Director, Pathways to Capital

About the Milken Institute

The Milken Institute is a globally minded, publicly supported, non-partisan, and nonprofit think tank headquartered in Santa Monica, with offices in Washington, DC, New York, London, Abu Dhabi, and Singapore. For the past three decades, the Milken Institute has served as a catalyst for practical, scalable solutions to global challenges by connecting human, financial, and educational resources to those who need them. Guided by a conviction that the best ideas, under-resourced, cannot succeed, we conduct research and analysis and convene top experts, innovators, and influencers from different backgrounds and competing viewpoints. We leverage this expertise and insight to construct programs and policy initiatives. These activities are designed to help people build meaningful lives, in which they can experience health and well-being, pursue effective education and gainful employment, and access the resources required to create ever-expanding opportunities for themselves and their broader communities.

The Milken Institute’s events and programmatic activities, involve the exchange of ideas with leaders from around the world. The Institute hosts more than 200 events each year, with our annual flagship event, Global Conference, bringing together 4,500+ participants from around the world, featuring more than 900+ speakers throughout 200+ sessions over the course of the event. 

About Pathways to Capital

Pathways to Capital is a portfolio of programs at the Milken Institute that are transforming how capital reaches people and communities so that they can build, grow, and thrive. Talent is ubiquitous, but our financial systems concentrate capital and opportunity in certain geographies and networks. The three signature Pathways to Capital Programs – 10,000 Communities, Initiative for Inclusive Entrepreneurship, and Inclusive Capitalism – are identifying the high-potential people, places, and businesses that have historically been locked out of opportunity, and arming them with the resources, education, and networks they need to harness the power of capitalism and achieve the American Dream. 

The Community Infrastructure Center (CIC), a 10,000 Communities initiative, is a platform designed to scale equitable capital deployment and accelerate infrastructure projects in historically undercapitalized and underserved communities. 

The CIC offers free connections to technical assistance for community-based project sponsors, project advancement tools, and links to a wide range of sources, including impact and institutional investors, federal and state grants, philanthropy, and project development expertise. 

Since its launch, the CIC has grown into a national community of practice. The platform today supports more than 800 community infrastructure projects across 62 states, territories, and tribal nations, with over 3,000 members representing nearly 1,000 unique communities. The CIC convenes four standing forums, including the Community of Practice, the Community Power Forum, the Community Corridor Forum, and the Community Resilience Forum, alongside cross-forum working groups on predevelopment triage, capitalization, secondary markets and recapitalization, and data and AI. 

About the Position 

Reporting to the Director of 10,000 Communities, this position will support community-building and the cultivation of projects seeking support on the 10,000 Communities’ CIC. 

The Director will be passionate about helping fill America's infrastructure gap and knowledgeable about a variety of assets and activities, such as renewable energy, battery storage, building decarbonization, broadband, commercial corridors, and water, with an interest in learning the ins and outs of delivering community-scale infrastructure projects and building the capital stacks. 

The successful candidate thrives in rooms with people (planners, city staff, community leaders, and funders) and builds relationships both digitally and in person. The Director is accountable for supporting communities and projects, and for ensuring that CIC's forums and convenings produce not only discussion but also project pipeline, productive partnerships, and progress on research that helps the field move forward. 

The Director will also collaborate with the broader Pathways to Capital team and will have the opportunity to support the advancement of priorities across the Pathways to Capital portfolio of programs. 

