Associate Director, Innovative Projects, School of Nursing

Job Description Summary

The Eidos LGBTQ+ Health Initiative is a cross-sector health innovation hub at the University of Pennsylvania that develops, tests, and scales equity-centered solutions to improve health outcomes for LGBTQ+ communities. Operating at the intersection of academia, community, industry, and philanthropy, Eidos advances initiatives that address behavioral, social, and structural determinants of health through human-centered design, implementation science, and translational research.

The Associate Director of Innovative Projects serves as a strategic leader responsible for advancing a portfolio of innovation initiatives from concept development through pilot testing, evaluation, and scale. This role leads multi-year project strategy, establishes measurable impact benchmarks, and guides interdisciplinary teams to translate evidence into scalable programs, tools, and partnership models. The Associate Director of Innovative Projects applies design-thinking and rapid experimentation methods to assess feasibility, refine solutions, and ensure operational, regulatory, and quality alignment across initiatives.

In addition to driving project execution, the Associate Director of Innovative Projects contributes to long-term sustainability by advancing funding diversification strategies, supporting grant and partnership development, and identifying pathways for institutional adoption or external scale. The role requires a high degree of strategic judgment, cross-sector relationship cultivation and collaboration, and the ability to navigate ambiguity in early-stage innovation while maintaining alignment with Eidos' mission and growth objectives.

This position is contingent upon the continued availability of funding.

Job Responsibilities

1. Lead a portfolio of innovation initiatives from concept development through pilot testing, evaluation, and scale. Apply human-centered design, implementation science, and rapid experimentation frameworks to develop scalable, equity-centered solutions that address complex health challenges. Establish multi-year strategic roadmaps with measurable impact benchmarks and make independent decisions regarding feasibility, prioritization, resource allocation, and adaptation. Provide strategic guidance to interdisciplinary project teams and collaborators to ensure alignment with Eidos' mission and performance goals, while maintaining regulatory, operational, and quality oversight across projects.
2. Advance funding diversification strategies to support long-term sustainability, including federal grants, foundation proposals, industry partnerships, and fee-for-service models. Contribute substantively to grant proposal development, concept papers, partnership pitches, and external investment materials. Assess opportunities for commercialization, institutional adoption, or external scaling of successful initiatives, and develop compelling cases for investment grounded in program outcomes and return-on-impact metrics.
3. Cultivate and maintain collaborative relationships with community organizations, industry partners, philanthropic stakeholders, and university collaborators. Work jointly with partners to define project scopes, deliverables, and shared goals. Represent Eidos in regional and national forums to strengthen strategic positioning and visibility. Promote equitable engagement of underrepresented communities throughout all phases of innovation activities.
4. Coordinate and align interdisciplinary teams to ensure timely execution and shared accountability across initiatives. Develop and refine project workflows, documentation standards, and operational processes that support effective implementation. Foster a collaborative, solutions-oriented culture across initiatives through influence and strategic coordination.
5. Oversee implementation metrics and evaluation strategies to ensure data-informed decision-making. Monitor progress against financial and operational benchmarks and prepare reports for university leadership, funders, and external stakeholders.
6. Other duties and responsibilities as assigned

Qualifications

Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Arts, and 5 to 7 years of experience or equivalent combination of education and experience is required. Master's Degree preferred. 5-7+ years of experience in health innovation or entrepreneurship, intervention/product development, research translation, or related field.

Demonstrated experience managing complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives.

Experience contributing to grant development and/or revenue-generating initiatives.

Required Skills and Abilities

• Advanced project and portfolio management skills.
• Expertise in human-centered design, implementation frameworks, and rapid experimentation.
• Demonstrated ability to translate evidence into scalable programs or systems change.
• Strong financial and operational oversight capabilities.
• Experience supervising staff and managing team performance.
• Exceptional written, verbal, and presentation skills.
• Demonstrated commitment to equity and community partnership.
• Creativity and divergent thinking to imagine non-obvious directions
• Values diversity
• Demonstrated negotiation skills
• A strong business sense, with the ability to formulate goals and implement and execute on strategies
• Effective communication skills in various methods, verbal, written, and presentations
• Detail oriented with strong analytical, organizational, and problem solving skills
• Appropriate energy, attitude, and aptitude to represent a high-performance service-oriented team
• Work independently and as a team player
• Ability to gather, understand, analyze and report data and project results

Job Location - City, State

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Department / School

School of Nursing

Pay Range

$79,500.00 - $96,000.00 Annual Rate

Salary offers are made based on the candidate's qualifications, experience, skills, and education as they directly relate to the requirements of the position, and in alignment with salary ranges based on external market data for the job's level. Internal organization and peer data at Penn are also considered.

To apply

visit https://wd1.myworkdaysite.com/en-US/recruiting/upenn/careers-at-penn/job/Claire-M-Fagin-Hall/Associate-Director--Innovative-Projects--School-of-Nursing_JR00118205-1