Product Pilot Manager

Miami-Dade Innovation Authority, Inc. (“MDIA”) works to strengthen the relationship between the institutions, including local government, and technology companies with innovative solutions that improve the quality of life for Miami-Dade county residents.  

MDIA de-risks capital investments as well as accelerates the discovery and commercialization of technologies through our Public Innovation Challenge, which connects private innovators to the public sector through strategic investments and a test-and-validate program designed to help companies successfully deliver market-ready solutions along with accompanying jobs in Miami-Dade County.

Founded as an outcome of a collaboration among Miami-Dade County and key technology leaders and established with seed commitments from the public, private, and philanthropic sectors, MDIA’s mission is to scale solutions for people most affected by critical public challenges, improve economic and social outcomes, and make the County a world class capital for high growth technology companies.  

About the Public Innovation Challenge

The Public Innovation Challenge is a competitive open call designed to de-risk capital investment in startups with market ready solutions that address pressing local issues. 

Through partnerships with regional economic engines, our program creates a continuous flywheel that accelerates the pace of discovery and commercialization of technology within the public sector.  Structured around a strategic investment to defray the cost of a product or solution pilot test, it helps clear the pathway to revenue and growth for winning companies.

In addition to the six-figure investments, selected companies participate in a product testing program directly with Challenge Host partners. MDIA oversees each testing process and works closely with its portfolio companies to publish a report on the outcomes and results, as well as activate its network of partners and resources to publicize the report and key findings.

Each year, MDIA runs three public challenges and distributes more than $1 million in investments to portfolio companies.  We invest in solutions across the following priority focus areas: climate, health, housing, mobility, and talent.  Ultimately, MDIA endeavors to create a replicable blueprint for civic innovation that can be modeled by other cities and municipalities around the world to drive improvements in the quality of life for their residents. 

THE ROLE

The Product Pilot Manager’s role is to design, build and manage the public test and validate process as well as support portfolio companies who participate in it.  This manager will work collaboratively with public sector, anchor institutional partners and strategic subject matter advisors to support MDIA’s challenge funding recipients to ensure the success of their public test of their technology and products. You will also be responsible for coordinating with our MDIA portfolio companies and its advisory network in order to connect resources (partner support programs, technical assistance, alternative financial resources, etc.) with portfolio companies based on their many changing needs.

This role will work cross-functionally with internal and external stakeholders to ensure that the right strategy, infrastructure, partners, and programmatic elements are in place to maximize the likelihood of success of the test for each portfolio company.

An ideal candidate should have experience working in the public sector involving technology testing and validation or managing public-private partnerships.

They are highly relationship oriented, able to listen and understand each portfolio’s companies stated (and unstated) needs, translating your understanding into action by connecting startups to people and resources that can help them.  

They must take a systematic approach in your product or program development, implementing a strategic, regular cadence of check-ins, KPIs and other opportunities to support MDIA’s portfolio companies. This candidate should have experience either working in or supporting early or growth stage companies.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Oversee and manage the product development / test and validation roadmap to support portfolio companies validate and test their technologies
• Develop and manage relationships with external implementation and subject matter advisors to successfully execute the test and validation process
• Design a strategy, program, and plan operational infrastructure to support our portfolio companies with their public pilot product / service test and validation process
• Develop and deepen relationships with portfolio companies, checking in on a regular, planned cadence to understand their immediate and long term needs
• Activate and manage a network and database of partners, advisors, portfolio companies, resources, and subject matter experts critical to effectively stewarding the execution of the test and validation process
• Work collaboratively with team members and external subject matter experts to develop general and technical selection criteria for public challenges vis-a-vis defined scope of test and validation process
• Support the Executive Team and Investment Committee with the management of the challenge selection process
• Work collaboratively with team members to support the data collection and external reporting of outcomes, outputs, KPIs and insights from the test and validation process.

EXPECTATIONS

• Our work, mission and purpose resonates with you.  You believe in our core values: inclusion, diversity, connectivity, access to opportunity, and racial equity.
• Strives for a high-impact, low-ego working style and a deep commitment to mission and team. Asks “Why?” not “Who?” when trying to solve problems.
• Ability to set goals and develop achievable timelines to hit them. Delivers well ahead of deadlines.
• A high level of efficiency and self-direction - devotes appropriate amount of time to each situation (sometimes shorter, sometimes longer)
• Unwavering attention to detail, understanding that form is as important as function.
• Excellent organizational, project and task management skills.
• A diplomatic and consensus-oriented approach to decision-making.
• Great listener. You know when it is pertinent to speak and when it is better to be quiet. Highly developed self-awareness and leadership skills.
• You are goal-oriented, driven, determined, highly energetic, hard-working, an out-of-the-box thinker and highly dependable
• Understand the big picture of each project and the company, but also be able to drill deep into each project to establish what needs to be done and when.
• Seeks to grow with the organization, with possibility for advancement into a more senior position
• Demonstrates innovative thinking and intentionality in program development
• Knows how to play the “infinite game”, considering how to build a strong foundation so the organization’s initiatives can continue to be just as impactful beyond the current leadership and team members. At the same time, has an adaptable & nimble mindset to meet immediate demands that arise.

You’d be a good fit if:

• You are people-oriented: you have developed a high degree of self awareness, emotional agility, and a great capacity for compassionate empathy. You strive to create psychological safety to maximize each team member’s potential.
   
• You are also process-oriented: you are efficient, detailed, focused on the quality of the work, able to think of systems and processes to help solve problems. You also strive to hold people accountable to maximize each team member’s potential.

QUALIFICATIONS

• A bachelor’s degree in any field.  Advanced degrees add significant value.
• You strive for a high-impact, low-ego working style, have a passion for working with others (being collaborative) and a deep commitment to mission and team.
• You are goal-oriented, driven, determined, highly energetic, hard-working, an out-of-the-box thinker and unfailingly dependable.
• 5+ years of early stage technology startup building or business development experience, especially in the startup or scale up stage
• Preferred 3+ years of experience in product or program management (experience using data to improve programmatic impact is highly desirable)
• ​​Significant experience as an entrepreneur and/or investor in one or more of the following domains: Climate Tech, Fintech, Enterprise, Data, Sustainability, Housing, Transportation/ Mobility, Talent (includes workforce development and Education )
• Passion for working with startups and patience for working with large enterprises
• Hunger to learn about and understand complex technology and business problems, and experience developing and evaluating new business strategies
• Excellent stakeholder, organizational, and project management skills.
• Willingness to learn new skills and adapt to the needs of the organization.
• Good listener. You know when it is pertinent to speak and when it is better to be quiet. Highly developed self-awareness and leadership skills.
• Delivers well ahead of deadlines.
• Proficient with Google Suite, with other advanced computer skills desired.