Sr. Director, Digital Innovation Partnerships

The role will lead a high-performing team responsible for three core capabilities: 1. Innovation & Opportunity Development – partner with senior executives and cross-functional teams to explore, assess, and validate new opportunities to drive impact to company goals 2. Strategic Partnerships & Ecosystem – identify and develop relationships with external organizations, technology companies, startups, and other partners to access capabilities, expertise, and innovation at greater speed 3. Market & Technology Intelligence – anticipate and track industry, competitive, and technology trends to identify implications and opportunities to drive outcomes

Key Responsibilities

Inform the Innovation Agenda

• Partner with senior executives and business leaders to understand strategic priorities, business challenges, and areas where innovation can create meaningful value
• Establish frameworks and approaches for identifying, assessing, and prioritizing emerging opportunities
• Translate market, technology, and competitive insights into actionable opportunities

Drive Opportunity Assessment & Innovation Exploration

• Work with executives and cross-functional leaders to uncover and frame high-value opportunities
• Conduct structured opportunity assessments and create clear recommendations for opportunity spaces that should be explored further, pursued internally, developed through partnerships, or discontinued
• Partner with cross-functional teams to design and execute experiments and test hypotheses
• Establish clear criteria and repeatable process for moving opportunities from early discovery to validation and transition to appropriate organizational teams for execution

Manage External Partner Ecosystem

• Develop and execute a strategic partnership approach to align external innovation opportunities to business needs
• Build relationships with technology providers, startups, innovators, and academic institutions where appropriate
• Facilitate co-creation and ideation sessions with partners, and in conjunction with internal leaders

Lead a High Performing Team

• This role will be responsible for directly managing a small, senior level team, leading them through change and coaching them for growth and developing the team’s capabilities to drive innovation across the Village
• This role will also be responsible for partnerships with research, design, and prototyping teams to establish working teams for each innovation initiative as needed

Leadership Expectations

• Strategic Thinker – able to make conceptual and practical connections across complex business goals, user needs, technology trends, and innovative solutions that bridge those perspectives
• Influencer – able to quickly build trust with executive leaders and serve as trusted strategic advisor
• Communicator – able to create compelling executive narratives that translate complex concepts into clear strategic direction
• Curious – passionate about learning complexities of our business and building empathy with our users
• Collaborative – able to build relationships across teams at the Village, sharing ideas and capabilities that drive change at speed

Up to ~25% travel.

Experience Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree required; Master of Science or Business Administration (MBA) or equivalent advanced degree highly preferred or equivalent related experience
• 10+ years of relevant experience
• Significant experience leading strategic initiatives in ambiguous environments, incorporating emerging technologies, and driving transformational change
• Experience executing opportunity assessment, translating insights into strategic recommendations, and influencing senior executives to focus innovation initiatives
• Experience establishing and managing external partnership ecosystems
• Demonstrated ability to understand emerging technology and translate it into business opportunities
• Experience leading senior level high performing teams, and managing with a balance of clear direction, empathy, and coaching for growth
• Exceptional communication skills, executive presence, and relationship-building abilities.