The City of Sugar Land is seeking a full-time Innovation Manager in the Department of Innovation. Why Should You Join Our Team? We are a full-service municipality located approximately 20 miles southwest of downtown Houston that invests in our team and offers real opportunities for career growth. We pay our Innovation Manager a starting salary of $70,179 - $89,128, depending on your qualifications. We also offer great benefits and perks available on your first day of employment, including: City-subsidized health benefits; life and disability insurance; a variety of voluntary benefits; a robust pension plan with TMRS to set you up for a fulfilling retirement; flexible schedules and work from home opportunities; a down-to-earth casual environment and dress code; and a positive team-oriented culture stemming from a long-term commitment to innovation and inclusion. You can even bring your dog and/or cat to work if they have a solid understanding of office decorum.

Benefits At-A-Glance:

• City-subsidized Medical and Dental Insurance with a variety of plan options;
• City-paid Basic Life Insurance @ 1x your annual salary and Long-term Disability;
• Voluntary Vision, Supplemental Life Coverage (for you and your family), Aflac indemnity plans such as Accident, Cancer, Hospitalization and Critical Illness, Short Term Disability and pre-paid legal benefits through Legal Shield;
• 9 paid holidays and up to 3 floating holidays to use at your discretion;
• A generous vacation package with accruals starting on day 1;
• Paid sick leave;
• Paid Parental Leave
• A robust pension plan with TMRS includes your 7% contribution with 2:1 match by the City;
• You won’t contribute to Social Security, but you can further your retirement income by contributing to a Deferred Compensation (457b) plan;
• Longevity pay for each month of service after your first 13 months of employment;
• On-site Wellness facilities and programming (mind, body spirit & financial preparedness); and
• Access to multiple mental health benefits and resources, including a robust EAP…

If we have your attention… Please. Continue. Reading! About the City of Sugar Land The City of Sugar Land, a municipality with a population of 111,026, provides the highest quality of affordable services to meet the needs of its residents. Master-planned communities and welcoming neighborhoods enhance home values and create a sense of belonging. The community offers outstanding schools, libraries, parks, museums, restaurants, entertainment venues, and other resources that make Sugar Land a great place to work, live and raise a family. Sugar Land's aggressive economic development program has created a business-friendly environment, and numerous high-profile regional and international corporations have chosen Sugar Land as their corporate home. Sugar Land is also home to an award-winning regional airport and multiple civic organizations for those interested in the community and government.

We are proud to have been named one of the Top 50 places to live in the United States by The Press of Atlantic City and the Top 25 Best Places to Live for Families by Fortune Magazine. We hire people based on their potential, not just their experience. We have an informal work environment but are serious about what we do. We believe that happy, diverse and talented employees add value to the City. We do our best to hire friendly, professional people who work hard and play well with others. We also promote a healthy work-life balance and personal development.

Are we the right fit for YOU?

As a Innovation Manager, you will:

• Manage and lead the implementation of the City’s Sweet Ideas (internal problem submission) program.
  • Develops and establishes goals and objectives for the program(s).
  • Collect and analyze (key performance indicators) metrics to measure performance and progress toward strategic goals.
  • Present the data in a compelling and comprehensible way.
  • Participate in analysis that contributes to data-driven recommendations and proposed solutions.
  • Train and educate end users on the system and program.
  • Understand how to navigate challenging projects where the next steps are often unique and ambiguous.
  • Be able to take a project from scope discovery to implementation to return on investment measurement. Be able to facilitate multiple projects at one time.
  • Manage the Innovation fund.
  • Manage the Sweet Ideas/Innovation Award process.
• Manage the IDEA Academy program, including employee supervision.
• Set up and run idea generation platforms and formats like roundtables, summits, think tanks, and internal and external crowdsourcing for the benefit of the organization.
• Work with city departments and staff to organize resources and teams toward generating innovative solutions for opportunities. This includes investigation, brainstorming, solution refinement and piloting, and full implementation.
• Lead the continual development and embedding of an innovative culture throughout the organization.
• Responsible for working with data owners on understanding and verifying important data needed for analysis and decision-making.
• Manage the creation of communications, educational, and marketing materials to support the internal and external innovation program
• Identify partnership opportunities (for collaboration) with public and private entities
• Identify researches, analyzes trends and market disruptions for emerging technologies and opportunities and challenges the status quo.
• Identify and prioritize Innovation opportunities that align with the City of Sugar Land vision, mission, goals and objectives.
• Conduct detailed root cause analysis to identify process improvements. Assists in process improvement with various departments. Conducts job observations, process maps, and any other process improvement procedures.
• Set up and run idea generation platforms and formats like roundtables, summits, think tanks, and internal and external crowdsourcing for the benefit of the organization.
• Serve as a liaison between Business and Functional areas and technology to ensure that data related business requirements for protecting sensitive data are clearly defined, communicated, well understood, and considered as part of operational prioritization and planning.

