Director, Innovation Initiatives

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The Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale (Tsai CITY) mission is to inspire students from diverse backgrounds and disciplines to seek innovative ways to solve real‑world problems. Our unique innovation center welcomes students from all backgrounds to explore entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship across a wide spectrum of innovation—from venture‑backable startups in areas like AI and deep tech, to policy and civic initiatives that drive meaningful systems change, to transformative creative innovations such as documentary films and immersive media that shape culture.

We serve students from across Yale’s campus through non‑academic programs, funding, and mentoring.

The Director of Innovation Initiatives at the Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale (Tsai CITY) reports to the Managing Director and designs and leads a broad range of projects and priorities related to student innovation. These efforts include short‑ and long‑term strategic planning, the evaluation and implementation of systems and resources to support programming initiatives, and the creation of policies and procedures for best practices in student experiential education in innovation and entrepreneurship.

The Director of Innovation Initiatives also leads efforts to advance Tsai CITY’s mission of inspiring students from diverse backgrounds and disciplines to seek innovative ways to solve real‑world problems. The Director’s leadership in the design and implementation of student programs and initiatives involves close collaboration with the Tsai CITY team, as well as Yale and external partner organizations. The Director is responsible for designing and implementing a comprehensive strategy to build and sustain a robust set of programs and resources for student innovators, and for collecting all metrics related to the programs in the Director’s portfolio.

The Director will communicate and obtain consensus for planned program strategy with key stakeholders and champion Tsai CITY opportunities around campus.

The Director of Innovation Initiatives will lead the development and implementation of programming that advances innovative thinking across campus. This role supports the design, delivery, and evaluation of programs that equip students with frameworks for creative problem‑solving, interdisciplinary collaboration, and real‑world impact, independent of venture creation.

Working closely with faculty, campus centers, and external partners, the Director will expand pathways for students to engage in innovative thinking through co‑curricular programs, intensive learning experiences, and collaborative initiatives. The position will contribute to the development and delivery of learning experiences that introduce students to innovation practices and approaches and will help develop methods to assess the impact of innovation programming over time.

This role oversees full‑time staff, manages participation requirements for co‑curricular certificates, and strengthens connections between academic coursework and experiential learning opportunities. The Director will cultivate partnerships across campus and manage program resources to support a vibrant ecosystem for innovation and creative problem‑solving.

Support the development and delivery of learning experiences that introduce students to innovation and creative problem‑solving approaches, translating key concepts into workshops and applied programming for students across disciplines. Develop and facilitate partnerships with faculty, campus centers, and external organizations to expand opportunities for students to engage with multiple pathways of innovation beyond traditional entrepreneurship. Design and implement collaborative initiatives with campus partners that connect innovation programming to emerging areas of student…