# Director of IdeaLab [Hillel](https://gurify.com/jobs?q=Hillel) · New York, United States · Posted 2 days ago Hybrid Full-time Director [Apply on the original posting → (opens in a new tab)](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/hillel/jobs/4752782005) ## Job description ### Director of IdeaLab ### Atra: Center for Rabbinic Innovation - Reports to our Chief Innovation and Impact Officer - Full-time; Salary range $100,000 - $120,000, plus competitive benefits - Hybrid; Local to NYC preferred, or the ability to be in NYC regularly; Qualified candidates outside NYC considered - Application Deadline is Friday, December 11 ### Who We Are Working at Atra: Center for Rabbinic Innovation means joining a dynamic team committed to strengthening rabbinic leadership and supporting a thriving Jewish future. Atra equips rabbis, and the ecosystem that supports them, to grow, adapt, and lead the Jewish people in a rapidly changing world. We envision a future where every Jew and seeker can call someone “my rabbi” and, in that relationship, find wisdom, care, guidance, and connection to a living tradition. Jewish life depends on great rabbis, yet too few people are entering the rabbinate and too many who do leave because of isolation and a lack of support. Atra works to change that. We are the leading pluralistic platform advancing rabbinic leadership across North America. In five years, we have trained and supported more than 850 clergy ordained at over a dozen seminaries, and reached more than 300,000 members of the Jewish community through their work. Atra is fiscally sponsored by Hillel International. ### The Position Reporting to our Chief Innovation and Impact Officer, the Director of IdeaLab leads Atra’s work to strengthen the ecosystem of rabbinic leadership and the rabbinic pipeline. This role advances Atra’s strategic priority of research and experimentation (today called the Rabbinic IdeaLab): promising ideas are tested in real settings, and what is learned is put to use in Atra’s programs, by seminaries and employers, and by funders. This is one of three Director positions on Atra’s Innovation & Impact team, which reports to our Chief Innovation and Impact Officer, and works together to carry out Atra’s strategic plan. The work takes many forms. The Director identifies promising ideas and runs pilots in real settings, in partnership with the rabbis, seminaries, employers, and funders that make those pilots possible, and helps establish a clear, shared process for how Atra and its partners collaborate and coordinate across the field. The aim is for experimentation to become a shared practice across the field that produces lasting change for a thriving rabbinate, not a one-off effort by Atra. Sometimes Atra leads; sometimes our greatest contribution is to catalyze others. Within the strategy set by Atra’s leadership, the Director spots needs, leads the work, and recommends what is worth exploring, advancing, handing to another owner, or setting down. Research and evaluation help the field learn from this work and put it to use. The Director oversees Atra’s contracted research and evaluation partners and does not need to be a researcher or evaluator, but they need a strong point of view on why research and evaluation matter and keep them a priority in every pilot and program. ### Who You Are The ideal Director of IdeaLab is an entrepreneurial builder and clear thinker who has created new things in complicated, multi-stakeholder settings, and who is just as energized helping others test and build their own ideas. They bring a track record of taking an ambiguous problem from a rough idea to a pilot, a decision, and real learning, and they are excited to define what rigorous but practical experimentation looks like for the rabbinic field. They are curious, collaborative, and proactive, comfortable moving between exploring and executing and between big-picture questions and the practical first step, and motivated by strengthening the field as a whole. ### Key Responsibilities ### Research & Pilot Portfolio - Scope, plan, and run several pilots and experiments at once, at different stages: framing a question, designing a test, running it, interpreting results, and finding a mature project its next home - Spot needs and opportunities, and recommend to the Chief Innovation and Impact Officer what to explore, advance, hand off, or stop - Oversee Atra’s large-scale, fieldwide research on the big questions facing the rabbinic field, working with contracted research and evaluation experts and outside research firms - Ensure research findings are synthesized, translated into clear and actionable insights for the field, and connected to the IdeaLab’s learning, experiments, and priorities, with support from the Chief Innovation and Impact Officer and external research partners ### Learning Across Atra and the Field - Ensure evaluation is a priority across Atra’s work, and build practical, lightweight ways to capture learning in real time, including from the pilots of partners and stakeholders, gathering feedback and noticing patterns as they emerge - Turn what we learn into clear takeaways (what worked, what didn’t, what is still open) and bring them into decisions and next steps at Atra - Share learnings with the field through briefs, cases, tools, and convenings, so what we learn is used well beyond Atra ### Partners & Field Collaboration - Build trust with rabbis, seminaries, employers, researchers, and funders, and help them shape and test their own new ideas, including defining what success looks like - Help shape a clear process for how Atra and its partners coordinate pilots and collaborations across the field, and manage the consultants and partners who carry them out ### Integration Across Atra’s Work - Supply tested approaches and