Director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Work to Improve and Increase Economic Opportunities in the St. Louis Region

The St. Louis Economic Development Partnership (STL Partnership) is a Missouri non‑profit corporation organized for the purposes of advancing the social welfare, health, and economic interests of the St. Louis region and its residents. In furtherance of its organizational purposes, STL Partnership provides governmental economic development services to both St. Louis County and the City of St. Louis.

STL Partnership aligns regional efforts in business development, business finance, entrepreneurial support, and international trade services and provides a broad range of services to boost innovation and entrepreneurship, support business retention and expansion, enhance the region's global relevance, and revitalize communities. STL Partnership is a key facilitator of initiatives to encourage equitable economic prosperity and resiliency in the St. Louis region.

Under the supervision of and reporting to the Chief Financial Officer, the Director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship is responsible for and will serve as the architect and leader of the STL Partnership division dedicated to a comprehensive, regionally focused innovation and entrepreneurship strategy; will plan, direct, and position the four STL Venture Works incubators as the centerpiece of an integrated economic development approach expected to support and de‑risk business formation by supporting entrepreneurs in growing their business;

will develop strategic partnerships, advance client growth, strengthen ecosystem alignment, and design initiatives that expand entrepreneurial capacity across the region.

• Develop and lead a comprehensive, data-informed innovation and entrepreneurship strategy for the STL Partnership and STL Ventureworks, aligned with organizational economic development priorities and regional needs with a focus on long-term sustainability.
• Assess market trends, ecosystem gaps, and opportunities to advise and introduce new programs, incubator models, and investment priorities.
• Identify opportunities for new incubator concepts, program models, or physical infrastructure investments in response to market demand, emerging sectors, or gaps in the existing ecosystem.
• Explore and build strategies for entrepreneurship-through-acquisition, de‑risked business attraction models, and other innovative techniques to leverage incubator assets.
• Guide modernization, expansion, or repositioning of the incubators in response to evolving market needs and strategic priorities.
• Establish and track measurable performance benchmarks related to business formation, job creation, client growth, and ecosystem outcomes related to the incubators and STL Partnership/STL Ventureworks strategic priorities.
• Conduct peer city benchmarking and regional economic analysis to provide guidance for long-term strategic goals.
• Work independently on complex and confidential assignments without detailed instructions.
• Analyze information to solve problems through deductive and inductive reasoning.
• Perform various other duties and functions as required or assigned within the area of expertise.

• Provide executive-level strategic oversight for the four STL Venture Works incubators, ensuring consistent vision, program cohesion, and strategic alignment across all incubators.
• Develop long-term positioning strategies for each facility in alignment with regional economic growth priorities, including, for example, key industry clusters.
• Maintain responsibility for development, execution, and tracking of the full life cycle of client programs and policies,…