Director of Innovation

About Builders Vision

Builders Vision is a team of investors and philanthropists that deploys flexible capital and pursues innovative solutions to expedite the transition of the Oceans, Food and Agriculture, and Energy sectors.

We aim to build stronger, more resilient systems within these three sectors while remaining nimble and innovating within emerging solutions and community initiatives. Our coordinated solutions span market development, incentivizing innovation, and delivering market-rate investments. We help investors, philanthropists, entrepreneurs, and frontline changemakers access the resources, insights, and expertise they need to succeed.

Notable accomplishments include helping mitigate, sequester, or avoid over 4 million metric tons of CO2e, generating 42,000 jobs, and supporting the development of more than 170 sustainable products, technologies, or solutions.

Who We Are

With more than 80 people driving our work forward, our teams include diverse and impassioned experts across investment, philanthropy, strategic communications, legal, and general operations.

Builders Vision’s commitment to people and the planet is rooted in our workplace and culture.

• We have best-in-class total rewards and benefits programs, including competitive compensation, a generous 401k program, and an industry-leading long-term incentive program that rewards our team for their performance, financial returns, and the impact we achieve in the world.
• We also offer generous health, wellness, employee training and development opportunities, and charitable match programs.
• We know how to have fun! We host enriching and inclusive team events and retreats to help our staff feel connected to nature, each other, and our mission.
• We were named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies in 2023 and voted one of Chicago’s Best Places to Work by Crain’s Chicago Business in both 2023 and 2024.
• The company headquarters, located in Chicago’s vibrant West Loop, achieved Gold-level certifications from both the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and the International WELL Building Institute.

A long-term and deep commitment to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) is core to our mission and values. We recognize that a diverse workforce drives innovation, enhances collaboration, and strengthens the leadership needed to achieve meaningful impact and financial returns. That's why we are dedicated to proactively recruiting, developing, and retaining top talent from a broad and dynamic candidate pool. It’s with these goals in mind that we aspire for our team to reflect the diverse communities we serve.

Position Summary

Builders Vision is seeking a seasoned innovation leader who will lead our newly launched innovation function (the “Engine”) and act as a liaison between the Engine and the wider organization.

This role is more than strategy. It’s about supporting a new innovation function from the ground up with a startup mentality. You will shape the frontiers of how new opportunities are identified, how early ideas are framed, and how choiceful decisions are made to advance early ideas with merit and sunset ones that aren’t rightly fit. You will partner closely with the Builders Vision staff to lead explorations into new spaces that blend emerging signals, systems thinking, and organizational context.

This role is ideal for an innovation-minded leader who thrives in ambiguity, delights in cross-pollination, and is equally comfortable with human-centered research, business modeling, and organizational navigation.

About the Innovation Engine

Builders Vision’s Engine is a dedicated capability designed to surface bold, catalytic ideas and give them the structure, support, and momentum to become real. Built and operated in partnership with IDEO, the Engine exists to uncover opportunity spaces that align with Builders Vision’s mission—whether by reframing systemic barriers, unlocking new forms of capital, or designing innovative tools, ventures, and partnerships. It works through a structured but flexible stage-gate process, guiding ideas from loosely defined hunches to fully developed pilots. Along the way, it centers human needs, integrates market signals, and models a new standard of experimentation within a mission-driven organization.

Primary Responsibilities

Stakeholder Engagement

• Partner with Builders Vision staff to identify breakthrough ideas to pursue within the Engine.
• Identify and bring in external voices, advisors, thought leaders, or industry experts—to inspire and challenge the Engine’s thinking.
• Serve as a key liaison with Builders Vision leadership, sharing insights, outcomes, and opportunities from Engine activity.
• Engage and support Builders Vision Idea Builders (employees who champion ideas for development) through the idea development, advising on agile mindsets, tools, and navigating the innovation process.

Engine Strategy & Operations

• In partnership with IDEO, lead the day-to-day strategic rhythm of the Engine; refining its goals, rituals and ways of working.
• Establish and evolve methods and templates to guide early-stage innovation work.
• Shape the process for and lead periodic idea explorations with senior leaders within Builders Vision, including theme setting, research design, and insight delivery.

Human-Centered Design Champion

• Champion design thinking and human-centered practices within Builders Vision, cultivating belief and fluency in innovation across the organization.
• Share progress and learning from the Engine’s work through internal storytelling, open sessions, and strategy updates.
• Model how design can unlock new forms of organizational and systems impact.

Creative and Strategic Builder

• Lead early-stage problem framing and idea shaping—turning curiosity into clearly scoped opportunities through activities such as market research, stakeholder interviews, building and testing early prototypes.
• Guide or bring in the right experts to advise project teams on desirability, feasibility, and viability as ideas mature.

Inspirational Leadership

• Ensure the Engine operates with rigor, boldness, and care (balancing high standards with a culture of experimentation and reflection).
• Create moments of visibility and celebration that build momentum and belief in innovation at Builders Vision.

Preferred Qualifications

• 10 years in innovation strategy, design strategy, foresight, or business design.
• Experience in designing new ventures and businesses.
• Strong track record of leading opportunity discovery and framing in complex or ambiguous environments.
• Experience working within or alongside social impact, philanthropic, or mission-driven organizations is a plus.
• Background in asset management/private equity/VC, or any of Builders Vision’s three focus areas of Food & Agriculture, Energy, and Ocean is a plus.
• Comfortable working across qualitative insight, systems thinking, and light-touch business modeling.
• Exposure to family office environments and considerations is a plus.

Personal Attributes that Support your Success

• Strategic: Able to see both macro-level opportunity and the nuance required to move an idea forward.
• Inspirational: A compelling communicator who builds belief and energy through clarity, story, and presence.
• Collaborative: Builds trust across disciplines and levels and sees co-creation as core to how work gets done.
• A Self-Starter: Confident in designing new systems, processes, and structures from the ground up.
• A Relationship Builder: Skilled in navigating complexity and building authentic partnerships across functions and leadership levels.
• Flexible: Comfortable flexing from presenting to senior level audiences to rolling up their sleeves to build, research, and test ideas alongside the Engine team.

Builders Vision is committed to fostering a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplace that reflects the communities we serve. We welcome individuals from all backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives to apply, including women, minorities, individuals with disabilities, and veterans. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, veteran status, disability, or any other protected status under applicable laws and regulations.