Company description

The Rockefeller Foundation is a pioneering philanthropy built on collaborative partnerships at the frontiers of science, technology, and innovation that enable individuals, families, and communities to flourish. We make big bets to promote the well-being of humanity in food, health, energy, and finance, including through our public charity, RF Catalytic Capital (RFCC). For more information, sign up for our newsletter at www.rockefellerfoundation.org/subscribe and follow us on X @RockefellerFdn and LinkedIn @the-rockefeller-foundation.

Job description

Position Overview

The Director plays a crucial part in the Foundation’s Food is Medicine (FIM) initiative, a $100M effort to integrate healthy food and nutrition programs into healthcare to improve health outcomes, enhance nutrition security, reduce costs, and support sustainable food systems. Based in New York and reporting to the Vice President, Food, the role shapes strategy and execution for FIM, including grantmaking, partnerships, and cross-functional collaboration. It also drives thought leadership through convenings, research agendas, and publications that elevate science and success stories. The Director will manage a Program Associate on the FIM team, as well as occasional graduate interns and/or consultants.

This role is based in New York, NY, and requires being in the office on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.

Hiring Range: $172,051 - $193,600. This represents the present low and high ends of the Foundation’s pay range for this position. Actual pay will vary based on various factors, including but not limited to experience.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

• Strategically design and lead new and existing program areas within the FIM initiative, ensuring alignment with organizational priorities and leveraging the FIM market to advance local, regenerative, and ‘good food’ producers.
• Forge and sustain key partnerships at both community and national levels to drive market growth and impact, including deepening the FIM team's collaborations with the private sector and leaders in the food supply chain.
• Translate complex systems-change opportunities into actionable, multi-year strategies and initiatives. Oversee the sourcing, structuring, and stewardship of grants, investments, and partnerships that deliver measurable impact and advance the Foundation’s mission.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders, ensuring strategic coherence across the Foundation’s food, FIM, and U.S. portfolios. Champion alignment of program objectives with broader organizational goals and assets, including Communications and convenings.
• Serve as a recognized thought leader and RF representative in FIM, food supply chains, good food procurement, and food policy. Influence external discourse and policy through high-level engagement and expertise.
• Deliver strategic communications—written and verbal—on program strategy, outcomes, and impact to diverse internal and external audiences. Represent the Foundation through published works, public speaking, media interviews, and thought leadership platforms.
• Lead high-priority collaborations with public sector leaders (state and federal), private sector partners (investors, companies), and non-profit organizations (researchers, advocates) to advance shared objectives and systemic change.
• Curate and mobilize a network of experts, influencers, and practitioners to inform strategy and accelerate impact, with a focus on FIM, food systems, and nutrition.
• Build and maintain trust-based relationships, managing complex, multi-partner initiatives and multi-workstream efforts to achieve measurable outcomes.
• Recruit and engage additional funders to co-invest with the Foundation, amplifying resources and accelerating progress toward shared goals.
• Oversee a robust grant portfolio, including the identification and onboarding of new grantees, the development of grant scopes, and the effective management of ongoing relationships to advance FIM strategies.
• Champion a culture of accountability and continuous improvement by supporting monitoring, learning, and evaluation plans across the team.
• Drive operational excellence and ‘OneRF’ collaboration, overseeing budgeting, grant making, and internal reporting for the FIM team.
• Ensure timely and high-quality execution of grant-making and strategic processes, independently advancing workstreams and effectively communicating progress to senior leadership.
• Lead and be accountable for select initiative-wide processes as delegated by the VP, such as equitable grant-making commitments for the Food team, ensuring alignment with organizational values and strategic priorities.

Education, Experience, and Skills

• Generally expected to have at least 10 years of progressive leadership experience in Food is Medicine, food entrepreneurship, food/agriculture supply chains, and social impact within food systems.
• Significant experience working with the private sector and food/agricultural markets, with a track record of advancing strategic initiatives and partnerships.
• Bachelor’s degree in a related field.
• Demonstrated expertise in navigating the U.S. food system and/or nutrition interventions, including building and sustaining public-private partnerships with senior leaders at national, state, and local levels, spanning diverse communities and geographies.
• Proven success in developing, leading, and implementing multi-party projects with clear objectives, deliverables, and robust monitoring and evaluation frameworks.
• Entrepreneurial mindset and demonstrated ability to drive work forward in evolving, ambiguous environments; comfortable adapting responsibilities and approaches as strategy develops.
• Strategic relationship builder, able to engage and influence senior stakeholders across sectors.
• Strong analytical, communication, and project management skills, with a focus on measurable impact and continuous improvement.
• Willingness and ability to travel domestically as needed to advance program objectives.

Qualifications and Competencies

• Balances Stakeholders: Anticipates and balances the needs of multiple stakeholders.
• Develops Talent: Develops people to meet both their career goals and the organization’s goals.
• Directs Work: Provides direction, delegating, and removing obstacles to get work done.
• Manages Complexity: Makes sense of complex, high quantity, and sometimes contradictory information to effectively solve problems.
• Values Differences: Recognizes the value of different perspectives, commits to being self-aware and respectful, and seeks to learn from new and different voices.

Compensation

this position is: salaried, more than $100,000

Application instructions

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Deadline

no deadline