The Senior Advisor acts as (1) a coach to Social-Entrepreneurs in-Residence and external partners, (2) an advisor to the Foundation’s Leadership Team and as (3) a manager of the innovation process.
In the role of coach, the Senior Advisor runs set workshops within each module designed to inform, focus, develop and support the efforts of the Social Entrepreneurs in Residence and to distill their proposed solutions to set deliverables for review by the Foundation’s Leadership Team.
In the role of advisor, the Senior Advisor brings their prior entrepreneurial experience and training to advise the Leadership Team in their decision-making at the stage-gates.
In the role of manager, the Senior Advisor ensures that, (1) deadlines are met, (2) deliverables are in accordance with standards, (3) the collaboration between Social Entrepreneurs in Residence and the Foundation’s several functional units (e.g. Marketing, Development, Finance, Evaluation, Legal etc.) is optimized for effectiveness and (4) that the innovation process is periodically improved in light of new learnings.
The Senior Advisor reports to the Vice-President of Strategy, Innovation and Evaluation, and will have daily interaction with several Social Entrepreneurs in Residence and Impact Area leaders, frequent interaction with the Foundation’s Leadership Team and periodic interaction with the Foundation’s Board.
The Senior Advisor will exercise a strong degree of autonomy and will be responsible for the results. The role requires (1) strong analytical ability and experienced entrepreneurial judgment to identify and zero-in on what is essential for success at scale, (2) developed inter-personal skills, (3) a high-energy ability to motivate from a matrixed-role, (4) excellent organizational and time-management abilities, and (5) an ability to clearly, succinctly and effectively communicate to multiple and varied audiences and stakeholders.
The mission of the Foundation is to identify and advance effective solutions that help low-income individuals aged 50 and above (“LI50+”) secure the essentials. The Foundation is focused on the 4 Impact Areas of Housing, Income, Hunger and increasing Social Connectedness.
To identify and advance solutions in these 4 areas the Foundation uses a well-defined Lean-Startup process composed of 3 sequential 43-working day modules: (a) Customer Discover, (b) Sprints and (3) Funding Request. Coached, advised and managed by the Senior Advisor, the Foundation’s several Social Entrepreneurs in Residence take their proposed concepts through this process, including Leadership Team stage-gate decisions at the end of every module.
The Customer Discovery module involves human-centered design interviews with LI50+ individuals to identify their needs and learn about the challenges and opportunities they face. From these insights, proposed solutions are developed. In the Sprints Module, typical Lean Start-Up tests are conducted on the identified hypotheses that would have to be true in order for the proposed concept to succeed. In the Funding Module, a multi-year proposal is developed evidencing the scalability of the proposed solution.
The successful execution of this role will deliver new sustainable and practical solutions that improve the lives of millions of LI50+ Americans
- 5 or more years experience in either innovation management, start-ups, social entrepreneurship or intrapreneurship.
- Experience in coaching, facilitating, mentoring or teaching start-up teams in either an entrepreneurial or intrapreneurial context
- Experience with Lean Start-Up, Human-Centered Design, and Agile Development methodologies and an understanding of the Shared Value approach to social innovation
- Excellent business judgment, a familiarity with a wide variety of business models both in the for-profit and non-profit sectors, and the ability to see the potential application of these models in the context of social innovation
- Strong interpersonal skills that facilitate coaching, negotiation, advisory and coordination
- Well-networked in the entrepreneurial, social-entrepreneurship or impact investing fields with an ability to engage these resources to assist the Foundation in its mission
- Proficiency with both quantitative and qualitative research and analysis
- Preference to take responsibility, manage several streams of work at once, and deliver professional work-product promptly and on-deadline
- Ability to communicate clearly, succinctly and effectively, both written and verbal, including public speaking
- Highly self-motivated and driven to make a difference
AARP offers competitive benefits with a 401K, 100% company funded pension plan, health, dental, vision and life insurance, STD/LTD, paid vacation and sick, and other benefits.