Associate, Procurement Innovation

**Associate, Procurement Innovation** Location: Flexible within the U.S. but requires access to a major U.S. airport for travel. Position Type: Full-time **About Us** Partners for Public Good is a nonpartisan team of doers who work alongside state and local governments to strengthen the operational systems—procurement, staffing, budgeting, and technology—that determine whether policy turns into results for residents. We go in alongside government staff through implementation, not just as advisors who deliver recommendations and leave, but as practitioners who stay until something has actually changed. Through our implementation work, applied research, and the Procurement Excellence Network—a practitioner community of more than 3,000 government professionals—we translate what we learn from individual governments into knowledge and tools that travel across jurisdictions. When government works, communities thrive. **Role & Organizational Impact** Reporting to an Assistant Director, PPG is seeking an Associate to support a new initiative helping two large city governments pilot and surface cutting-edge solutions that unlock new possibilities in how governments spend and procure goods and services. PPG is expanding our government transformation efforts into procurement innovation, working with cities to increase vendor competition, strategically apply AI in back-office operations, strengthen interdepartmental coordination, and creatively engage residents. The Associate will utilize foundational knowledge and experience in government procurement or public-sector innovation to engage two city governments in testing and advancing innovative procurement practices, project managing these ambitious efforts, developing cross-jurisdictional policy analysis and designing right-sized, scalable solutions that can be promoted across PPG. The Associate will provide one-to-one and group coaching to several city governments piloting innovative procurement projects, while supporting implementation of the overall procurement innovation cohort. At PPG, Associates drive the day-to-day delivery of programmatic projects, working closely with Project Leaders and Assistant Directors to turn strategy into action. This can include multiple and fractional projects across teams. They facilitate meetings with government partners, design and produce project materials, deliver trainings and coaching, and draft key deliverables and reports. Associates may work on one in-depth project or contribute across several shorter-term or fractional engagements, depending on portfolio needs. **Responsibilities** **Project Design & Implementation** - Support project scoping and problem diagnosis through activities such as quantitative analysis, interviews, surveys, focus groups, process mapping, and policy reviews. - In collaboration with government leaders, develop ambitious and high-impact projects, informed by data and a clear theory of change. - Design and implement day-to-day project deliverables, such as problem diagnosis memos, prototype/pilot project roadmaps and workplans, ongoing steering committee reports, and engaging training materials. - Lead day-to-day change management and implementation, such as: - Meetings and workshops with government and nonprofit stakeholders to align priorities, implement project work, and address challenges. - Coaching and advisory support to government partners to diagnose the root causes of challenges and offer feedback from outside perspectives. - Internal and external project check-ins and strategy pull-ups. - Direct support on converting a government idea into a tangible yet ambitious intervention/solution to address core problem(s). - Support funder reporting and contribute to fundraising efforts. **Stakeholder Engagement & Thought Leadership** - Build strong relationships with government leaders, nonprofit partners, government technology companies, entrepreneurs, and start-ups. - Contribute to the development of public-facing…