Description

Location: US- remote 

Position Status: Temporary, Full-time, Exempt – Short-Term Assignment (STA), 90 Days

Salary: US range $76,800 - $91,200 - commensurate on professional experience and internal equity. 

Start: as soon as possible 

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is powered by the belief that a better world is possible. To do this, we know our teams do their best work when they are diverse and every team member feels that they belong. We welcome diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be stronger and have long term impact.

The Program / Department / Team

The Innovation Catalyst (IC) is a Mercy Corps initiative designed to embed structured innovation practices across the organization’s programming and operations. The IC is in an early but critical stage of development – moving from concept into active implementation – and requires dedicated capacity to establish communications infrastructure, program management systems, and stakeholder engagement processes. A near-term priority is supporting the IC Consultation process.

The Position

The Innovation Catalyst Strategy Launch Lead will help build the operational, communications, and coordination foundation for the Innovation Catalyst during a critical 90-day launch window. Reporting to the Chief Investment & Innovation Officer, this role will support strategy finalization, operating model development, stakeholder engagement, resource mobilization coordination, consultation synthesis, and knowledge management. The role will work across IC leadership, Ventures, TEQ, regional and country teams, Resource Mobilization, Marketing/Communications, and key shared services to create the systems, materials, and decision-ready outputs needed to move the IC from concept to implementation. Because this is a short-term assignment, success will be measured by both immediate execution and the creation of durable tools, templates, workflows, and handover resources that enable IC workstreams to continue beyond the assignment. The role will also help the IC take an AI-first approach by integrating practical AI-enabled workflows into project management, synthesis, communications, knowledge management, and operating processes.

KEY DELIVERABLES

Essential Responsibilities

PROGRAM MANAGEMENT & & STRATEGIC DELIVERY

●        Lead the development and maintenance of a master project tracker covering all IC workstreams, milestones, and owners.

●        Act as the central coordination point across IC workstreams, initiatives, and leadership.

●        Identify risks, bottlenecks, and dependencies; proactively escalate with recommended solutions.

●        Coordinate stakeholders across initiatives to ensure alignment on priorities, timelines, and deliverables.

●        Lead the preparation, consolidation, and polishing of the final IC strategy deck (vision, model, pillars, and narrative).

●        Synthesize inputs from multiple stakeholders into clear, cohesive, and decision-ready materials.

●        Support the definition and articulation of the IC value proposition and positioning.

●        Identify operational bottlenecks and risks; proactively escalate issues with recommended solutions.

OPERATING MODEL & INITIATIVE INTEGRATION

• Coordinate the development of the IC operating model, including structure, governance, and ways of working.
• Facilitate alignment on how existing initiatives will operate within the IC.
• Support the assessment and categorization of initiatives (in / out / conditional).
• Triage and evaluate new and existing initiatives to support prioritization decisions.
• Act as a point of contact for incoming proposals, inquiries, and opportunities, and develop a sustainable intake, triage, and tracking process.
• Support the development of a draft IC organizational chart, including proposed core functions, team composition, reporting lines, dotted-line relationships, and interfaces with key Mercy Corps teams such as TEQ, regional leadership, country teams, Finance, Legal, HR, Procurement, Resource Mobilization, and Marketing/Communications.
• Develop clear role and responsibility documentation for IC workstreams, including team member reporting structures, decision rights, escalation pathways, and coordination mechanisms across directly managed, matrixed, and advisory roles.

COMMUNICATIONS & STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT

●        Develop and implement an IC Communications Plan, including key audiences, messaging, channels, and cadence.

●        Draft internal and external communications, including updates, briefing notes, and talking points.

●        Maintain a stakeholder map and engagement log to support coordinated outreach.

●        Evaluate, recommend and establish structure, composition and terms of reference for an IC advisory group.

●        Coordinate closely with Resource Mobilization, Marketing, and Communications teams to ensure the IC’s donor-facing narrative, internal messaging, pitch materials, and external positioning are aligned, consistent, and ready to support the IC fundraising and profile-raising strategy.

●        Ensure consistency in IC messaging and narrative across all materials.

IC CONSULTATION SUPPORT

●        Coordinate logistics and preparation for the IC consultation process in collaboration with the CIIO and IC teams.

●        Prepare briefing materials, presentations, and supporting documentation.

●        Track, synthesize, and translate consultation inputs into actionable insights and recommendations.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT & HANDOVER

●        Manage shared drives and knowledge management systems to ensure materials are organized and accessible.

●        Document processes, tools, templates, and key decisions developed during the assignment.

●        Produce a comprehensive handover package, including status of all workstreams.

●        Provide transition briefings to ensure continuity beyond the assignment.

