Director of Strategy, Foresight and Innovation

WHO WE ARE

Laudes Foundation is an independent foundation accelerating the transition to a green, fair and inclusive economy. We do this by supporting brave action that inspires and challenges industry to harness its power for good. We focus on four key industries with an outsized impact on climate, nature and people: the built environment, finance and capital markets, fashion, and food. Complementing these industry-specific initiatives, our cross-cutting work in innovation, incentives, narratives and worker inclusion amplify our impact across all sectors.

Job Description

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR

The Director of Strategy, Foresight and Innovation is a senior leadership role critical to helping Laudes Foundation drive bold, systemic change across its focus industries. As a member of the Laudes Management Team, this leader shares collective accountability for the foundation's overall impact and is responsible for ensuring Laudes remains at the cutting edge: making courageous strategic choices, anticipating what is coming before it arrives, and exploring new frontiers. Success in this role depends on building trusted partnership - within Laudes, the larger Constanter group. and COFRA - as well as working in close collaboration with colleagues to build ambitious strategies, grounded in the industry realities and owned across Laudes.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy and Planning

• Lead the development, approval, and embedding of Laudes' organisational strategy across six-year cycles, working in close partnership with programmatic teams and drawing on evidence and insights generated through its work.
• Facilitate the end-to-end process for approving individual Challenge long-term strategies by relevant governance committees, ensuring rigour, coherence, and alignment with our broader mission.
• Own the annual planning cycle, both financial (in partnership with finance colleagues) and strategic, collaborating tightly across Constanter to ensure alignment and management of dependencies and supporting programmatic teams in thoughtful, evidence-informed adaptation of their strategies over time
• Serve as a trusted thought partner to the Director of Programmes and programmatic teams seeking to sharpen Challenge strategies, bringing an enterprise-wide lens and drawing on inspiration and learning from across Laudes’ target industries and COFRA.

Trends and Foresight

• Maintain a sharp and current understanding of the external landscape (trends, opportunities, risks, etc.) that shapes Laudes’ strategic choices and programmatic work
• Synthesise and share relevant intelligence with teams, Constanter, other philanthropies and the wider COFRA Group
• Build organisational and methodological capabilities in futuring and foresight, embedding forward-looking thinking as a core practice across all of Laudes' work.
• Represent Laudes in relevant external forums, sharing thought leadership and bringing back knowledge that strengthens our collective intelligence.

Innovation and Special Initiatives

• Explore emerging opportunities (new industries, approaches, geographies, etc.) and collaborate with programmatic teams to develop and bring these to life
• Manage and report on the innovation budget to spur such new concepts, approaches, and partnerships
• Lead special initiatives within Laudes and across the broader Constanter group that deepen its impact and strengthen its position as a force for transformative change
• Actively support programmatic teams in identifying and integrating innovation into their strategies, including supporting efforts to ensure a coherent and strategic approach to opportunities around AI and other frontier technologies

Management Team (MT) Leadership

• Hold joint accountability with MT colleagues for Laudes’ health and performance, including programme delivery and impact, organisational effectiveness, financial stewardship, and culture 

• Take on cross-foundation responsibilities that fall to the MT collectively, including managing organisational risk, navigating sensitive institutional matters, supporting and leading group-wide initiatives, and stewarding Laudes' reputation

• Support, with the MT, the CEO in building and sustaining a coherent, motivated, and mission-aligned organisation, modelling our leadership principles 

Internal and External Representation

• Contribute to relevant networks with philanthropic funders, investors, businesses, and other platforms to share learning and ultimately be better able to serve our partners 

• Participate in senior-level forums to further our goals at a global, multi-stakeholder level 

• Serve, where needed, on relevant boards of the Laudes organisation and partners 

The function has one direct report and a grant budget of up to EUR 1 million per year.

Qualifications

WHAT YOU NEED FOR THE ROLE

Education:

• Advanced degree (Master's or equivalent) in a relevant field such as business, international development, environmental studies, entrepreneurship and innovation, or social science; MBA preferred.
• Ongoing engagement with emerging thinking in strategy, foresight, systems change, innovation through executive education and active participation in relevant professional communities

Experience

• At least 15 years of increasingly senior strategy leadership experience in both business and mission-driven organisations, including leading multi-year strategic planning processes through to implementation. Top-tier management consultancy experience is a strong advantage.
• A career history of operating at the most senior levels: with boards, family office principals, C-suite peers, and senior external partners

Knowledge

• Deep working knowledge of systems change theory and practice, including how foundations deploy catalytic capital, create enabling conditions for change, and orchestrate industry transformation
• Strong understanding of foresight methodologies and their application to strategic decision-making

Skills

• Able to translate evidence, trend analysis and foresight into strategic decisions and organisational direction
• Able to lead the incubation of new ideas and initiatives from concept to execution
• Able to build foresight capabilities within an organisation, not just apply them as an individual practitioner
• Can navigate institutional complexity and high-stakes decisions with sound judgment and discretion
• Offers proven people and team management skills
• Builds trust-based, productive relationships with both internal and external stakeholders

Additional Information

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM US

We offer an international, high-energy, and collaborative environment that values diversity and inclusion.

• This position is full-time.
• Possible locations for this position are: London, Amsterdam, Zug.
• A competitive compensation & benefits package based on relevant experience, skills and location.
• Hybrid working opportunity
• You may work remotely from any location in the world for 10 days per calendar year.

An (online) assessment can be part of the recruitment process. Reference checks are part of the final hiring procedure.

If you wish to apply, please submit your CV and cover letter as soon as possible. Applications are considered on a rolling basis. We reserve the right to close the vacancy earlier should we receive a sufficient number of highly qualified applications.

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION

We stand for equal opportunities and are committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse team in an equitable and inclusive environment. We strongly encourage applications of people with lived experience, as well as from candidates coming from any minority or underrepresented groups.

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