Lead, Urban Innovation, Yes Boston

World Economic Forum Initiative

The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation. We believe that progress happens by bringing together people from all walks of life who have the drive and the influence to make positive change.

The World Economic Forum's Centre for Urban Transformation advances public-private collaboration in cities to enable more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient communities and local economies. The Centre's initiatives and year-round activities provide a diverse range of opportunities for partners to learn from urban development trends, share insights, forge new relationships, and collaborate to drive local impact across the globe.

UpLink is a World Economic Forum initiative, founded in collaboration with Deloitte and Salesforce, designed to unlock the power of entrepreneurship to tackle the world's most urgent challenges. UpLink builds ecosystems that enable purpose-driven, early-stage entrepreneurs to scale their businesses for the markets, economies, and urban centers that are essential to a net-zero, nature-positive and equitable future.

Amid rising global uncertainties, cities have become critical grounds for collaboration, innovation, and resilience. Boston, with its rich ecosystem of academic institutions, startups, civic leadership, and public-private initiatives, is uniquely positioned to demonstrate what urban transformation can achieve.

In January 2025, the World Economic Forum announced the launch of Yes / Cities, an ambitious global initiative to accelerate the on-the-ground deployment of innovative solutions, reimagining and transforming urban life across the globe. Yes / Cities is a shared commitment by Forum partners to accelerate investments in urban innovation ecosystems with the goal of providing direct support to more than 1,000 innovators by 2030 and helping scale their game-changing solutions across 50+ cities in the next five years.

The initiative builds on the success of Yes San Francisco (Yes SF), a collaboration between the World Economic Forum's Centre for Urban Transformation, UpLink, Deloitte, Salesforce, Citi and the SF Chamber of Commerce to support the post-pandemic recovery and revitalization of San Francisco's downtown business district. Over the last two years, Yes SF has grown into a coalition of 90+ organizations with an innovation hub in the heart of downtown, dedicated to supporting innovators working on sustainability solutions while revitalizing the city and local economy.

Boston has been selected as a next site due to its dynamic innovation landscape, leadership in climate action and health equity, and capacity for public-private collaboration.

This role will place you on the front line of working with global and local leaders to accelerate inclusive and sustainable urban development in Boston and create a replicable model for other cities.

This position will be based in Forum's New York Office with significant time spent in Boston. The role will report to the Global Ecosystem Lead based in San Francisco. It is part of a high-profile, rapidly growing team of experts at the Centre for Urban Transformation and UpLink. The Lead will collaborate closely with colleagues from the Forum's offices in New York, Geneva, and San Francisco.

The Lead will build local coalitions and manage engagement across a robust network of the Forum's existing global communities of business executives, leading academicians from the country's top research universities, government officials, start-ups, media, civil society organizations, social entrepreneurs, and affiliated centres.

Key areas of responsibility include, but are not limited to, the following :

Project Management

• Develop strategies to launch and implement the Yes Boston initiative, addressing urban development challenges through strengthened innovation ecosystems while fostering social wellbeing, economic resilience, and environmental sustainability.
• Design and manage processes to execute the strategic plan, managing and monitoring activities effectively.
• Build a coordinated engagement strategy for local stakeholders to accelerate the adoption of impactful urban innovations.

Partner and Investor Engagement

Innovation Ecosystem Development

Cross-Team Collaboration

Requirements and Experience

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!