Civic Strategist, Los Angeles

Civic Strategist, Los Angeles

The Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins University (the Center) seeks a Civic Strategist, Los Angeles to lead efforts under the City of Los Angeles, Deputy Mayor, Office of Strategic Partnerships.

The Civic Strategist is charged with leading a team focused on supporting the City of Los Angeles' efforts to accelerate transformative city policy, infrastructure, and innovation efforts that generate lasting benefits for all Angelenos, while fostering civic pride, inclusive public-private collaboration, and long-term urban resilience to advance Los Angeles' unprecedented recovery from the January 2025 wildfires and hosting of three consecutive global sporting events2026 FIFA World Cup, 2027 Super Bowl, and 2028 Olympic & Paralympic Games. The Civic Strategist works closely with the Deputy Mayor, as well as departmental staff, external experts, community organizations, and residents to ensure the team delivers impactful solutions. The Civic Strategist is an employee of Johns Hopkins University and based in Los Angeles City Hall. They report to the Deputy Mayor.

The first of its kind in the world, the Center aims to advance the field of public sector innovation by marrying cutting-edge practice with world class research in order to transform the culture of government, deliver exceptional results for residents, and inspire trust in public service.

Specific Duties & Responsibilities

• Lead a problemsolving approach that focuses on identifying root causes of civic challenges in partnership with residents, community organizations, and other stakeholders.
• Collaborate with city government colleagues and community organizations to co-create and manage bold, innovative solutions to solve complex problems.
• Effectively manage the diverse skill sets of the team and leverage available technical expertise to maximize creativity and impact.
• Maintain strong relationships and foster collaboration among a broad set of stakeholders, including senior government officials and private sector and nonprofit leaders in the community.
• Strengthen the capacity of city government colleagues, communitybased organizations, and other stakeholders to work together to cocreate and implement transformative solutions.
• Inspire the team to challenge the status quo and encourage creative ways to overcome roadblocks.
• Ensure that there are clear and appropriate implementation plans for delivery on all major initiatives.
• Oversee the development of targets and regular measurement of progress.
• Achieve defined targets by monitoring performance and correcting course when needed.
• Participate in a national network of civic-sector innovation experts to advance the field and make visible your city's work.
• Communicate progress to stakeholders, including regular reporting to the mayor.
• Oversee the timely development and submission of highquality work products.
• Share the team's strategic framework and best practices for innovation throughout city government.
• Actively collaborate with the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins University (BCPI), program partners, and other teams that are part of BCPI programming.

Special Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities

• Strong sense of service to residents of Los Angeles and understanding of the complexities of and opportunities in the City of Los Angeles.
• Strong ability to communicate complex concepts to different audiences and stakeholders including executives, community groups, partners, philanthropic leaders, and the public.
• Attentiveness to details, deadline-oriented, acute vision, and the ability to give and receive constructive criticism.
• Excellent written and oral communication.
• Exceptional time management and organizational skills.
• Strong interpersonal skills with an ability to build good relationships with peers and to interact with diverse stakeholders.
• Aptitude for moving people outside their comfort zones to embrace new approaches, mindsets, and solutions.
• Experience with designbased innovation, data, and/or other innovation methods and tools.
• Experience project-managing complex initiatives from design to their completion.

• Bachelor's Degree in related discipline.
• Seven or more years of experience in business administration, public policy, organizational development, strategy development, change management, project management, and/or related fields/areas.
• Additional education may substitute for required experience, and additional related experience may substitute for required education beyond a high school diploma/graduation equivalent, to the extent permitted by the JHU equivalency formula.

• Ten plus years relevant experience including progressive project and team management.
• Five years supervisory experience, including experience developing and managing a high-performing team.
• Experience or familiarity with government innovation efforts, including a strong conceptual and practical understanding of innovation tools and the role of human centered design, data, and policy in the public sector.
• Experience working for or in collaboration with local government.
• Experience leveraging and mobilizing public, private, and philanthropic resources for projects.
• Able to be in the office in Los Angeles five days/week.
• Able to attend multiple community meetings in different neighborhoods in a single day.