Responsibilities

• Bring and build relationships across community development and infrastructure development markets in order to expand CIC’s network and impact; identify and triage potential projects, capital providers, and technical assistance providers; and identify opportunities for warm handoffs and connections between communities, funders, and partner organizations. 
• Build, improve, and manage case management tracking systems at CIC. 
• Work in collaboration with the existing tech team to refine and build out existing technology and AI tools to efficiently track projects in the pipeline; tracking pipeline progress against CIC's targets and flagging where projects are stalling, so the team can intervene and provide assistance. 
• Develop and manage CIC's collaborative forums. 
• Grow and manage the working groups and forums that CIC has cultivated, including place-based regional efforts as well as thematic efforts (e.g., “community solar and storage” and “commercial corridors”); keeping forums active and productive by preparing materials for periodic meetings, hosting and facilitating biweekly and monthly calls, and sharing and posting relevant information, tools, and updates for forums that have an online web channel component; and actively growing forum membership by sharing opportunities to join with project owners in the pipeline and other stakeholders in the markets CIC touches. 
• Support place-based engagements. 
• Serve as CIC's on-the-ground presence at events in priority markets and representing the organization in local and regional conversations, spending significant time in the field building and sustaining relationships in the communities CIC serves. 
• Inform tool development and community-informed tech innovation. Help translate what is learned in the field into inputs for the technology and tools the team is building, so those tools reflect what communities need. 
• Support market development through convening. 
• Represent CIC at national convenings, positioning the organization as a collaborative partner and connector rather than a competitor to existing players. 
• Cement CIC as a “big tent” network that connects disparate actors to advance community projects.
• Duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required, Minimum 8 years experience in a relevant field.
• Experience as a former or current “planner” with a generalist's knowledge of infrastructure, including energy, housing, broadband, water, and related asset classes. Deep expertise in every single type of project is not required, but the successful candidate will be comfortable navigating community development, planning, or place-based real estate development in urban, suburban, and rural communities. 
• Capable of bringing valuable national relationships from community lending, national banking, infrastructure development, or community development sectors. 
• Organized and process-oriented, with the ability to manage multiple relationships and pipeline stages at once. Ideally, the candidate has familiarity with project management and customer relationship management tools (e.g., Salesforce). 
• Personable and relationship-driven, with boots-on-the-ground experience working in communities that require technical assistance to deliver complex infrastructure projects.
• Analytical, creative, and rigorous thinkers: We are seeking a detail-oriented and flexible problem solver who can synthesize diverse streams of information and switch comfortably between academic and real-world thinking.
• Roll-up-your-sleeves executers and adaptive thinkers: MI leaders are comfortable engaging in ambitious projects and with refinement and adaptation along the way to reach key metrics.
• Team players: MI leaders collaborate well with multidisciplinary teams across the Institute, comfortably taking leadership when necessary as well as following directions. 

Working Conditions & Travel Requirements

This position will work in a professional office environment on a hybrid schedule consisting of three (3) days per week reporting in-person to your respective office location (Tuesday – Thursday), with the remaining two (2) days working remotely. Please understand, this schedule is subject to change at the Institute’s sole discretion. 

This person will also be required to travel occasionally to other offices and/or venues to assist with events as needed, requiring occasional work outside of traditional hours. Domestic travel is possible. Additionally, this position requires interacting virtually on a regular basis with Milken Institute staff based in other locations in the United States and around the world. 

Note

The statements herein are intended to describe the overall nature and level of work being performed by employees and are not to be construed as an exhaustive list of responsibilities, duties, and skills required of personnel so classified. Furthermore, they do not establish a contract for employment and are subject to change at the discretion of the employer. 

We are interested in qualified candidates who are eligible to work in the United States. Please note, we are not sponsoring visas at this time, being authorized to work in the U.S. is a precondition of employment.

Please submit resume and cover letter illustrating how your experience and skills will contribute to the department and any unique qualities you bring to the position. If applying via Indeed, please upload your resume and any supporting documentation as one attachment. Any application that does not include both a resume and cover letter will be rejected. If you are unable to complete this application due to a disability, contact our Human Resources department to ask for an accommodation or an alternative application process.

Our Culture

The Milken Institute is proud to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, age, disability or status as a veteran. 

Every person at the Milken Institute is treated with respect, supported with resources and training, and exposed to a broad range of experiences. We foster a space for growth with opportunities to share knowledge and passion with both clients and colleagues. We are committed to building a diverse workforce and creating an inclusive environment where everyone can thrive. Our leadership is actively involved in our commitment to diversity and inclusion, and fostering a culture that creates opportunities for everyone. 

Benefits

• Health Care Plan (Medical, Dental & Vision)
• Retirement Plan - 403b (5% match)
• Life Insurance (Basic, Voluntary & AD&D)
• Paid Time Off (Personal, Vacation, Sick & Public Holidays)
• Family Leave (Maternity & Paternity)
• Fertility Support
• Short-Term & Long-Term Disability 
• Flexible Spending Account (FSAs)
• Pet Insurance Discount
• Training & Development:
• LinkedIn Learning – over 15,000 self-guided classes offered
• Annual Mentor Program
• Wellness Resources:
• Employee Assistance Program
• CALM app membership