Sparc Design

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Senior Director, SPARC

Full-time Regular Washington, DC, US

Salary Range: $200,000.00 To $225,000.00 Annually

About the Milken Institute

The Milken Institute is a globally minded, publicly supported, non-partisan, and nonprofit think tank headquartered in Santa Monica, with offices in Washington, DC, New York, London, Abu Dhabi, and Singapore. For the past three decades, the Milken Institute has served as a catalyst for practical, scalable solutions to global challenges by connecting human, financial, and educational resources to those who need them. Guided by a conviction that the best ideas, under-resourced, cannot succeed, we conduct research and analysis and convene top experts, innovators, and influencers from different backgrounds and competing viewpoints. We leverage this expertise and insight to construct programs and policy initiatives. These activities are designed to help people build meaningful lives, in which they can experience health and well-being, pursue effective education and gainful employment, and access the resources required to create ever-expanding opportunities for themselves and their broader communities.

The Milken Institute’s events and programmatic activities, involve the exchange of ideas with leaders from around the world. The Institute hosts more than 200 events each year, with our annual flagship event, Global Conference, bringing together 4,500+ participants from around the world, featuring more than 900+ speakers throughout 200+ sessions over the course of the event.

About Milken Institute Strategic Philanthropy

One of four pillars at the Milken Institute, Strategic Philanthropy advises individuals, corporations, and foundations on the most strategic ways to ensure their philanthropic investments have an equitable, transformative impact, and offers tools and recommendations to make philanthropy more effective. In addition to in-depth research, reports, and guides, we design and build programs including funding initiatives, research collaboratives, large-scale innovation programs, and high-level events. Finally, we also foster peer learning communities to accelerate knowledge sharing and promote partnerships. Strategic Philanthropy’s three portfolios of programmatic work include SPARC (Science Philanthropy Accelerator for Research and Collaboration), Environmental & Social Innovation (ESI), and Philanthropy Leadership Collective (PLC). Within Strategic Philanthropy, our SPARC portfolio facilitates investment across a range of scientific focus areas—including mental health, oncology, neuroscience, rare disease, and the science ecosystem

About the Position

We are recruiting a Senior Director to lead SPARC’s brain health and disease program, a long-standing, robust programmatic division encompassing mental health and well-being, brain health, and neurodegenerative disease. This role combines deep subject matter expertise, partnership cultivation and management, strategic leadership, and team development. The Senior Director will be responsible for setting and advancing the strategy for the brain health and disease program, identifying future spaces of philanthropic impact in neuroscience and mental health, and supporting the overall vision and business strategy at SPARC.

As a member of the SPARC leadership team, the Senior Director will collaborate closely with leaders across SPARC and Strategic Philanthropy to ensure alignment with portfolio (SPARC), pillar (Strategic Philanthropy), and Institute-wide priorities while balancing growth, impact, and operational sustainability. As a senior leader with supervisory responsibilities within SPARC, the individual will manage a significant portfolio and a high-performing team; cultivate strong partnerships with philanthropic, scientific, and health-sector leaders; contribute to business development and resource stewardship; and serve as a visible representative of the Institute through external convenings, thought leadership, and partner engagement activities.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Philanthropy Advisory
  • Research and Synthesis – With the project teams, informs the direction and substance of research, advising on strategy, methodology, and network to support science philanthropy advisory projects and other programmatic priorities, including Milken Institute events, SPARC’s community of philanthropic funders and science impact leaders, and emerging philanthropic investment opportunities.
  • Deliverable and Project Management – Produces executive-level and partner-ready deliverables independently and serves as the accountable leader for deliverables produced by the SPARC brain health and disease project teams.
  • External Stakeholder and Partner Management – Fosters and maintains relationships with current and potential partners, develops proposals for new work, and builds sustaining projects collaboratively with funders and other partners.
• Personnel and Portfolio Management
  • Provides personnel management, mentorship and program-level supervision of SPARC team members.
  • Coordinates time allocation and effort across the brain health and disease program team.
  • Works with other members of SPARC leadership to align team efforts and resources across SPARC and with Strategic Philanthropy and Milken Institute priorities.
  • Collaborates with colleagues across the Milken Institute to pursue SPARC, MISP, and Milken Institute-wide priorities.
• Thought Leadership & Convenings
  • Leverages deep neuroscience and mental health subject matter expertise to provide orientation and direction for programmatic work and enrichment of the SPARC Collective and Strategic Philanthropy’s external community of biomedical funders and innovators.
  • Leads the programmatic development of public and private sessions at the Institute’s signature events (e.g., Global Conference, Future of Health Summit) and similar high-profile events (e.g., strategic project retreats, funded investigator community meetings, private roundtables with SPARC partners and stakeholders, etc.), in coordination with the dedicated Strategic Philanthropy Convening & Engagement team.
  • Leads, moderates, and/or serves as a subject-matter expert speaker at the Institute’s signature events or similar high-profile events.
  • Duties as assigned.

