Job Description:

Equal Opportunity Employer/Veterans/Disabled


Portland State University


Position Details
Position Details

Proposed Start Date	02/03/2025
Classification Title	Field, Research, and Outreach Services
Rank	N - No Rank
Working Title	Innovation Hub Program Navigator
Department	400311 - STP Ctr f/Innovatn & Entrepreneursp
Position Number	D93501
Representation	AU - AAUP
Renewable	Nonrenewable beyond - 06/30/2025
End date, if applicable	06/30/2025
Position FTE	1.0
Tenure Status	F - Fixed Term

Position Summary

Brief Description of PSU/School/Dept	Portland State University is on the frontline of developing new ideas, technologies and programming that focus on addressing the major issues of the 21st century. Propel PSU believes entrepreneurship and commercialization increase the impact of innovative ideas. That’s why we partner with students, faculty members and client companies—to provide the wrap-around resources and support that grow ideas into positive impacts that transform Portland and beyond. For information about the Metro Region Innovation Hub (the Hub), please visithttps://www.pdx.edu/research/psu-and-metro-region-partners-receive-140k-grant-develop-regional-innovation-hub
Position Summary	Portland State University facilitates and hosts the Metro Region Innovation Hub (the Hub), which launched in Summer 2024. Funded by Business Oregon and other community partners, the Hub serves the tri-county Metro area and provides regional entrepreneurs from all sectors, backgrounds, and business stages with accessible paths to all existing regional resources in networking, coaching, education, and capital access in order to foster and grow innovation-based businesses. An invisible driver of success for many entrepreneurial ecosystems is local connectors who know what resources are available and the criteria for accessing them, and who regularly talk to entrepreneurs and provide intros to access those resources. For many communities, however, there are too few of those people, disparities in who can access those people (e.g. in terms of race and gender), and the labor for people who take on those roles is often informal and uncompensated. The Hub directly invests in that driver with a closely coordinated team of visible and knowledgeable Navigators that any entrepreneur can easily and equitably access. The Hub Navigators will fill this role for the Hub. Navigators will, at a high level, acquire and maintain relationships with and knowledge of regional ecosystem resources and providers, meet and assess the needs of individuals and small companies in the region, refer or case-manage those entrepreneurs to regional resources and providers, and follow up with these engagements to ensure and “map” out what is most effective. They will also drive resource deployment in other Hub programs by uncovering emergent needs among entrepreneurs in the region. Navigators should be familiar with the Hub’s service priorities for both innovation-based, traded sector businesses and for equity and accessibility for communities who may not have known about or taken advantage of regional resources. Navigators should have excellent cross-cultural communication competence. Navigators serve as leaders and experts for the Hub programs, managing unique and challenging issues that have significant impact on the Hub and the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem. They may lead other employees and students in executing these programs. Their work will be guided by overall objectives but may have minimal day to day supervision, and they will need to make decisions with a high level of professional judgment based on loose guidelines. Keeping a current inventory of ecosystem resources and guiding people and small companies through them requires complex and specialized knowledge and execution, and each task and engagement may be diverse and unpredictable. The ability to flexibly and creatively adapt technical know-how to novel situations is a must. They will help set Hub objectives and related milestones in collaboration with the Hub director and oversight board. Successful navigators will be highly organized and milestone-driven, but also natural connectors and able to easily translate between “entrepreneurship”, “business”, and “normal” ways of addressing innovative and business ideas. Duties: Referrals and Case Management. Continuously connect entrepreneurs and companies to timely and relevant resources – including connecting them to other Navigator-like programs – with warm introductions. In some cases introductions will be as a referral, and in others follow through and a case management approach will be required. Both this and the previous Assessment task may require acting as a limited-time coach and mentor to the entrepreneurs and companies. Regional Inventory. Create, maintain, and publicly make available a map and inventory of existing resources and data, including capital, startups, programs, and services. Acquire and maintain relationships with and continuously updated knowledge of regional ecosystem resources and providers. Work with Hub community liaisons to ensure resources in marginalized communities are visible, shared, and utilized. Outreach and Assessment. Conduct outreach and needs assessments with entrepreneurs on an ongoing basis. Navigators, in cooperation with communication efforts and partner networks, will find and meet with entrepreneurs of any background, business stage, or sector and in cooperation with them create an assessment of their current gaps and needs. The outreach for the Hub will have a focus on marginalized communities and an emphasis on traveling to entrepreneurs where they are. Monitoring. Monitor the efficacy of connections made and resources deployed and map how startups navigate resources over time thereby collecting hard data on what pathways to success look like in practice. Design and execute data collection as required by funders and the Hub oversight board. Program Management and Strategy Development. Alone or via management of other Hub employees, manage the other resource-deployment programs of the Hub based on community and ecosystem emergent needs. Make and aid in decisions on what people and programs to fund through these resources. Develop strategies to regularly update workflows and address gaps in systems and processes.
Minimum Qualifications	Bachelor’s degree in a related field of study and 4 or more years of professional experience, or Master’s degree with 2+ years within functional area, or equivalent experience.
Preferred Qualifications	Deep experience within the metro region entrepreneurial ecosystem. Experience with coaching entrepreneurs and/or small companies Experience in high volume customer service roles Demonstrated organizational skills
Key Cultural Competencies	Creates an environment that acknowledges, encourages and celebrates differences. Functions and communicates effectively and respectfully within the context of varying beliefs, behaviors, orientations, identities and cultural backgrounds. Seeks opportunities to gain experience working and collaborating in diverse, multicultural, and inclusive settings with a willingness to change for continual improvement Adheres to all PSU’s policies including the policies on Prohibited Discrimination & Harassment and the Professional Standards of Conduct.
Environmental Stewardship	Contributes to a culture of environmental stewardship, practices resource conservation, and actively works toward achieving long-term sustainability goals.
Work Days/Hours	Monday-Friday, 8am - 5pm, and some nights and weekends
Total Compensation Range & Benefits Statement	The starting annual salary for this position will be between $61,536 and $69,228, but may be negotiated above this range dependent upon the factors above, the budget of the hiring department, and approval from HR. An excellent benefits package includes 95% premium paid healthcare; a generous retirement and vacation package; and reduced tuition rates for employee, spouse or dependent at any of the Oregon University System schools : https://www.pdx.edu/human-resources/benefits-overview Please visit our total compensation calculator to see the full value of our benefits package :https://www.pdx.edu/human-resources/psu-total-compensation-calculator

Search Details

Posting Close Date
Projected Close Date for Posting	Open Until Finalists Identified
Application screening begins	01/03/2025
Quick Link	https://jobs.hrc.pdx.edu/postings/46454

Supplemental Questions

Required fields are indicated with an asterisk (*).

1. * What is your highest degree earned?

   (Open Ended Question)

2. * Please name the specific field/discipline in which you received your degree.

   (Open Ended Question)

3. * Do you have the ability to work a flexible schedule, as needed (this may include occasional work on evenings and weekends)?
   • Yes
   • No
4. * How did you first find out about this position?
   • PSU Website
   • Indeed.com
   • HERCJobs
   • Urban League of Portland
   • Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber
   • Oregon Employment Department
   • Social Media
   • Person Referral
   • Career Builder
   • Glass Door
   • Other - Please describe in the next Question
5. If you selected Other, please describe.

   (Open Ended Question)

Applicant Documents
Required Documents

1. Resume
2. Cover Letter
3. Professional References

Optional Documents

PI259217848

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