Neighborhood Investment Lead
Neighborhood Investment Lead
Invest STL is expanding its team and hiring its first Neighborhood Investment Lead. The position focuses on Invest STL’s neighborhood investee partners and leads our Neighborhood Solidarity Partners, the primary liaisons and “guides on the side” to our neighborhood investee partners, who each support investment relationships within a distinct set of neighborhoods.
Applications will be accepted through October 13, 2025.
Background
Invest STL facilitates investment in the power of people and their neighborhoods to create communities of justice and opportunity in places that continue to endure the legacy of systemic anti-Black racism. We seek to do this by generating trust-based, community-driven, neighborhood-based investments; investing in the regional community and economic development system; influencing policies and decision-making that advance equitable development; and reframing prevailing narratives in our region about predominantly Black neighborhoods and the people, power, challenges and dreams that they hold. Catch a glimpse of who we are and how we work here.
Reporting to the CEO and serving as a member of our leadership team, the Neighborhood Investment Lead will supervise neighborhood investment staff members as well as assist in strengthening investee relationships and building strategic community partnerships. This is a great opportunity for a community leader who cares deeply about creating a just and thriving St. Louis. You will have the opportunity to help expand the impact of a well-respected and growing organization; to show bold, demonstrated impact of your community investment efforts; and to cultivate and grow a team of dedicated professionals.
The Neighborhood Investment Lead (NIL) will lead and inform our own engagement, partnerships, investments, and accountability in neighborhoods by embracing our emerging mindset of stepping down from the paternalistic hilltop of traditional philanthropy that knows what’s best and rigidly dictating terms; stepping back to watch, learn, and take direction from our investment recipient partners as we support their vision for neighborhood transformation; and lifting up the will, work, and wonderment of our partners to our regional community.
Position Responsibilities
Grow + Evolve Our Neighborhood Investment Strategy + Partnerships
Lead the development of internal methods for identifying and selecting neighborhoods and anchors for investment.
Identify opportunities within the region to initiate new investment partnerships.
Audit existing investee partnership management processes and tools for inefficiencies and undue burden on investee partners and iterate when necessary.
Lead the development and integration of new tools and processes to aid neighborhood investment partnerships.
Identify and cultivate relationships with aligned grantmakers and neighborhood-based organizations across the country to learn from and contribute to.
Support Investee Partnerships to Strengthen Investee Capacity
Establish and maintain open, honest, dignity-filled relationships with investee partners (traditionally referred to as grantees) and technical assistance contractors.
Coordinate mutual agreements with investee partners and contractors including budget, disbursements, and progress assessment schedules.
Identify and implement accountability standards of all partners, including Invest STL, to collectively establish expectations for each investment neighborhood.
Build and uphold deep working relationships and communication with investee partners and their network to understand progress, challenges, learnings, and when you are—or are not—needed for solution building.
Manage and track budget reallocation and investment extensions and adaptations for investee partners.
Extend connections to regional actors, initiatives, and resources to support investee partners at their prompting.
Collaborate with investee partners and contractors to navigate anticipated and unanticipated challenges to support neighborhood-driven transformation.
Be a listening ear and offer guidance and resources to investees and internal team when they are navigating challenges internally and within their neighborhood’s ecosystem.
Evaluate alignment of progress to shared expectations, milestones and expenditures for each investee partnership and support adaptation of investment terms when needed.
Support Regional Narrative Re-Framing
Following the lead of and with permission from investee partners, lift up neighborhood narratives of people, place and power to our broader regional community.
Collaborate with the Narrative + Communications team by sharing stories, lessons learned, and progress from our partnerships.
Inform Policy Recommendations and Advocacy
Lifting up observations and learnings from investee partners, inform Invest STL’s priorities and activities for regional policy recommendations and advocacy to advance equitable neighborhood development.
Inform System Investments
Lifting up observations and learnings from investee partners, inform Invest STL’s priorities and activities for regional community and economic development system investments to advance equitable neighborhood development.
Team Development/Management
Lead the Neighborhood Investment team to support the development of annual work plans and priorities, investee partnerships and implementation of investee strategy.
Promote a culture of intention, creativity, and excellence rooted in learning and iterating for growth.
Mentor and develop staff using a supportive and collaborative approach on a consistent basis.
Oversee the day-to-day activities of the neighborhood investing team functions, including setting workflow and team processes, allocating division of labor, advising and implementing work team budget, and staff development.
Cultivate a team with distinct expertise that can be leveraged for support across our growing neighborhood investment portfolio.
Other Duties
Be available for occasional night and weekend work with investee partners.
Contribute to building out the culture of Invest STL in collaboration with the team.
Serve as a thought partner by representing and speaking on Neighborhood Investing and approach in panels, conferences, and other knowledge sharing settings.
Inform and contribute to Invest STL’s evolving ways of working and commitment to embracing our guiding principles—and calling us in when intent and impact are not aligned.