Requirements

• PhD, or equivalent, in a field of biomedical science with 15+ years of relevant work experience in the fields of neuroscience and/or mental health. Candidates with experience in philanthropy advisory services, private foundation or nonprofit organization management, or consulting firms are strongly encouraged to apply.
• Expert in philanthropy, neuroscience, and/or brain health innovation with recognized thought leadership.
• Demonstrated ability to build and implement a programmatic vision.
• Track record of building and managing high-performing teams with strong culture, trust, and risk-taking, and the ability to facilitate and coordinate diverse individuals to solve specific problems.
• Demonstrated ability to build engaging, sustainable networks and communities that foster learning and action.
• Effective skills to develop durable partnerships and robust relationships with external stakeholders, including funding partners and members of the scientific ecosystem.
• Superior communication skills and ability to work with multiple, high-level stakeholders both external to and internal within the Milken Institute.
• High intellectual capacity that can be and has been applied to learning new disciplines and areas of philanthropic investment or related fields.
• Strong ability to work on a fast-paced collaborative team and be independently proactive. Personal attitude that includes being entrepreneurial, action-oriented, collaborative, flexible, with a willingness to adapt to changing situations and a good sense of humor.
• Ability to travel regularly to:
  • Represent SPARC and the Milken Institute in partner meetings, scientific conferences, and strategic convenings.
  • Lead, facilitate, moderate, and contribute to Institute programming and events.
  • Support partnership development, business development, field engagement, and thought leadership activities as relevant.

Working Conditions & Travel Requirements

This position will work in a professional office environment on a hybrid schedule consisting of three (3) days per week reporting in-person to the Washington, DC office location (Tuesday – Thursday), with the remaining two (2) days working remotely. Please understand, this schedule is subject to change at the Institute’s sole discretion.

This person will also be required to travel occasionally to other offices and/or venues to assist with events as needed, requiring occasional work outside of traditional hours. International along with domestic travel is possible. Additionally, this position requires interacting virtually on a regular basis with Milken Institute staff based in other locations in the United States and around the world.

Note

The statements herein are intended to describe the overall nature and level of work being performed by employees and are not to be construed as an exhaustive list of responsibilities, duties, and skills required of personnel so classified. Furthermore, they do not establish a contract for employment and are subject to change at the discretion of the employer.

We are interested in qualified candidates who are eligible to work in the United States. Please note, we are not sponsoring visas at this time, being authorized to work in the U.S. is a precondition of employment.

Please submit resume and cover letter illustrating how your experience and skills will contribute to the department and any unique qualities you bring to the position. If applying via Indeed, please upload your resume and any supporting documentation as one attachment. Any application that does not include both a resume and cover letter will be rejected. If you are unable to complete this application due to a disability, contact our Human Resources department to ask for an accommodation or an alternative application process.

Our Culture

The Milken Institute is proud to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, age, disability or status as a veteran.

Every person at the Milken Institute is treated with respect, supported with resources and training, and exposed to a broad range of experiences. We foster a space for growth with opportunities to share knowledge and passion with both clients and colleagues. We are committed to building a diverse workforce and creating an inclusive environment where everyone can thrive. Our leadership is actively involved in our commitment to diversity and inclusion, and fostering a culture that creates opportunities for everyone.

• Life Insurance (Basic, Voluntary & AD&D)
• Paid Time Off (Personal, Vacation, Sick & Public Holidays)
• Family Leave (Maternity & Paternity)
• Fertility Support
• Short-Term & Long-Term Disability
• Flexible Spending Account (FSAs)
• Pet Insurance Discount
• Training & Development:
• LinkedIn Learning –over 15,000 self-guided classes offered