Director, Mission Discovery – Incubation

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in Colorado.

📋 Description

• Develop the strategy, operational framework, roadmap, investment criteria, and priorities for Mission Discovery & Incubation.

• Establish criteria for entry, evidence, governance, transition, and termination for innovation initiatives.

• Redirect product discussions toward mission constraints, participant outcomes, evidence, and sustainable capabilities.

• Transform mission constraints into valuable opportunities through participant research, journey analysis, service signals, organizational learning, and cross-functional exploration.

• Advise on whether opportunities should progress to incubation, remain in discovery, transfer, be deferred, or be terminated.

• Lead experiments, prototypes, pilots, and operating model trials to minimize material uncertainty.

• Define hypotheses, learning agendas, success criteria, risk boundaries, decision timelines, and accountable stakeholders.

• Employ approved AI capabilities in research, synthesis, prototyping, experimentation, localization, and pattern recognition while ensuring privacy, safety, evidence quality, and human judgment are maintained.

• Prevent unauthorized prototypes from evolving into production systems or permanent commitments without proper approval, ownership, and readiness.

• Assess opportunities using participant evidence, mission value, technical feasibility, global applicability, trust and safety, operational readiness, cost, adoption requirements, and stewardship.

• Generate written recommendations to scale, transfer, continue learning, redesign, defer, consolidate, or terminate initiatives.

• Define ownership of capabilities, operational models, funding, service models, and transition paths prior to dependencies on production.

• Transform discoveries, experiments, failures, participant feedback, and service demand into reusable organizational knowledge.

• Maintain records of decisions, evidence, assumptions, risks, and lessons learned.

• Discontinue experiments, tools, and pathways that do not warrant ongoing investment.

• Collaborate across GMET (Global Mission Enablement & Technology).

• Recruit, develop, and guide Product Managers, researchers, designers, strategists, and other professionals.

• Establish mechanisms and leadership capabilities that lessen reliance on individual heroics.

⛳️ Requirements

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited university or college, ideally in a related field of study.

• At least ten (10) years of experience in Product Management, Product Strategy, Innovation, Research, Human-Centered Design, Service Design, or multidisciplinary product leadership, or equivalent sustained scope and impact evidence.

• Experience in leading and managing complex initiatives or programs with deliverables focused on outcomes.

• An equivalent combination of education and experience will be considered.

• Minimum of three (3) years of managerial experience overseeing Product Managers, researchers, designers, strategists, or multidisciplinary teams.

• Proven success in leading discovery, experimentation, incubation, new product strategy, operating model validation, or strategic investment efforts.

• Strong knowledge of contemporary Product Management, participant research, experimentation, service design, analytics, adoption, organizational change, and responsible AI-enabled product practices.

• Ability to create clarity from ambiguity and convert evidence into strategy, investment recommendations, and actionable transition paths.

• Exceptional skills in written communication, facilitation, storytelling, executive communication, and strategic judgment.

• Must profess faith in Jesus Christ as personal Savior and Lord.

• Must adhere to Young Life’s Statement of Faith and required staff policies.

• Must be prepared, willing, and able to meet required ministry functions.

• Must comply with Young Life policies and practices, including those related to religious beliefs or ministry activities.

🏝️ Benefits

• Access to approved AI capabilities to enhance research, synthesis, prototyping, experimentation, localization, and pattern detection.

• Full-time employment.