Vice President, Strategy & Innovation

Mass Development, the state’s development finance agency and land bank, delivers financing solutions, real estate expertise, and other assistance to strengthen and grow the Massachusetts economy. We partner with businesses, nonprofits, developers, banks, and municipalities to help create jobs, build housing, and foster vibrant communities across the state. We value diverse perspectives, encourage innovation, and are committed to building a stronger Massachusetts.

The Vice President (VP) of Strategy & Innovation will report to the Senior Vice President (SVP) of Strategy & Innovation and join Mass Development’s Center for Strategy & Innovation, a small, relatively new team that works with the CEO and Executive Team to identify, design, and implement strategic initiatives that require collaboration across teams and divisions.

The Center’s work often begins with a problem or opportunity rather than a predefined solution. In its first year, the Center has worked with teams across the Agency on projects as diverse as designing a new program to help Main Street businesses adapt to declining foot traffic, creating a framework to help lending teams balance risk and impact, and developing the Agency’s AI policy and approach to foundational staff training.

These initiatives require bringing together different perspectives, breaking down silos, and developing practical solutions to challenges that span the organization.

The VP will help move initiatives from an initial question or challenge through research, stakeholder engagement, design, and implementation. This may involve quickly getting up to speed on an unfamiliar area of Mass Development’s work, facilitating complex discussions, developing and testing solutions, making recommendations to executive leadership, or designing and launching new programs and initiatives. The ideal candidate is curious, creative, and comfortable with ambiguity, with the ability to build relationships across teams, solve complex problems, and move between big-picture thinking and the details needed to get things done.

Strong facilitation, writing, communication, and project management skills are essential.

Work Location:

The selected candidate may work from any of the agency’s regional offices. The specific office location will be determined based on the candidate’s location, position requirements, and agency needs.

• Lead and facilitate cross-agency discussions that surface new ideas, emerging needs, and challenges requiring solutions, while helping teams build alignment and take action.
• Collaborate across departments to support alignment, clarity, and coordinated execution of strategic initiatives; develop and deliver clear, compelling presentations and written materials to communicate strategy, progress, and outcomes.
• Research emerging approaches, trends, and “horizon” strategies across economic development, finance, real estate, community development, and organizational innovation, and translate insights into actionable opportunities.
• Partner with the SVP and cross-functional teams to design, launch, and implement pilot programs, strategies, and programmatic improvements that address persistent challenges for internal and external Agency stakeholders.
• Support the launch, early-stage management, evaluation, and integration of pilots into ongoing Agency operations.
• Design and coordinate trainings on priority topics identified by leadership, identify opportunities to strengthen staff skills in alignment with strategic goals and core values, and support peer-to-peer learning, information exchange, and network building across the Agency.
• Support the selection and management of external consultants by helping define scopes of work, establish and…