Strategy Manager

Company: UL
Location: Evanston
Posted on: September 11, 2021

Job Description:

At Underwriters Laboratories, we know why we come to work.

We are endlessly curious and wake up every day with a common purpose: to make the world a safer, more secure and sustainable place. Underwriters Laboratories is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the UL public safety mission through the discovery and application of scientific knowledge. We conduct rigorous independent research and analyze safety data, convene experts worldwide to address risks, share knowledge through safety education and public outreach initiatives, and develop independent standards to guide safe commercialization of evolving technologies. Our work makes a meaningful contribution to society, and we are proud that our culture is centered on integrity, collaboration, inclusion and excellence.

Strategy Function

Underwriters Laboratories seeks to broaden and deepen the organization’s impact by building world-class safety science research and standards development capabilities. Our organization aims to mitigate global public safety risks through physical science research and engineered solutions.

To further enable this vision, Underwriters Laboratories is expanding its Strategy function; responsibilities (led by the Director of Strategy) include:

• Aligning the organization’s strategy with its mission and vision and shaping the strategic direction of Underwriters Laboratories.
• Identifying, designing, and leading organization-wide Integrated Strategy Projects and PMO.
• Serving as advisor to senior leaders.
• Conducting environmental scans and identifying, analyzing, and planning for emerging opportunities and disruptive trends transforming underwriters and its focus areas.
• Aligning Standards & Research functional strategies to the organizational strategy.
• Guiding and reviewing strategic communications to reflect organizational strategy?.
• Providing strategic guidance to executive recruitment and onboarding.
• Managing the organizational risk register.

To learn more, visit ul.org.

Underwriters Laboratories is looking to onboard a Strategy Manager to support the ongoing development of the organization’s Strategy function in advancement of its Global Safety Mission. Reporting to the Director of Strategy, the Strategy Manager will support in design and execution of key deliverables as well as coordination of key strategic initiatives. The job responsibilities include:

• • Helping drive strategy development initiatives under direction of the Director of Strategy. Specifics include program design, program management, stakeholder management, meeting facilitation, presentation, and strategic deliverable creation.
  • Providing strategic and execution support to the Director of Strategy and in support of executive oversight committee, including the CEO, Steering Committee, and Board of Trustees.
  • Collaborating with internal stakeholders to help develop UL’s long-term strategy and identify initiatives, tools/resources, and communications to enhance UL’s reputation as the world’s leading safety science institute.
  • Managing key performance indicators (KPIs) to ensure strategic plans are met.
  • Partnering with subject matter experts to bring in industry trends and best practices, strategize and socialize approach, develop and kickstart new initiatives, and collaborate to hand-off initiatives and programs to the appropriate long-term owners for execution.
  • Enabling key presentations by gathering data and distilling into meaningful insights, storyboarding, and creating effective presentations for executive and leadership audiences.
  • Creating clear, accurate analyses, presentations, and communications materials to advance the UL vision and strategy.
  • Reading and following the Underwriters Laboratories Code of Conduct and following all physical and digital security practices.
  • Performing other duties as directed.

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Public Policy, or related with at least 8 years of experience leading strategic initiatives at the organizational level.
• Advanced degree (equivalent to a Master’s degree) preferred.
• Strategy consulting experience strongly preferred.
• Experience working for or with a not-for-profit or scientific research organization is a plus.
• Hands-on experience in strategy development and operations or business transformation.
• Demonstrated strong critical thinking skills with ability to elevate thinking and apply judgment during analysis about how components fit together and with bigger picture.
• Ability to work within a complex and often ambiguous environment.
• Ability to handle multiple projects with proven success in synthesizing large data sets related to a wide variety of functional business problems.
• Demonstrated ability to express complex ideas, present results, and translate statistical and business terminology to various levels of management, including executive-facing communications.
• Demonstrated strong analytical and strategic thinking abilities, including research skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communications skills, including editing, proofreading and experience with style guides.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office, especially PowerPoint and Excel.

• Mission: For Underwriters Laboratories, corporate and social responsibility isn’t new. Making the world a safer, more secure and sustainable place has been our business model for the last 125+ years and is deeply engrained in everything we do.
• People: Ask any Underwriters Laboratories employee what they love most about working here, and you’ll almost always hear, “the people.” Going beyond what is possible is the standard at Underwriters Laboratories. We’re able to deliver the best because we employ the best.
• Interesting work: Every day is different for us here as we eagerly anticipate the next innovation that our customers’ create. We’re inspired to take on the challenge that will transform how people live, work and play. And as a global company, in many roles, you will get international experience working with colleagues around the world.
• Grow & achieve: We learn, work and grow together with targeted development, reward and recognition programs as well as our very own UL University that offers extensive training programs for employees at all stages, including a technical training track for applicable roles.

Working at UL is an exciting journey that twists and turns daily. We thrive in the twists and revel in the turns. This is our every day. This is our normal. Curious? To learn more about us and the work we do, visit ul.org.

Keywords: UL, Evanston , Strategy Manager, Other , Evanston, Illinois