Other Duties and Responsibilities:

• Responsible for all duties associated with the management of direct staff.
• Design and lead innovation workshops and sprint sessions to drive the generation, evaluation, and prioritization of ideas.
• Create data visualizations through dashboards, infographics, and web applications.
• Lead the analytical processes to identify, validate, and launch promising experiments and pilot tests through proof of concepts and minimal viable products
• Manage or assists multiple projects, from initial scoping & chartering stage through to project closeout on various performance and strategic projects. These projects may be long-term or ad hoc and can range in complexity and scope.
• Design benchmark and best practice surveys to improve the productivity and quality of operations
• Identifying, framing and coaching Innovation and data champions on getting started on projects, applying the methodology, collaborating on various projects.
• Responsible for maintaining office shared email and communicating timely.
• Represent the office on various committees.
• Manage the purchasing and contracting process for the department. This includes pcard purchases and reconciliation.
• Manage the department budget.
  • Develop and manage budgeting processes and procedures that ensure fiscal responsibility and accuracy
  • Monitor and track cycles and ensure that budgets are up to date
  • Prepare and present budget reports as needed, including the annual process.
  • Identify areas for cost savings and ensure cost-effectiveness
  • Ensure compliance with organizational policies, procedures, and regulations
• Present information effectively to a wide range of audiences, including but not limited to the City Council, Executive Team, the organization, outside agencies and the public.
• Assist with the preparation of various award applications, externally.
• Manage and coordinate external Innovation events. This may include city events or external events occurring during or after hours and weekends.
• Attendance of City Council meetings and other after hours City related meetings and events may be required to fulfill the job responsibilities.
• Perform other duties and responsibilities as assigned by the Department Director/Executive Team.
• Work as an essential employee before, during and after an emergency or disaster, whether natural or acts of war.

The ideal candidate must be extremely organized and able to manage the logistics of multiple duties with professionalism and strong communication skills. In addition, strong attention to detail and ability to work in a fast-paced environment is critical for success in the role, as are high levels of accuracy, timeliness and dependability. We are looking for someone who can establish and maintain effective working relationships within the organization, work effectively with all levels of employees and management, and assist in providing solutions to challenges that arise.

You are professional and empathetic. Diligent, take initiative and follow through and follow up with projects. Not easily flustered when tense situations arise but are diplomatic and work hard to diffuse conflict and get to resolution. You identify as a public servant and want to leave the world better than you found it. You work well as part of a team but are not afraid to make tough decisions. If this describes you and you meet the following requirements, we would be happy to speak with you:

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in public administration, human centered design, data science, business administration, public policy or a closely related field.
• Some evenings and weekends are required.
• Must be comfortable providing training and conducting presentations to various audiences in different settings.
• TX Driver License.

Relatable Work Experience:

• Four (4) years of progressively responsible related experience in process improvement, innovation, data analysis, or a closely related field. Consideration given to an equivalent combination of education, experience and training that provides the required knowledge, skills, and abilities. Advanced education above a Bachelor’s degree may be substituted for up to two years of experience.
• The position should have a proven track record of developing, implementing, managing and evaluating a wide range of innovation and process improvement programs, projects and initiatives (or projects similar in nature and execution).
• Must have a proven track record of managing multiple professional projects at a time.
• Delivering after hours training, presentations, job shadowing, attending meetings and events are required.

Highly Desired Qualifications:

• Proficient in functions such as data capture, analysis, reporting tools, and making conclusions on performance adherence.
• Experience with data visualization tools, such as Power BI, Canva.
• Six Sigma certification (any level)/Denver Peak Academy training
• One year of Supervisory experience in a professional work environment.
• Business process mapping and process improvement initiatives.
• Microsoft SharePoint experience.

Our success is achieved by the courage to do things differently and accept that failure will occur on the path to innovation.

The City of Sugar Land is an equal opportunity employer.