Vice President, Strategy And Programs

Description

Position at Conrad N. Hilton Foundation

International hotelier Conrad N. Hilton established the grantmaking foundation that bears his name in 1944 to help people living in poverty and experiencing disadvantage worldwide. Today, the work continues, concentrating on efforts to ensure healthy early childhood development and sustainable livelihoods for youth, support young people transitioning out of foster care, improve access to housing and support services for people experiencing homelessness, identify solutions to safe water access, and lift the work of Catholic sisters. Additionally, following selection by an independent, international jury, the Foundation annually awards the $2.5 million Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize to an organization doing extraordinary work to reduce human suffering. The Foundation is one of the world’s largest, with approximately $6.7 billion in assets. It has awarded grants to date totaling more than $3 billion, $435 million worldwide in 2022. Please visit www.hiltonfoundation.org for more information.

**Cover letter required for consideration**

Job Summary

The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation seeks to recruit a strategic leader as Vice President, Strategy and Programs. The role will lead our Program team in optimizing the grant making resources of the Foundation and exploring innovative ways to leverage donor legacy and demonstrated impact of a family foundation’s philanthropic assets.

Reporting to the President and CEO, the Vice President, Strategy and Programs will join the Foundation at an exciting and important moment in the execution of the Foundation’s current Strategy 25. With oversight of an annual grant portfolio of approximately $300 million, the Vice President guides implementation of programs and initiatives, ensuring that the Foundation’s programmatic priorities align with the mission and values and the donor’s intent.

Responsibilities

The broad strategic goals and responsibilities of the Vice President are the following

As the Foundation approaches the midpoint of its “Strategy 25” (2021-25), the Vice President will have oversight for the staggered evaluations of seven current Initiatives over the period 2024-27, while also guiding the overall strategic planning which will take the Foundation from Strategy 25 to Strategy 30. This approach will allow the Foundation to build on the evidence-based and rigorous approach and momentum of the current Strategy 25 Initiatives’ implementation, while also adding strategic and impactful elements to the next phase of the Foundation’s programmatic planning. Furthermore, the staggered approach creates time and space for the Board and staff to engage deeply with all seven Initiatives by taking each in turn.

GOALS

• Working with the Board Program Committee, CEO, and Program Leadership Team, continue to implement the program strategies that are in sync with the Foundation’s Philanthropic Approach, grounded in the Foundation’s mission and values, and expressive of the broad current priorities.
• Identify emerging issues of global significance and explore practices and lessons learned from other sectors to enhance strategic impact.
• Provide leadership and support in fostering a dynamic program team culture - empowering a program team that blends the collective wisdom and insights of a dedicated group of professionals.
• Provide the Board with optimal information regarding Initiative goals and strategies, and their progress and impact. Work closely with the Board’s Program Committee on questions of strategy oversight and Board engagement.
• Provide strategic insight and facilitate the process of exploring with Board and Foundation lessons learned from Strategy 25 and how these insights will shape the next generation of programmatic investment.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a member of the Foundation’s Executive Management Team, which works to foster organizational cohesiveness and alignment in support of the donor’s intent and family’s legacy.
• Partner with the President and CEO on matters related to donor intent and other organizational issues that enhance the Foundation’s ability to thoughtfully execute its mission.
• Provide oversight to the Strategy, Learning, and Evaluation Division (SLED) to conduct regular detailed and candid “deep dive” reviews of each Initiative’s impact and progress toward its goals, including mid-course corrections where necessary.
• Support the CEO in representing the Foundation externally to philanthropic, governmental, business, religious and civil society leaders; build partnerships and alliances which leverage the Foundation’s grants and efforts.
• Provide leadership as a strategic leader of an incredibly talented, motivated, global program team with a thoughtfully designed grantmaking process and articulated deliverables.

Qualifications

• Ability to effectively synthesize and distill complex information in a clear and persuasive manner to multiple audiences.
• Experience with Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning, including research, measurement, program monitoring, and program evaluation with exposure to a broad range of evaluation tools, methodologies, and techniques.
• An entrepreneurial spirit and innovated ability to leverage financial and human capital to advance the programmatic goals and overall mission of the Foundation.
• Experience in working effectively with a Board, and facilitating a board and staff led Strategic Planning processes, bringing significant clarity and alignment to grantmaking activities, and increasing their impact.
• Demonstrated experience leading a large and complex grantmaking program, setting and achieving ambitious goals, and ensuring quality, effectiveness, efficiency, and compliance.
• Experience leading a diverse global team of professional staff, inspiring trust, and optimizing the potential of the overall team.

PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES

• Personal creativity and strategic vision coupled with an ability to listen to others and learn from their best ideas – a sense of inquisitiveness and eagerness to improve.
• Persuasive communicator with excellent listening, speaking, and writing skills.
• Experience working in both international and domestic US contexts preferred; otherwise, a demonstrated willingness to learn about new contexts.
• A deep commitment to the donor intent, mission, and values of the Foundation.
• Strong facilitation, teamwork, and client-service skills; experience exercising influence and managing change while setting an open and inclusive tone with others.
• Intellectually humble, open to constructive feedback and personally grounded.
• Personable, articulate, and diplomatic, but also honest in identifying challenges, problems, and risks.

The hiring base salary range for this position is $458,000 to $611,000. The final base salary will be determined based on individual qualifications and experience.

About Our Benefits

We value the health and well-being of our employees, some of the benefits we offer include:

• Comprehensive and generous health and life insurance options
• Fitness benefits
• Foundation funded retirement savings plan
• Relocation Pay
• Employee matching gifts to qualified non-profit organizations
• Professional learning and development and educational assistance
• Flexible work schedules and technology benefits
• Paid holidays, time off, and parental leave

The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation is an equal opportunity employer with values grounded in promoting equality and inclusion and embracing diversity. We welcome qualified applicants of all races, colors, gender identities, sexual orientations, economic classes, ages, religions, national origins, and ability/disability statuses. Veterans and individuals with lived expertise are encouraged to apply. We respect and seek to empower every member of our Foundation community. We support and celebrate our collective array of cultures, backgrounds, perspectives, skills and experiences; fully realizing that such diversity is what makes our organization flourish and better enables us to fulfill our mission in the world.