Senior Innovation Manager

Job Description

Position Overview:

The Senior Innovation Manager (SIM) provides critical project management leadership across the organization to support Commonwealth’s mission to help scale innovative solutions to support financially vulnerable people in building financial security and opportunity. Bringing exceptional people and project management skills, the SIM will play a lead role in managing multiple initiatives working closely with our external partners (e.g. employers, workplace benefit providers, financial institutions, fintech companies, etc), and leading and supporting high-performing project teams that are passionate about having a positive and scalable impact.

Best fit candidates will bring expertise in both of the following areas:

• A leadership role leading original research that includes a comprehensive quantitative and qualitative analysis of varying sizes of datasets with external partners.
• A leadership role demonstrating strategic thinking and a detailed orientation to build project plans and define roles and responsibilities for complex workstreams.

Core Responsibilities:

• Manage multiple complex projects ensuring that they are executed on time and meet stated outcomes in a matrixed organization.
• Employ highly developed interpersonal skills to manage relationships with internal teams as well as external partners - including employers, financial institutions and fintechs - to test and evaluate financial security and wealth-building innovations.
• Effectively manages internal stakeholders (e.g. the executive team, content experts, and project team collaborators), partners across teams, and advocates for better systems and processes; recognizes when to speak up to clarify responsibilities and context to learn and effectively execute tasks
• Work with internal teams to design, test, and evaluate market-viable innovative tools and products based on the needs of financially vulnerable consumers and the business needs of external partners.
• Manage the process of generating and sharing insights and findings from projects internally with our partners and externally with key stakeholders, such as other industry players, policymakers, and funders through, decks, thought pieces, and publications.
• Serve as a lead relationship manager with external stakeholders; demonstrate effective partnership/relationship management through direct facilitation of external meetings e.g. work with a bank, or employer or investment platform as we implement a demonstration project, develop a survey, etc.
• Represent Commonwealth at virtual and in-person external meetings and events with the ability to effectively engage diverse audiences, including employers, financial service industry leaders, researchers, policymakers, and community advocates.
• Creatively problem-solve and collaborate with a small, results-oriented team to effectively execute projects.
• Work with cross-functional teams to contribute positively to organization-wide strategy and goals.
• Potential to directly supervise 1-3 staff, including responsibility for performance management, coaching, career and skill development to foster professional growth.

Specialized Responsibilities:

Research:

• Design and execute demonstrations and/ or pilot tests with external partners, including plans to quantitatively evaluate their success through program data and other datasets.
• Manage research plan development and able to advise on and/ or independently execute analyses of quantitative and qualitative data to determine impact of various pilots and interventions with partner; oversee data analysis outputs of others and able to support their learning to execute independently over time

Strategic Thinking & Execution:

• Lead strategic planning and execution for complex projects by developing comprehensive project plans, defining roles and responsibilities, and ensuring alignment across workstreams to drive successful outcomes.
• Comfort navigating project complexity and ambiguity to break down intricate problems, make decisions with incomplete information, and adapt to dynamic project conditions to guide and support the project team.

Commonwealth offers a competitive salary and benefits, commensurate with experience and skills.

Our staff are the key to our success. The starting annual salary range for this full-time position is $81,000 - $88,000, and Commonwealth offers a generous compensation and benefits package that includes a focus on a wide range of professional development opportunities and:

• Medical insurance (premium-free for employees)
• Dental & Vision insurance
• Employer-paid long-term disability insurance; employer-paid short-term disability
• Life insurance
• Health Savings Account with employer contributions
• Retirement matching contributions (up to 2%)
• Generous paid vacation leave, sick leave, and 17 paid holidays
• Summer Friday schedule between June & Labor Day

Qualifications

Required Capabilities:

• Exceptional project management experience, with the ability to manage various, complex projects concurrently, with a high degree of organization, attention to detail and flexibility.
• Strong outcome-oriented mindset with a proven ability to deliver results through others to ensure every task is completed.
• Experience developing and presenting high-quality decks and presentations for external partners, including the private, public, and nonprofit sector.
• Research leadership experience, including oversight of both quantitative and qualitative efforts, and demonstrated abilities to translate findings into accessible briefs, reports, and/ or presentations for diverse audiences.
• Quantitative analysis and data management expertise including the ability to manage and interpret large datasets, provide oversight to quantitative analyses, and either directly conduct analyses or guide others to ensure quality and methodological rigor.
• Experience with statistical software, with at minimum a foundational ability to advise on, write, and/ or edit R scripts.
• Proactive self-starter that can take initiative, identify areas for improvement, and is comfortable managing up when unclear or uncertain about how to move forward;
• Independent and team-oriented mindset with the ability to work effectively with minimal direction, taking ownership of tasks and driving them to completion, while also contributing to team goals, supporting colleagues, and fostering collaboration across projects.
• Creative problem-solving, design and innovation skills, with the ability to exercise professional judgment to find solutions to problems as they arise.
• Strong relationship building experience across a wide range of diverse internal and external stakeholders.
• Embrace the gift of feedback and willing to speak up about opportunities for continuous improvement within and outside of projects.
• Ability to adapt quickly to changing priorities and navigate ambiguity in a fast-paced environment.
• Passionate about the mission of Commonwealth and driving change through promoting financial security and opportunity.
• Knowledge of the financial challenges faced by lower income households is strongly preferred.
• Knowledge of financial services, asset building and/or employer-offered benefits is strongly preferred.

Deadline: February 12 2026