Please Note: This role requires the ability to work on site in our Geneva office 3 days per week.
Why we are recruiting
The Global Programming Group is the team responsible for stewardship of the Forum’s events. It leads on the programming, the architecture and the operations of the Forum’s institutional events.
Reporting Lines & Interactions
This role will report to the Head of Event Editorial within the Global Programming Group. Working closely with the Forum’s core thematic impact teams (Centres),c the successful candidate will be responsible of providing a holistic view of Forum impact priorities, be knowledgeable about the latest issues, and identify cross-thematic collaboration opportunities. Within the Global Programming Group, the role will work closely with the Event Management, Event Design and Strategy and Engagement units.
This role requires a high degree of internal collaboration and regular engagement with Forum Leadership to align editorial priorities across platforms and institutional communities and to diplomatically balance competing requests. The role involves working with teams across the house, providing exposure to all core areas of the Forum’s work. Each lead will manage a content portfolio corresponding to the priorities of the Forum’s 10 Centres. We are currently seeking profiles with thematic experience across one or several of these areas.
Breakdown of Main Responsibilities
- Ensure that all Forum events meet a uniform standard of excellence, by developing and socializing programme design frameworks, structures, processes, and tools to support the next era of the Forum’s strategic direction.
- Maintain an overarching view of Forum’s Centres and community priorities and identify opportunities for cross-centre alignment on horizontal topics in the context of events and beyond.
- Lead collaboration with thematic Centres as well as other teams across the house to scan emerging issues, identify relevant experts, and shape a programme that delivers on Forum’s strategic priorities.
- Lead programme development and speaker selection processes for institutional events, balancing impact priorities, partnership goals, inclusion targets, and audience interests.
- Support live session delivery for virtual and in-person events.
- Build and maintain relevant event programme development and editorial processes, templates and databases.
The Successful Candidate will be assessed on
- Stewarding the Forum’s institutional events, providing consistent thematic architecture and event processes, and ensuring that all events meet a uniform standard of excellence.
- Close collaboration with colleagues beyond the Global Programming Group, including thematic Centres, Global Communications Group, and business engagement functions.
- Developing a strong understanding of the Forum’s mission and aligning event content with platform impact priorities.
- Conducting thorough post-event debriefs of the editorial process, demonstrating a keen interest for innovation and improvement
- Effective interpersonal and negotiation skills, including verbal and written communications and presentations to internal and external audiences.
- Close collaboration with the broader Forum ecosystem, and ability to navigate the complexity of a matrix organization.
- Ensuring that programme development milestones are articulated consistently and regularly shared with internal and external stakeholders.
- Developing a strong understanding of the Forum’s mission and regularly monitoring the landscape to engage foremost experts in a specific field.
Preferred Requirements and Experience
- 8+ years of relevant professional experience, including hands-on experience with programme development for large events with a global audience, ideally engaging business, government, and non-profit audiences in international environments.
- Strong writing skills and demonstrated ability to identify, evaluate, synthesize, and communicate complex issues to diverse audiences.
- Advanced university degree in business, media, communications, economics, journalism, or other relevant fields.
- Proven track record of outstanding project management and coordination, and negotiation skills.
- A problem-solving mindset and proven experience at identifying the strategically salient questions and marshalling the data required to answer them.
- Excellent team collaboration, relationship development, and operational skills.
- Proven experience thriving in a multicultural work setting that is highly collaborative, and fast-paced; flexibility and the ability to embrace ambiguity is a must.
- Fluency in English, with excellent written, digital and verbal communication skills; knowledge of other languages would be an asset.
- Mastery of Microsoft Office (PowerPoint, Excel, Word); experience with Salesforce a significant plus
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!
