VP, Strategic Innovation

Link Logistics Real Estate (“Link”) owns and operates the largest U.S.-only portfolio of logistics real estate, leasing warehouse space to everyone from e-commerce giants to mom-and-pop shops. Established by Blackstone in 2019, we combine scale, cutting-edge technology, and logistics expertise to help our customers grow their businesses. Our portfolio includes more than 500 million square feet in dynamic markets nationwide. About 5 percent of U.S. GDP—translating to some $1 trillion every year—flows through the space Link customers occupy in our facilities.

Because we believe that good business must be synonymous with doing good, strong environmental, social and governance practices are foundational to our identity as a firm. These practices include setting ambitious goals to combat climate change, partnering with local nonprofits, and prioritizing internal diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. We seek to use our position, ideas, and influence to drive progress in our industry and the wider world. At Link, we give our customers space to grow—and we give people space to grow, too.

We are looking for a dynamic and forward-thinking VP of Strategic Innovation to lead and drive the development of Link’s innovation and product development strategy, framework, and capabilities. The successful candidate will identify and evaluate new opportunities for growth, develop, and implement innovation systems, design new business models, and drive the development and go-to-market approach of new offerings to enhance Link’s competitive advantage.

• Define and manage the overall innovation strategy
  • Clarifying the tradeoffs the company is willing to make between the short-term exploitation of the current business and long-term exploration of new opportunities
  • Developing a point of view on what the future looks like for industrial real estate, how Link’s customer’s jobs to be done will change in that new world, and how Link should position itself to win in that marketplace
  • Defining a clear understanding of principles and areas of focus for innovation
  • Specifying the type of innovation that is important for the company to pursue and making it clear how innovation should supply value to the customers, and how we will capture value from innovation
• Define and manage the innovation framework and system
  • A set of processes and structures that define how Link searches for new problems and solutions, develops and submits ideas, evaluates the ideas, makes informed decisions on whether to move forward with the ideas, and if so, follows a systemized approach at turning these ideas into value-generating opportunities for the business (product / services development processes)
  • Develop business case templates
  • Document lessons learned from earlier products and develop a leading class approach at developing and launching future products and services
• Identify and collect innovation opportunities and ideas from the business that support Link’s innovation strategy and focus areas
• Partner with the business to take approved ideas and launch products / services
• Maintain knowledge of emerging trends and manage strategic partnerships and startup relationships
  • Engage with the venture capital and startup ecosystem (focused on those aligned with Link's areas of focus / innovation strategy) to: 1) gain access to emerging technology and business models; 2) enhance Link's competitiveness via new business opportunities and ideas for its innovation pipeline

• Typically requires 10 years of relevant work experience Finish
• MBA or relevant graduate degree is preferred
• Extensive experience with growth strategy development and execution
• Ability to design and maintain a long-term innovation roadmap
• Superior skills at designing innovation processes, capabilities, and frameworks
• Strong ability to analyze emerging trends and understand where future opportunities and threats may lie
• Experience defining customer’s jobs to be done and customer segmentation
• Strong ability to analyze ideas and recommend specific outcomes given the strategy of the firm
• Skills in designing and building business cases including financial models
• Proven experience in leading and driving innovation initiatives, including the development and implementation of new products, services, and business models
• Ability to handle projects with multiple workstreams, with proven leadership success over a wide variety of functional business problems
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with demonstrated intellectual and analytical rigor
• Executive presence and ability to clearly communicate compelling messages to senior managers and external business partners
• Strong relationship management skills
• Team oriented, collaborative, diplomatic, and flexible, with excellent presentation skills, including strong oral and writing capabilities
• Experience and desire to work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment
• Ability to synthesize complex issues and communicate into a simple message
• Experience in and/or significant exposure to the real estate startup industry (commonly referred to as Proptech) is a nice-to-have

EEO Statement

Our company is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Our employment decisions are based on individual qualifications, job requirements and business needs without regard to race, color, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, age, religion, disability, citizenship status, national origin, pregnancy, veteran status and or any other legally protected characteristics. We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations, if you need an accommodation to complete the application process, please email employment@linklogistics.com

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