findings to the Director of Learning and Practice to build into curriculum, and draw on what facilitators and participants observe to decide what to study next - Partner with the Director of Network and Partnerships to find pilot sites and partners and learn what the field is asking for - Manage the IdeaLab budget and help inform annual budget planning - Support fundraising by sharing findings with funders and the board and identifying new opportunities, alongside development and communications colleagues ### The Innovation & Impact Team Each director of Atra’s Innovation & Impact team owns one pillar of Atra’s 2025–2028 strategic plan, and the three pillars work as one system: - Learn. IdeaLab studies what helps rabbis enter the rabbinate, stay, and thrive, and tests new approaches. - Teach. Learning and Practice (Atra Academy) turns what we learn into learning that changes how rabbis lead. - Connect. Network and Partnerships (the Atra Rabbinic Network), led by Rabbi Maddie Cooper, keeps rabbis and institutions in relationship, so good ideas travel and we hear what the field needs next. Our directors listen closely to the field, test bold ideas, and grow what works. They share one picture of the field and plan priorities together, including what to stop. ### Core Competencies Every director on the team brings these shared competencies, alongside those specific to the role. - Rabbi-centered judgment: Starts from what rabbis and their communities need; earns credibility across denominations. - Learning and evidence orientation: Decides using evidence and participant feedback, and changes course when needed. - Cross-pillar collaboration: Shares learning early, plans handoffs with peers, and measures success by Atra’s whole impact. - Ownership and prioritization: Holds a portfolio from idea to result and makes clear choices about what matters most now. - Relationship-building across the Jewish world: Builds trust across denominations, institutions, and perspectives, and treats disagreement as information. - Leading collaboratively: Gets results with consultants, partners, and colleagues by setting clear expectations and building buy-in, including where there is no formal authority. - Vision and entrepreneurial building: Sees what the field needs before it’s obvious, tests ideas, builds out what works, and helps others do the same; comfortable with ambiguity and willing to stop what isn’t working. ### Specific to this role - Strategic Inquiry & Learning Design: Turns a broad concern into a testable question; values research and evaluation, keeps them high on Atra’s agenda, and builds findings into decisions. - Experimentation & Project Leadership: Moves ambiguous, multi-stakeholder work from idea to proposal, launch, and a clear recommendation to grow, adapt, hand off, or stop. Able to hold the details and the process. - Synthesizing & Translating: Writes and speaks clearly about complex findings, making field insights practical and useful. ### Qualifications ### Required - 5–8 years of experience in Jewish communal, nonprofit, or related settings - A track record of building and piloting new programs, tools, or partnerships from scratch, with multiple stakeholders at the table and no existing playbook - Demonstrated skill in building trust with people of differing perspectives and backgrounds, and in connecting them to one another through relationship-building and facilitation - Strong writing and synthesis skills, and the ability to turn many conversations into a decision others can use - A proven commitment to research and evaluation and how they inform decisions; subject-matter expertise is not required - Familiarity with the rabbinic landscape and broader Jewish communal ecosystem ### Preferred - Rabbinic ordination, or equivalent experience in direct work with rabbis and/or institutions that sustain Jewish spiritual leadership - Experience helping others build and test new ideas, including shaping a pilot, defining what success looks like, and deciding what to scale, adapt, or stop - Experience convening senior professionals and field leaders to learn or collaborate strategically - Experience managing consultants or contracted partners and a project or program budget - Local candidates in the NYC area who can work in a Hybrid office model ### What We Offer A competitive salary in the nonprofit marketplace. The **Live in Hillel’s hiring system.** Read from the company's own applicant tracking system, not reposted from a job board — so it's a real, open requisition rather than an ad that outlived the role. 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Atra equips rabbis, and the ecosystem that supports them, to grow, adapt, and lead the Jewish people in a rapidly changing world. We envision a future where every Jew and seeker can call someone \u201Cmy rabbi\u201D and, in that relationship, find wisdom, care, guidance, and connection to a living tradition.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJewish life depends on great rabbis, yet too few people are entering the rabbinate and too many who do leave because of isolation and a lack of support. Atra works to change that. We are the leading pluralistic platform advancing rabbinic leadership across North America. In five years, we have trained and supported more than 850 clergy ordained at over a dozen seminaries, and reached more than 300,000 members of the Jewish community through their work. Atra is fiscally sponsored by Hillel International.