JOB DESCRIPTION

5-month employment based in Geneva, New York or San Francisco.

Please Note: This role requires the ability to work onsite 3 days per week per company policy. This role is funded through May 8th, 2026.

The salary range for this role in New York and San Francisco is $120,000-$140,000.

About the World Economic Forum

The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation. We believe that progress happens by bringing together people from all walks of life who have the drive and the influence to make positive change. In this spirit, the Forum engages the foremost political, business, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas and solve shared global challenges.

About the Centre for Urban Transformation

The World Economic Forum’s Centre for Urban Transformation advances public-private collaboration in cities to enable more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient communities and local economies. The Centre’s initiatives and year-round activities provide a diverse range of opportunities for partners to learn from urban development trends, share insights, forge new relationships, and collaborate to drive local impact across the globe

Why We Are Recruiting

The Lead, Resilience, Urban Transformation will provide initiative management, coordination, and develop content to advance the World Economic Forum’s work on urban sustainability, resilience, and restoration through the Centre for Urban Transformation.

This temporary position will help ensure continuity of activities across the Centre’s sustainability and resilience portfolio, with growing workstreams on:

(1) Place-based Purpose & Impact – Chief Purpose & Impact Officers community;
(2) Resilience – building a marketplace for urban risk and investment;
(3) Urban Restoration – cultivating investment in urban nature; and
(4) Davos Baukultur Alliance – implementing the Roadmap 2025–2027.

The role will also contribute to partner engagement, convening support, and impact reporting to strengthen the Forum’s mission of advancing sustainable, inclusive, and climate-resilient urban communities.

Reporting Lines and Interactions

The Lead will report to the Lead, Urban Transformation who oversees the Centre’s Infrastructure and the Built Environments pillar and work closely with internal colleagues and external partners to coordinate programs, events, and communications, ensuring alignment across the Centre’s built environment, nature-positive, and place-based initiatives.

Key Responsibilities

1. Chief Purpose & Impact Officer (CPIO) Community: continued scoping and launch

• Support execution of the Q1 2026 launch of the CPIO Community, ensuring engagement of 15+ founding members (Forum Partners).
• Support ongoing community activities and communications, ensuring member continuity and active participation.
• Collaborate with internal colleagues and community management to sustain momentum and prepare short updates for leadership.

2. Building a Marketplace for Urban Resilience: building on momentum and progress of the Urban Transformation Summit

• Continue momentum with key collaborators, including Chief Resilience Officers and other city representatives, Forum Partners and civil society representatives to advance urban resilience work that “builds a marketplace for urban resilience,” and is grounded upon the outcomes and relationships developed through the 2025 Urban Transformation Summit.
• Work closely with internal Forum teams to establish, build and deepen engagement from key stakeholders.  Maintain active collaboration with key stakeholders, including the Resilient Cities Network (RCN) through the Resilience Finance Taskforce.
• Participate in periodic check-ins with Partners, collaborators, and other internal Forum cross-centre resilience to further develop the workstream concept and track early progress and emerging opportunities/ outcomes, including AM26 program and resilience across Centre pillars.
• Plan, develop and deliver community convenings including working groups, virtual and in-person roundtables,  and pilot initiative s under the thematic of “building a marketplace for urban resilience”.
• Integrate resilience and finance themes into Davos Baukultur Alliance programming, communications, and membership.

3. Global Urban Restoration Collaborative: cultivating investment in nature

• Lead the initial phases of workstream delivery through the current RFP for the Global Urban Restoration Collaborative, working with a PS Firm and in collaboration with 1t.org (pending confirmed interest from PS firms)
• Support key elements of the RFP by coordinating initiative management, partner engagement, and integration across the Centres for Nature & Climate and Centre for Urban Transformation in collaboration with a PS firm.
• Maintain continuity of coordination and institutional knowledge between the Davos Baukultur Alliance, 1t.org, and the Urban Restoration workstream, ensuring alignment across built environment and nature-based impact themes.

4. Davos Baukultur Alliance: support to the next phase of work

• Support the implementation of the Davos Baukultur Alliance Roadmap 2025–2027, particularly activities linked to the second Annual Meeting, taking place in Bern, Switzerland in May 2026.
• Contribute to resilience and sustainability elements aligned with the Roadmap’s strategic priorities:
  • Empowering, Growing, and Diversifying the Membership – assist with outreach to new sectors (including finance, construction, and government) and track engagement data for internal reporting.
  • Creating Conditions for Quality – advance work toward the development of the new practical tool for holistic high-quality outcomes, helping gather case studies and coordinate member engagement.
  • Advancing Place-Based Impact – support coordination of the Pioneering Places Programme and Baukultur Talks, ensuring effective communication with participants and Community of Practice member group, collaborating on the organization and delivery of in-person and virtual roundtables if needed.
• Provide operational and content support for the Bern Annual Meeting, including:
  • Liaising with staff, partner organisations and members to gather updates and confirm participation.
  • Drafting short briefing notes, talking points, and supporting documents for sessions and public communications.

5. Partner Relationship Management

• Maintain warm, professional relationships with key resilience partners ensuring engagement continuity through events and communities.
• Strengthen relationships with target sectors leading on resilience, through the Davos Baukultur Alliance including finance, insurance, and infrastructure potentials.

6.  Other activities:  contribute to other activities in the built environment and infrastructure sector of Urban Transformation as appropriate.

7. Coordination and Reporting

• Participate in internal coordination meetings as needed (Alliance, Communities, or cross-team).
• Maintain shared workplans and trackers, ensuring documentation is updated and accessible.
• Provide short monthly or bi-monthly updates on progress, milestones, and partner interactions.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in public policy, urban planning, sustainability, environmental science, or a related field.
• 5–7 years of professional experience in urban development, sustainability, or climate resilience, with proven program management and stakeholder coordination skills.
• Strong project management skills: demonstrated ability to drive progress and prioritize and deliver on key activities such as convenings and partnerships.
• Strong analytical and communication abilities, with experience synthesizing complex ideas into clear, actionable outputs.
• Demonstrated success working in multicultural, fast-paced environments and engaging with senior-level stakeholders.
• Excellent written and spoken English; proficiency in additional languages is an asset.

Why work at the Forum:

The Forum believes that progress happens by bringing together people from all walks of life who have the drive and the influence to improve the state of the world by building awareness and cooperation, shaping mindsets and agendas, and driving collective action. Join us and become a driver for positive change!