-time professional experience. We recognize there are many paths to this role and welcome candidates from government, philanthropy, consulting, product development, design, venture investing, startups, civic technology, entrepreneurship, applied research, or other fields where they have helped develop, test, or grow new ideas. Experience working with or alongside city governments is strongly preferred.

• Demonstrated experience designing and implementing complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives from strategy through execution.

• Excellent project management and organizational skills, with experience managing multiple priorities while maintaining exceptional attention to detail.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to synthesize complexity into clear, compelling narratives, presentations, and decision documents.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with an ability to connect day-to-day program work to broader organizational goals.

• Exceptional interpersonal and relationship management skills, with a track record of building and managing partnerships across governments, nonprofits, philanthropy, and other external partners.

• Intellectual curiosity about how innovation happens inside and outside government, and enthusiasm for applying ideas from adjacent fields to improve how cities solve problems.

• Adaptable,

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