Chicago Beyond · 1 month ago
Director of Investments & Strategy
Chicago, IL
Full-time
Hybrid
Director/Executive
$125K/yr - $150K/yr
8+ years expChicago Beyond is a national philanthropic organization that addresses systemic inequity through innovative funding solutions. The Director of Investments & Strategy will be responsible for shaping and executing the organization's investment strategy, leading the investment lifecycle, and driving organizational strategy in collaboration with senior leaders.
CharityProfessional Services
Responsibilities
Identifying & Translating Trends into Investment Strategy: Evaluate ecosystem trends and partner learnings to identify emerging patterns, insights, and high-leverage opportunities for impact. Lead Chicago Beyond’s investment strategy, ensuring alignment with mission, values, systemic opportunities, and organizational priorities. Develop and refine investment theses that articulate the problem, systemic levers for change, and the potential models that can drive change
Learning & Insight Capture: Ensure the consistent capture of learnings from diligence, partner conversations, and field experiences. Build structures (templates, trackers, debriefs, reflection routines) that surface insights early and reliably before they become obvious to the field. Lead the organization in identifying how these insights can shift practices in the field. Redesign approaches to partner learning conversations that unlock new ideas, strengthen outcomes, and generate insights that drive systems change, future external insights products, and our voice in the field. Develop approaches for internal learning conversations that translate insights into strategic shifts and organizational priorities
Organizational Strategy & Strategic Initiatives: Partner with the Chief Strategy Officer to lead organizational strategic planning, ensuring strategy remains adaptive and informed by partners, ecosystem shifts, and internal reflection. Lead major strategic initiatives from concept to execution, managing cross-functional timelines, resources, and deliverables. Identify emerging opportunities, risks, and areas requiring strategic shifts and advise senior leadership on recommended next steps. Work with Communications and leadership to translate investment insights into compelling strategic narratives for the field
Investment Process: Lead the Investment’s team sourcing and due diligence process. Ensure diligence processes are rigorous, timely, equitable, and anchored in Chicago Beyond’s values. Oversee development of investment proposals and materials for decision-making, ensuring they reflect clear logic & structure, systemic framing, and alignment with Chicago Beyond’s goals. Facilitate cross-team collaboration to integrate insights, contextual analysis, and trends into investment recommendations. Oversee the contracting process and establish strong processes for contract management, timelines, deliverables, and disbursement. Continuously improve the investments process and approach
Investment Partnership Management: Oversee partnership management across the full portfolio, ensuring investment partners have a high-quality, trust-based experience. Identify, track, and surface patterns, risks, opportunities, and strategic adjustments. Define and steward partnership models, expectations, engagement rhythms, and learning structures. Manage relationships with Fellows and Leader in Residence partners
Impact: Lead Chicago Beyond’s qualitative and quantitative impact measurement approach across investments and key bodies of work. Define KPIs, impact frameworks, and approach for data collection & capture. Develop and optimize dashboards, tracking tools, and evaluation systems that synthesize qualitative, quantitative, and contextual data. Develop methods to identify signals of systemic change. Produce memos, insights briefs, and leadership updates that inform decisions and shape field influence
Systems & Tools: Own and improve systems that support investment processes, impact tracking, and strategic execution (e.g., CRM, trackers, dashboards). Ensure documentation, data, and learning are organized, accessible, and high quality. Lead continuous improvement of tools and processes that strengthen decision-making, coordination, and organizational learning
Team Leadership & Management: Lead and develop the Investments team, providing clear direction, coaching, development, and accountability. Foster a culture of curiosity, collaboration, equity, trust, and excellence. Ensure team members are supported, aligned, and empowered to execute effectively
Stakeholder Engagement & Field Leadership: Cultivate relationships with proximate leaders, funders, community partners, and experts to strengthen strategy and ecosystem context. Support Chicago Beyond’s field influence by ensuring patterns and learnings are surfaced for future insights and communications work
Qualification
Required
Bachelor's degree and 8+ years of experience in philanthropy, impact investing, strategy, management consulting, public policy, or related fields
Exceptional judgment and pattern recognition in complex ecosystems with the ability to see connections, identify underlying dynamics and leverage points, and synthesize information to guide strategic choices
Demonstrated experience leading investment strategy, due diligence, partnerships, or complex strategic initiatives
Strong analytical and systems-thinking skills, with the ability to synthesize qualitative, quantitative, contextual, and narrative evidence
Strong strategic planning and project management skills, with the ability to set clear goals, develop actionable plans, and drive results
Demonstrated ability to develop KPIs, dashboards, measurement frameworks, and reporting mechanisms that drive insight and decision making
Exceptional communication and storytelling skills with the ability to translate complex ideas into compelling, structured narratives
Strong collaborator with the ability to translate strategy into actionable plans and deliver measurable results
Excellent leadership, management, and interpersonal skills, with experience building strong internal culture and high-performing teams
Strong strategic thinker who can connect the dots across issue areas, organizations, and ecosystem conditions
Highly organized and detail-oriented with the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment
Benefits
Competitive medical, dental, and vision plans
A matching 401(k) program
Generous paid time off
Company
Chicago Beyond
Chicago Beyond is a non-profit organization that assists community leaders and provides equitable research opportunities to young people.
11-50 employees
Funding
Current Stage
Early StageLeadership Team
Liz Dozier
Founder & CEO
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