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Lead, Digital Strategic Initiatives (Temporary)

**Department:** Digital

**Employment Type:** Temporary

**Location:** Stephen A. Schwarzman Building

**Reporting To:** Vicky Darbouze

**Compensation:** $120,000 - $140,000 / year

Description

_This is a four-year, grant-funded temporary position. This is an onsite role and requires work onsite in NYC 3 days a week._

Overview

The New York Public Library has been an essential provider of free books, information, ideas, and education for all New Yorkers for over 125 years. Founded in 1895, NYPL is the nation's largest neighborhood public library system and the most used research library in the world. NYPL provides an extraordinary richness of resources, educational innovation, and opportunities available to all across its 92 locations throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island.

Reporting to the Chief of Staff of the Digital Department, the Digital Strategic Initiatives Lead will play a pivotal role in supporting operations and driving high-impact strategic initiatives across the entire Digital team. This position acts as a critical enabler, helping the Digital Leadership Team (DLT) maintain organizational alignment, quickly innovate, and efficiently manage risk. This role will help support a variety of initiatives, including preparing for board and trustee meetings, orchestrating leadership and team off-sites, and defining our overall approach to risk management. The ideal candidate will possess exceptional strategic thinking abilities, strong communication skills, and a proven track record in managing complex projects and teams across multiple departments.

We are looking for someone we can count on to:

**Own** :

+ Preparing and finalizing all memos and presentations for Digital board meetings

+ Cultural programs by championing employee experience through supporting and structuring Town Halls, All Hands meetings, and targeted internal cultural initiatives.

+ The definition and establishment of a clear, department-wide risk management framework, including procedures for coordinating with Legal to proactively identify and mitigate systemic risks.

**Teach** :

+ Operational clarity by developing clear practices and procedures to help drive risk awareness and understanding across the broader Digital Department. Help staff understand when and how to coordinate with partners like Legal to identify and mitigate risk

+ Instruct and coach staff on creating high-level documentation and effectively communicating complex content and narratives through memos and presentations to senior leadership audiences

Learn:

+ The culture of NYPL and the Digital team

+ The intricacies of NYPL's existing digital products and strategy and how they ladder up to institutional goals

+ The current state of risk management practices across Digital and identify areas for improvement

**Improve** :

+ Streamline and optimize key processes and practices to ensure a seamless employee experience, including developing scalable onboarding and interviewing procedures in partnership with the Chief of Staff and HR

+ Our approach to digital risk management

Some expectations for this role are that within:

**1 month** , this person will:

+ Understand the functional structure and core mission of NYPL & Digital

+ Meet with key stakeholders across Digital (Product, Engineering, Design, Project Management), Legal, and other relevant departments across NYPL to establish relationships and develop a network

+ Understand our approach for department wide special events (leadership and team offsites / onsites, town halls, etc)

+ Begin to support materials preparation for the next Board meeting.

**3 months** , this person will:

+ Prepare and orchestrate the agenda and logistics for the next leadership / team offsite.

+ Develop a draft proposal for the department’s centralized risk management framework.

**6 months and beyond** , this person will:

+ Implement the formalized risk management and compliance procedures across product and engineering teams.

+ Lead and actively engage in special projects that significantly enhance the integration and connectivity of the Digital department across the Library.

Responsibilities:

+ Act as a trusted partner and project manager to the Chief of Staff, Digital ensuring that their strategic priorities are executed with speed, accuracy, and accountability.

+ Support the Chief of Staff in all executive functions, primarily focusing on managing the full life cycle of Digital Library Committee preparations and post-meeting follow-up.

+ Orchestrate and plan for leadership and team offsites to foster alignment, accountability, and collaboration. Champion employee experience through Town Halls and All Hands meetings, community engagement and other cultural initiatives

+ Define and implement robust frameworks and procedures for risk management, ensuring clear communication and compliance standards are adopted by all relevant teams within Digital. Develop processes so staff understand when and how to coordinate with legal to identify and mitigate potential risks.

+ In partnership with the Chief of Staff, Digital & HR, develop, document, and implement streamlined operational processes for staff development, including interviewing and onboarding.

