Specialist, Urban Innovation, Yes Boston

Position description

Please Note: This role requires the ability to work onsite 3 days per week in the New York office per company policy.This role is funded through August 2026 with the possibility of extension.

The salary range for this role in New York is $80,000-$85,000.

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.

About UpLink

UpLink is a World Economic Forum initiative, founded in collaboration with Deloitte and Salesforce, designed to unlock the power of entrepreneurship to tackle the world’s most urgent challenges. UpLink builds ecosystems that enable purpose-driven, early-stage entrepreneurs to scale their businesses for the markets, economies, and urban centers that are essential to a net-zero, nature-positive and equitable future.

Why We Are Recruiting

Amid rising global uncertainties, cities have become critical grounds for collaboration, innovation, and resilience. Boston, with its rich ecosystem of academic institutions, startups, civic leadership, and public-private initiatives, is uniquely positioned to demonstrate what urban transformation can achieve.

In January 2025, the World Economic Forum announced the launch of Yes/Cities, an ambitious global initiative to accelerate the on-the-ground deployment of innovative solutions, reimagining and transforming urban life across the globe. Yes/Cities is a shared commitment by Forum partners to accelerate investments in urban innovation ecosystems with the goal of providing direct support to more than 1,000 innovators by 2030 and helping scale their game-changing solutions across 50+ cities in the next five years.

The initiative builds on the success of Yes San Francisco (Yes SF), a collaboration between the World Economic Forum’s Centre for Urban Transformation, UpLink, Deloitte, Salesforce, Citi and the SF Chamber of Commerce to support the post-pandemic recovery and revitalization of San Francisco’s downtown business district. Over the last two years, Yes SF has grown into a coalition of 90+ organizations with an innovation hub in the heart of downtown, dedicated to supporting innovators working on sustainability solutions while revitalizing the city and local economy.

Boston has been selected as a next site due to its dynamic innovation landscape, leadership in climate action and health equity, and capacity for public-private collaboration.

This role will place you on the front line of working with global and local leaders to accelerate inclusive and sustainable urban development in Boston and create a replicable model for other cities.

Reporting Lines and Interactions

This position will be based in Forum’s New York Office with significant time spent in Boston. The role will report to the Lead, Urban Innovation, Yes/Boston. This position is part of a high-profile, rapidly growing team of experts at the Centre for Urban Transformation and UpLink. The Specialist will collaborate closely with colleagues from the Forum’s offices in Geneva, San Francisco and Mumbai.

Main Responsibilities

The Specialist will support building local coalitions and help manage engagement across a robust network of the Forum’s existing global communities of business executives, leading academicians from the country’s top research universities, government officials, start-ups, media, civil society organizations, social entrepreneurs, and affiliated centres.

Key areas of responsibility include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Initiative Coordination & Implementation

• Support the execution of the Yes/Boston workplan, coordinating meetings, timelines, and deliverables.
• Assist in documenting outcomes, preparing presentations, and maintaining records of stakeholder engagement.
• Track progress and help deliver local events, workshops, and sessions with innovators.

2. Stakeholder Engagement

• Coordinate outreach with local government, private sector, incubators, and civic actors; ensure contact databases and meeting schedules facilitate key relationship-building efforts.
• Develop key materials to support local ecosystem onboarding and engagement, including one-pagers, presentations, overviews, emails, and other written and visual communications.
• Prepare briefing documents, notes, and follow-ups for stakeholder discussions to ensure that the coalition team is well-coordinated.

3. Innovation Ecosystem Support

• Assist in proactively identifying and onboarding support partners (mentors, investors, accelerators) to aid Top Innovators.
• Work with the Lead, Urban Innovation, Yes/Boston to develop and maintain an ecosystem map of Boston’s urban innovation landscape and leverage to approach new potential ecosystem partners.
• Help organize and deliver innovation programming, such as pitch sessions, expert talks, and learning exchanges, by preparing session structures, identifying and inviting speakers and participants, briefing relevant stakeholders, and coordinating end-to-end logistics.

4. Communications & Reporting

• Coordinate with the Forum’s Marketing & Communications team on storytelling and promotional efforts.
• Support content development for reports, articles, social media, and press releases.
• Compile updates and reporting inputs for internal teams and external partners.

5. Cross-Team Collaboration

• Work with colleagues across Urban Transformation, UpLink, and the Forum’s New York Office to align activities and share knowledge.
• Ensure links to broader Forum and Urban Transformation-specific events and sessions, relevant to Boston and the region.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in urban planning, sustainability, public policy, business, or a related field.
• 2+ years of relevant work experience in project coordination, urban development, or entrepreneurship support.
• Familiarity with Boston’s innovation, startup, or urban ecosystem—experience in Boston is a plus.
• Strong organizational and interpersonal skills, with an ability to manage multiple workstreams and stakeholders.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office and digital collaboration tools (e.g., Teams, SharePoint, Asana); familiarity with Salesforce is a plus.
• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written.

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!

Application instructions

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