Project Lead, Fourth Industrial Revolution for the Earth

~ The World Economic Forum LLC is committed to improving the state of the world by engaging industry, government and civil society leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas. ~

The World Economic Forum Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (the “Centre”) aims to co-design governance protocols and policy frameworks that will be piloted by governments, businesses, and other stakeholders around the world in order to shape the trajectories and uses of emerging technologies in the global public interest.

Position Overview

The Centre is seeking a Project Lead for our Fourth Industrial Revolution for the Earth portfolio (“4IR for the Earth”), focused on the intersection of technology, environment, and governance. The concept of 4IR for the Earth spans a broad range of interrelated environmental and human systems, including but not limited to: climate and weather, energy, oceans, food and agriculture, biodiversity, water, circular economy, and urban and built environment.  New technologies offer new tools for enabling better stewardship of the Earth, and potentially transformative opportunities for managing our environmental future. The Forum’s 4IR for the Earth portfolio aims to support the building and testing of multistakeholder governance frameworks to realize the benefits of technology for the environment and society, while minimizing harm.

The Project Lead will join a small team focused on 4IR for the Earth, and will have primary responsibility for driving one or more of the initial projects in the 4IR for the Earth portfolio.  This is a high visibility role, which will place you on the front line of engaging with global leaders driving the trajectory of emerging technology and the future of the environment.

The Project Lead will play a key role facilitating engagement across the Forum's existing global communities of business executives, leading academics from the world's top research universities, government officials, start-up community, media, civil society organizations, social entrepreneurs, and existing Centre Partners.

The Project Lead will also collaborate with other Forum teams. These include Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution teams on artificial intelligence and machine learning, autonomous vehicles, civilian use of drones, internet of things, digital trade, data policy, precision medicine, and blockchain.  Additional collaborations on environment and sustainable development will be with the Forum’s Centre for Global Public Goods, as well as various other Forum teams focused on industries, government, and civil society.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Lead the development of policy and governance frameworks and the deployment of pilots with partner governments and other stakeholders
• Define and help prioritize key issues and policy-related questions to be investigated, identify clear opportunities for impact, set the goals for projects, and establish clear evaluation criteria
• Select, engage, and coordinate public and private partners from industry, government, academia, international organizations, and civil society in the initiation, leadership and management of projects
• Drive effective project delivery, integration, and coordination, through a highly collaborative approach and effective resourcing, budgeting, project and process management, communication, and reporting
• Track current trends across 4IR for the Earth issue areas; contribute to global mapping and scoping for new areas of work
• Support the planning and execution of Centre and Forum events
• Manage in-person and virtual teams
• Drive the deployment and utilisation of digital interactive tools for project communities
• Depending on the phase of the project, the role will entail a combination of the above or more focus on certain responsibilities.

Qualifications and Skills

• Minimum 5 years’ experience working in—or directly with—the public sector, private sector, civil society and nonprofits, and/or academia, in areas related to 4IR for the Earth. Ideal candidates will have experience involving all three pillars of 4IR for the Earth (technology, environment, policy), as well as experience in and/or ability to rapidly acquire knowledge about a variety of relevant content areas.
• Masters (or higher) degree, or equivalent work experience, in a field directly relevant to Earth and the environment. This includes a science or technology discipline, public policy, international relations, business and sustainability, or related fields.
• Ability to design and drive medium to large-scale project design and delivery
• Experience leading processes that involve stakeholders from across the private, public, and research sectors, with proven success in cultivating and leveraging diverse communities to collectively drive impact
• Strong knowledge of an ecosystem of stakeholders that would be relevant to 4IR for the Earth (holistically, and/or a subfield)
• Demonstrated ability to work across different cultures and with high level officials and executives
• Comfort driving entrepreneurial projects, starting new teams, and identifying opportunities for impact in crowded spaces
• Strong leadership and collaboration skills with the ability to manage and motivate high performing, dispersed teams through volatility, uncertainty, complexity, risk, and ambiguity
• Ability to quickly develop a meaningful perspective on internal and external issues that have organizational impact
• Demonstrated thought leadership, including published articles, speeches/presentations in international forums, and conference participation
• Excellent presentation and facilitation skills
• Excellent verbal and written language skills in English; verbal proficiency in other languages would be an asset
• Proficient with recent digital platforms

Compensation: We offer a competitive compensation and benefits package, including assistance with relocation.

The World Economic Forum encourages applicants from around the globe with diverse experiences and backgrounds.