+ Gather, synthesize, and analyze quantitative and qualitative data to provide the DLT with actionable insights for operational and strategic decisions.

+ Lead high-priority, cross-functional special projects that require complex coordination and executive oversight to drive organizational change and integration.

+ Perform other related duties as required

Required Education, Experience & Skills

Required Education and Certifications

+ Bachelor’s degree required

+ Formalized training in Design Thinking or complex program/portfolio management is highly desirable.

Required Experience

+ 7+ years of experience, 3+ years of experience developing and presenting materials to senior-level executives.

+ Experience working in strategy or management consulting, strategic operations or program management roles, ideally with technology companies, digital product teams, or software development organizations.

+ Direct experience using Generative AI tools and a solid understanding of the GenAI industry landscape, trends, and key ethical considerations.

+ Demonstrated familiarity with the full lifecycle of digital product development (e.g., discovery, engineering, and deployment), and the ability to understand complex, technical problem spaces.

+ Demonstrated ability to operate effectively in unstructured space — driving innovation and defining structure where processes are still evolving.

+ Demonstrated experience in executive communications and preparing materials for Board, Trustee or Chief - level audiences

+ Familiarity with compliance, governance, or risk management frameworks.

+ Proven ability to derive insights from complex, ambiguous, or technical problem spaces and evangelize actionable product and operational recommendations.

+ Strong stakeholder management experience, including effectively influencing and collaborating with product, engineering, design, legal, and project management teams.

+ Proven ability to design and facilitate effective strategy sessions or offsites

+ Experience in human centered design or design thinking is a plus.

Required Skills

+ Proactive and self-motivated, with the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced and evolving digital landscape.

+ Superior problem-solving skills with the ability to analyze issues from both technical and strategic perspectives, and to present findings and recommendations effectively to executive leadership and cross-functional partners.

+ Highly skilled at distilling complex, ambiguous problems into clear, concise, and reliable guidance for internal stakeholders and NYPL patrons.

+ Excellent written and verbal communication skills, capable of articulating complex concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.

+ Comfortable with ambiguity and change; thrives in dynamic environments and brings creativity to problem solving

+ Strong interpersonal skills and ability to foster collaboration across diverse teams and functions.

+ Track record of designing and implementing scalable systems that drive operational efficiency, transparency, and accountability.

+ Comfort switching between high-level strategic thinking and detail-oriented execution to drive both vision and outcomes.

Managerial/Supervisory Responsibilities:

+ N/A

More...

Core Values

_All team members are expected and encouraged to embody the NYPL Core Values:_

+ Be **Helpful** to patrons and colleagues

+ Be **Resourceful** in solving problems

+ Be **Curious** in all aspects of your work

+ Be **Welcoming** and **Inclusive**

Work Environment

+ Office Environment

+ This is an hybrid role; requires onsite work in NYC 3 days a week

Physical Duties

+ Some light lifting/moving may be required

Pre-Placement** **Physical Required?

+ No

Union/Non Union

+ Non-Union

FLSA Status

+ Exempt

Schedule

+ Monday - Friday; 9-5

+ This is a hybrid role that requires onsite work in NYC 3 days a week

_This job description represents the types and levels of responsibilities that will be required of the position and shall not be construed as a declaration of all of the specific duties and responsibilities for the role. Job duties may change if Library priorities change. Employees may be directed to perform job-related tasks other than those specifically presented in this description as needed._

_The New York Public Library_** **_Salary Statement_

At the Library, we believe that pay transparency and pay equity are important to ensuring we source the best candidates and keep the best employees. When making a determination as to the appropriate salary for a candidate, we consider a variety of factors such, including, but not limited to, the position requirements, the skills, prior experience, and educational background required or preferred for the job, the scope and impact of the role within the organization, internal peer equity, and the candidate's specific training, experience, education level, and skills. No single factor is conclusive; the Library reserves the right to consider any and all relevant factors and make a decision consistent with its policies.

Union Salaries are determined by collective bargaining agreement(s).