Carry out special projects as organizational needs and individual interest/expertise align.
Critical Qualifications
The chosen candidate will have a notable track record of building and leveraging relationships within and among a diverse group of stakeholders in a community setting with a focus on long-term outcomes. To start, the candidate will meet these critical qualifications:
Operational understanding of and commitment to racial equity and justice.
Excellent relationship-building skills, including humility, a listening and learning posture, discretion, trust-building, and working through challenges collaboratively to an acceptable resolution.
Experience as both an effective strategic and innovative thinker while being able to translate strategy into actionable plans and output
Demonstrable experience as an effective meeting and process facilitator for complex topics and circumstances involving a diverse set of perspectives and participants who are not always aligned on priorities.
Demonstrated ability to support groups in noticing conflict and navigating it productively.
Experience effectively managing and being accountable for timelines and deliverables.
Patience and astuteness for the politics of people-centered work.
Stamina and will to endeavor in work where success isn’t instantaneous or absolute but progresses over time with small but meaningful gains that you can build on.
Strong self-awareness of how you show up with others.
Firm understanding of your personal boundaries for maintaining a work-life balance that is healthy for you and supports you consistently meeting the expectations of the role.
Demonstrated ability to exercise sound judgment, initiative, and tact when interacting with colleagues, our community, partners and elected officials.
Experience building, mentoring, and coaching a team; ability to influence and engage direct and indirect reports and peers.
Desired Qualities
Additionally, we are seeking out candidates with a combination of at least 2 or more of these desired qualities:
Training in trauma and healing informed service delivery.
Background in urban/community planning or community and real estate development.
Working knowledge of equitable development principles and processes.
Foundation in community-based social work.
Knowledge of nonprofit management and operations.
Experience designing and carrying out culturally competent, creative, and effective community engagement efforts.
Experience with grant management and evaluation.
Experience managing consultants and agreed upon scopes of work.
Finally, we are seeking out candidates that are competent in and have the mindset for:
Fulfilling Invest STL’s mission and vision for the St. Louis region
Being a proactive and resourceful problem solver and motivated vs. halted by complexity in systems, relationships, and work products
Building relationships with humility, leading with a listening and learning posture, and operating with discretion
Engaging productively and with grace in a team environment
Compensation and Benefits
The salary range for this full-time position is $85,000 - 98,000. The starting salary range is $85,000 - 96,700. To support pay equity, the starting salary will be our highest and best offer based on experience, qualifications, and record of achievement without negotiations.
Invest STL covers 100% of medical, dental, and vision insurance for employees and 50% for dependents. Unlimited PTO, 401(k) match, disability and life insurance, an individual professional development and technology budget, Employee Assistance Program, as well as additional services and benefits from our PEO are part of the total compensation package.
Team Culture
We are a growing team transitioning from startup to standout. We do our best, and sometimes we fall short. We aim to be thoughtful and courageous in our work. We relish a work environment that inspires and supports us to grow personally and professionally. We understand that our work, which we are deeply committed to, is but one component of our multifaceted lives.
We maintain a hybrid work schedule, operating from our office, homes, and elsewhere as the work permits. We meet as a full team in person on Thursdays. We are a highly collaborative team. Our culture is best suited for team members who are able to receive direction on work scope and expectations, then enjoy having the space to design, manage, and be accountable for their own approach to meeting expectations within an agreed upon timeline. We use Trello, Google Workspace, Outlook, and Teams to manage workflows and progress towards quarterly and annual work plans.
Application and Additional Information
Applications will be accepted through October 13, 2025.
Please submit:
Your resume.
A personal narrative on your commitment and practice towards racial equity, justice and healing, particularly through the field of community building/development.
Written responses to the following prompts (within the online application):
How do you approach prioritizing and balancing learning for a team and for individuals?
How do you sustain your will and commitment when progress can feel like two steps forward, one step back?
*Invest STL is very much interested in your original thoughts and responses. Answers will be screened, and candidates will be disqualified, for AI-generated responses.
We will evaluate candidates in three rounds from October 20 - November 7, 2025, with the most aligned candidates for our needs progressing each round. An initial de-identified review of all applications will occur, followed by two rounds of interviews. We anticipate our new team members to start on or near December 1, 2025.
In alignment with Invest STL’s intent on building the capacity and strength of partnering organizations, Invest STL will not recruit personnel from organizations that are active partners or recipients of funding from Invest STL. Exceptions to this principle, though rare, may be individually considered.
Invest STL prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type and affords equal employment opportunities to team members and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Invest STL conforms to the spirit as well as to the letter of all applicable laws and regulations. Invest STL prioritizes diversity in many forms in the workplace and celebrates it in our community.
During the open application period, we request that applicants refrain from contacting staff directly with questions or requests regarding the position or application process. To ensure fairness and transparency, all communications and questions related to the position and application process should be directed to Invest STL at info@investstl.org.