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003EThe Position\u003C/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EReporting to our Chief Innovation and Impact Officer, the Director of IdeaLab leads Atra\u2019s work to strengthen the ecosystem of rabbinic leadership and the rabbinic pipeline. This role advances Atra\u2019s strategic priority of research and experimentation (today called the Rabbinic IdeaLab): promising ideas are tested in real settings, and what is learned is put to use in Atra\u2019s programs, by seminaries and employers, and by funders. This is one of three Director positions on Atra\u2019s Innovation \u0026amp; Impact team, which reports to our Chief Innovation and Impact Officer, and works together to carry out Atra\u2019s strategic plan.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe work takes many forms. The Director identifies promising ideas and runs pilots in real settings, in partnership with the rabbis, seminaries, employers, and funders that make those pilots possible, and helps establish a clear, shared process for how Atra and its partners collaborate and coordinate across the field. The aim is for experimentation to become a shared practice across the field that produces lasting change for a thriving rabbinate, not a one-off effort by Atra. Sometimes Atra leads; sometimes our greatest contribution is to catalyze others. Within the strategy set by Atra\u2019s leadership, the Director spots needs, leads the work, and recommends what is worth exploring, advancing, handing to another owner, or setting down.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EResearch and evaluation help the field learn from this work and put it to use. The Director oversees Atra\u2019s contracted research and evaluation partners and does not need to be a researcher or evaluator, but they need a strong point of view on why research and evaluation matter and keep them a priority in every pilot and program.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003EWho You Are\u003C/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe ideal Director of IdeaLab is an entrepreneurial builder and clear thinker who has created new things in complicated, multi-stakeholder settings, and who is just as energized helping others test and build their own ideas. They bring a track record of taking an ambiguous problem from a rough idea to a pilot, a decision, and real learning, and they are excited to define what rigorous but practical experimentation looks like for the rabbinic field. They are curious, collaborative, and proactive, comfortable moving between exploring and executing and between big-picture questions and the practical first step, and motivated by strengthening the field as a whole.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003EKey Responsibilities\u003C/h3\u003E\u003Ch3\u003EResearch \u0026amp; Pilot Portfolio\u003C/h3\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EScope, plan, and run several pilots and experiments at once, at different stages: framing a question, designing a test, running it, interpreting results, and finding a mature project its next home\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003ESpot needs and opportunities, and recommend to the Chief Innovation and Impact Officer what to explore, advance, hand off, or stop\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EOversee Atra\u2019s large-scale, fieldwide research on the big questions facing the rabbinic field, working with contracted research and evaluation experts and outside research firms\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EEnsure research findings are synthesized, translated into clear and actionable insights for the field, and connected to the IdeaLab\u2019s learning, experiments, and priorities, with support from the Chief Innovation and Impact Officer and external research partners\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Ch3\u003ELearning Across Atra and the Field\u003C/h3\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EEnsure evaluation is a priority across Atra\u2019s work, and build practical, lightweight ways to capture learning in real time, including from the pilots of partners and stakeholders, gathering feedback and noticing patterns as they emerge\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003ETurn what we learn into clear takeaways (what worked, what didn\u2019t, what is still open) and bring them into decisions and next steps at Atra\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EShare learnings with the field through briefs, cases, tools, and convenings, so what we learn is used well beyond Atra\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Ch3\u003EPartners \u0026amp; Field Collaboration\u003C/h3\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EBuild trust with rabbis, seminaries, employers, researchers, and funders, and help them shape and test their own new ideas, including defining what success looks like\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EHelp shape a clear process for how Atra and its partners coordinate pilots and collaborations across the field, and manage the consultants and partners who carry them out\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Ch3\u003EIntegration Across Atra\u2019s Work\u003C/h3\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003ESupply tested approaches and findings to the Director of Learning and Practice to build into curriculum, and draw on what facilitators and participants observe to decide what to study next\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EPartner with the Director of Network and Partnerships to find pilot sites and partners and learn what the field is asking for\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EManage the IdeaLab budget and help inform annual budget planning\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003ESupport fundraising by sharing findings with funders and the board and identifying new opportunities, alongside development and communications colleagues\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Ch3\u003EThe Innovation \u0026amp; Impact Team\u003C/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEach director of Atra\u2019s Innovation \u0026amp; Impact team owns one pillar of Atra\u2019s 2025\u20132028 strategic plan, and the three pillars work as one system:\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003ELearn. IdeaLab studies what helps rabbis enter the rabbinate, stay, and thrive, and tests new approaches.