AI-FIRST OPERATIONS & WORKFLOW DESIGN

• Identify and implement practical AI-enabled workflows to improve speed, quality, and consistency across IC project tracking, meeting synthesis, document management, consultation analysis, donor/materials development, and internal communications.
• Develop simple guidance, templates, and use cases for responsible AI adoption within IC workflows, ensuring tools are used in ways that strengthen collaboration, documentation, institutional memory, and decision-making.

KEY DELIVERABLES

●        Leadership-ready Innovation Catalyst strategy package, including vision, model, and core pillars.

●        IC Operating model that defines organizational structure, core functions, decision rights, and interfaces with key internal teams such as Finance, Procurement, Legal, HR, Fundraising, and Marketing/Communications.

●        Comprehensive IC Work Plan, with defined workstreams, timelines, and ownership.

●        Final IC Strategy Deck, fully developed and polished for leadership and external use.

●        IC Communications Plan, including key messaging, audiences, and channels.

●        Initiative Integration Framework, including prioritization and “in / out / conditional” decisions.

●        Establish structure, composition, and ToRs for an IC advisory group.

●        Draft IC organizational chart and reporting model, including core functions, proposed team structure, dotted-line relationships, decision rights, and interfaces with shared services and priority initiatives.

●        Consolidated outputs from IC consultations, including synthesis and recommendations.

●        90-day transition package and forward workplan, including status of each workstream, unresolved decisions, recommended owners, and next steps for sustaining momentum.

Supervisory Responsibility

This position has no supervisory responsibility.

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Scott Onder, Chief Investment & Innovation Officer

Works Directly With: Innovation Catalyst/Ventures teams and initiatives; Mercy Corps team members; Regional Leadership, Program teams (JobTech Alliance, AgriFin, E4I, Enter Energy and other relevant initiatives)

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills

●        7+ years of experience in project management, program coordination, or operations, ideally in an international development or nonprofit context.

●        Demonstrated ability to manage cross-functional projects, coordinate across diverse teams, and drive workstreams to completion with limited supervision.

●        Strong written communication skills with a track record of producing high-quality stakeholder-facing documents, briefings, and presentations.

●        Experience designing and implementing operational systems – including project trackers, SOPs, and knowledge management tools.

●        Familiarity with Mercy Corps systems, culture, and internal processes strongly preferred; internal candidates are encouraged to apply.

●        Experience supporting structured consultation or stakeholder engagement processes is an asset.

●        Internationally recognized qualification in project or program management, or a commitment to obtain one, is an asset.

●        Comfort using AI-enabled tools to improve productivity, synthesize information, draft and refine communications, manage knowledge, and build repeatable workflows; demonstrated judgment in applying AI responsibly in an organizational setting.

Success Factors

The successful candidate will be highly organized and detail-oriented, with a demonstrated ability to hold multiple workstreams simultaneously without losing sight of the bigger picture. They will be equally comfortable building structure from scratch and adapting quickly as priorities shift – a quality that is essential in the IC’s current stage of development. Strong collaborative instincts and relationship-building skills will be critical, as this role interfaces across functions and levels of the organization. The ideal candidate communicates proactively, surfaces problems early, and brings a solutions orientation to everything they do. Above all, they will bring genuine enthusiasm for innovation and organizational effectiveness, and see this assignment as an opportunity to make a visible, lasting contribution to Mercy Corps.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions 

This is a short-term internal assignment expected to be performed remotely or from a Mercy Corps office location, to be confirmed based on the selected candidate and their home office arrangement. The role involves regular coordination calls that may span multiple time zones. Travel is not anticipated but may be required to support the IC Consultation depending on logistics. Standard Mercy Corps HQ employment conditions apply; HR will confirm STA classification (business travel vs. expat benefits) based on the candidate’s current role and the scope of this assignment. 

Mercy Corps team members represent the agency during and outside work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a visit/TDY to a field posting. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC's policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues. 

Fostering a diverse and open workplace is an important part of Mercy Corps’ vision.  Mercy Corps is an Equal Opportunity Employer regardless of background. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment. 

Ongoing Learning 

As part of our commitment to organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities they serve, we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.

Team Efficiency and Effectiveness

Achieving our mission starts with how we build our team and collaborate. By bringing together individuals with a variety of experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives, we strengthen our ability to solve complex challenges and drive innovation. We foster a culture of trust and respect, where every team member is valued for their contributions, empowered to reach their full potential, and motivated to do their best work. We recognize that building a strong and effective team is an ongoing process, and we remain committed to learning, improving, and growing together.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out different backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact.

We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

Safeguarding & Ethics

Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC and have signed on to the Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct elearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.

As an applicant, if you witness or experience any form of sexual misconduct during the recruitment process, please report this to Mercy Corps Integrity Hotline ([email protected]).