Background:

Tulsa Innovation Labs LLC (TIL) is a tech-led economic development organization headquartered in Tulsa, OK pioneered by the George Kaiser Family Foundation. The organization is responsible for catalyzing Tulsa’s leadership in advanced industries such as energy tech, advanced air mobility, virtual health, and cyber. We believe that by building a world-class tech hub in America’s heartland, we unlock opportunity for all.

The organization was founded in January 2020 and has already experienced significant momentum including its $38.2M Build Back Better Regional Challenge win and recent $51.7M Tech Hubs award from the US Department of Commerce. Now, TIL is emerging from startup-phase and has established itself as a system hub and community leader, requiring additional emphasis on scaling-up operations and organizational capacity.

Position Summary:

The Director of Place and Infrastructure serves as the organizational leader for understanding, engaging, and leveraging physical place and infrastructure assets needed to catalyze innovation and economic development. The Director will support the implementation of place-based initiatives such as those from the Build Back Better Regional Challenge’s Skyway Range and corresponding Skyway36 projects, as well as a broader portfolio of efforts that are rooted in physical place in order to enhance and activate place and infrastructure within the Tulsa region. This position requires someone who is passionate about infrastructure, placemaking, and urban development and wants to transform underused or inactive places into catalysts for innovation and economic development. We are looking for an out- of- the-box thinker with creative solutions to challenges and opportunities.

Responsibilities / Essential Job Function:

• Develop and maintain an understanding of critical place and infrastructure assets and resources in the city, state, and region necessary to support an innovation-based economy. Leverage this understanding to build and execute a cohesive strategy for TIL’s initiatives and investments in place and infrastructure.
• Support the successful launch and implementation of initiatives and investments through the collaborative leadership of Relationship and Innovation Initiative teammates, securing resources within your domain to apply to initiatives driven by our organization in service to our stakeholders.
• Iteratively evaluate Tulsa’s place and infrastructure resources based on evolved information and learnings during implementation of initiatives, with the goal of making strategic recommendations on strengths, weaknesses, and gaps in Tulsa’s resource-base. Proactively identify and develop place and infrastructure strategies the organization should pursue to realize its vision for an innovation-based economy.
• Proactively seek to create and strengthen relationships with our stakeholder communities. 
• As initiatives are successfully launched in partnership with key stakeholders, sunset relationships, agreements, and resources as appropriate in concert with senior leadership.
• Establish and oversee metrics related to usage and effectiveness of Tulsa’s place and infrastructure assets and resources and make recommendations and updates to senior leadership and stakeholders, using tools and support from the operations team.
• Influence leverage the processes and methods employed by our organization, and actively contribute improvements to those methodologies based on observations and analysis of their effectiveness.

Education & Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree required in business administration, urban planning, public administration/affairs, or a directly related field
• Minimum 8 years relevant work experience in economic development, strategy development, and partnership building initiatives
• Demonstrated experience in collaborating with and between organizations and in securing resources in support of place and infrastructure
• Strong analytical and project management skills
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Ability to manage multiple projects and collaborate with team members

Competencies, Skills & Abilities:

To be successful in this role, you must have excellent communication, organizational and project management skills. You must also have the ability to actively listen, engage and connect with a diverse group of people, fostering meaningful relationships with our partners. Our team must be nimble and adaptable to the growing and changing needs of our organization and stakeholder groups, creating solutions and improving processes to achieve TIL goals.

• Integrity – honesty and directness in all things, especially with respect to the true status of initiatives and when in need of help and support from teammates and stakeholders.
• Intentionality – the desire to act now, and not later, on tasks and initiatives. Exhibit a hunger for success and results.
• Interest – an attitude of constant learning, curiosity, and humility with respect to what has yet to be understood.
• Interconnectedness – respect and appreciation for teammates and stakeholders: their backgrounds, skills, history, challenges, fears, and expectations that influence how approach shared tasks and relationships.
• Organized – Demonstrated ability to manage complex, sometimes conflicting, objectives and tasks.
• Decisive – Demonstrated ability to act even with incomplete information.
• Collaborative – Demonstrated ability to convene, facilitate, and develop shared understanding.
• Intelligent – Demonstrated ability to understand quickly and exhibit good judgement.
• Communicative – Demonstrated ability to listen to understand, and to share information with others simply and directly.

Physical Requirements:

• Communicate: Frequent phone, in-person, and messaging communication via various platforms. Must be able to exchange information effectively and accurately in all elements of verbal and written communication.
• Operate: Constant operation of computer, phones, and other office productivity tools.
• Willingness and ability to travel between program and related stakeholder locations, and service provider/vendor offices as required.

Hours & Location:

• Position is based in Tulsa within TIL headquarters located at 3 North Cheyenne Ave.
• Typical work hours are Monday – Friday from 8:00 to 5:00, with flexibility required for various events, meetings, and relevant business needs.

Benefits and Compensation:

As part of our overall compensation package, we offer work/life flexibility, comprehensive health benefits, paid time off, and generous retirement contributions designed to support you and your family. 

Details:

• 100% employer paid medical, dental, and long-term disability for full-time employees only. Option to add vision and dependents.
• 401K employee and employer contributions.
• Paid time off to support you while you are out of the office.
• Paid holidays so our employees can spend time with those they care about.
• Employer paid AD&D life insurance, with employee option to add supplemental life insurance.