\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003ETeach. Learning and Practice (Atra Academy) turns what we learn into learning that changes how rabbis lead.\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EConnect. Network and Partnerships (the Atra Rabbinic Network), led by Rabbi Maddie Cooper, keeps rabbis and institutions in relationship, so good ideas travel and we hear what the field needs next.\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOur directors listen closely to the field, test bold ideas, and grow what works. They share one picture of the field and plan priorities together, including what to stop.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003ECore Competencies\u003C/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEvery director on the team brings these shared competencies, alongside those specific to the role.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003ERabbi-centered judgment: Starts from what rabbis and their communities need; earns credibility across denominations.\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003ELearning and evidence orientation: Decides using evidence and participant feedback, and changes course when needed.\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003ECross-pillar collaboration: Shares learning early, plans handoffs with peers, and measures success by Atra\u2019s whole impact.\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EOwnership and prioritization: Holds a portfolio from idea to result and makes clear choices about what matters most now.\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003ERelationship-building across the Jewish world: Builds trust across denominations, institutions, and perspectives, and treats disagreement as information.\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003ELeading collaboratively: Gets results with consultants, partners, and colleagues by setting clear expectations and building buy-in, including where there is no formal authority.\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EVision and entrepreneurial building: Sees what the field needs before it\u2019s obvious, tests ideas, builds out what works, and helps others do the same; comfortable with ambiguity and willing to stop what isn\u2019t working.\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Ch3\u003ESpecific to this role\u003C/h3\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EStrategic Inquiry \u0026amp; Learning Design: Turns a broad concern into a testable question; values research and evaluation, keeps them high on Atra\u2019s agenda, and builds findings into decisions.\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EExperimentation \u0026amp; Project Leadership: Moves ambiguous, multi-stakeholder work from idea to proposal, launch, and a clear recommendation to grow, adapt, hand off, or stop. Able to hold the details and the process.\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003ESynthesizing \u0026amp; Translating: Writes and speaks clearly about complex findings, making field insights practical and useful.\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Ch3\u003EQualifications\u003C/h3\u003E\u003Ch3\u003ERequired\u003C/h3\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E5\u20138 years of experience in Jewish communal, nonprofit, or related settings\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EA track record of building and piloting new programs, tools, or partnerships from scratch, with multiple stakeholders at the table and no existing playbook\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EDemonstrated skill in building trust with people of differing perspectives and backgrounds, and in connecting them to one another through relationship-building and facilitation\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EStrong writing and synthesis skills, and the ability to turn many conversations into a decision others can use\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EA proven commitment to research and evaluation and how they inform decisions; subject-matter expertise is not required\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EFamiliarity with the rabbinic landscape and broader Jewish communal ecosystem\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Ch3\u003EPreferred\u003C/h3\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003ERabbinic ordination, or equivalent experience in direct work with rabbis and/or institutions that sustain Jewish spiritual leadership\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EExperience helping others build and test new ideas, including shaping a pilot, defining what success looks like, and deciding what to scale, adapt, or stop\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EExperience convening senior professionals and field leaders to learn or collaborate strategically\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EExperience managing consultants or contracted partners and a project or program budget\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003ELocal candidates in the NYC area who can work in a Hybrid office model\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Ch3\u003EWhat We Offer\u003C/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA competitive salary in the nonprofit marketplace. 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