Strategic Initiatives Manager

Strategic Initiatives Manager

FWLab

Pay Range: $49.17 - $63.92/hr. | $102,277- $132,959 annual compensation

Workdays & Hours: Monday – Friday 8am – 5pm; Some evening/weekend work required.

Benefits for this position include: 11 Paid Holidays, Medical, Dental, Vision, Paid Time Off, Pension Plan, Professional Development Opportunities. Find Out More!

The City of Fort Worth is one of the fastest growing large cities in the U.S. Our employees serve the needs of over 1,000,000 residents, promoting our values of exceptional customer experience, mutual respect, embracing our diversity, continuous improvement, ethical behavior, and accountability.

A Strategic Initiatives Manager job is available with the City of Fort Worth FWLab department's Analytics & Intelligence (A&I) Division. This role leads the Business Strategy & Performance team, made up of three staff plus interns as capacity allows, and serves as the City's central hub for performance management, KPIs, process improvement, business strategy, and strategic initiatives. The Manager partners closely with A&I division's Data Analytics and Database teams, and the Budget and Revenue divisions of the FWLab, along with departments citywide to drive data-driven decision making. Given the enterprise-wide reach of this work, the ideal candidate is a strong, hands-on user of data and AI tools, comfortable building automations or AI agents alongside the Data Analytics & AI team (using tools such as Copilot Studio) without needing to be an AI engineer, and moves easily between strategic thinking, data-driven analysis, and relationship building across a large, complex organization.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in public administration, business administration, or a related field
• Five (5) years of recent progressively responsible experience in an administrative, managerial, or staff capacity in a municipal organization, involving the responsibility for planning, organization, implementation and supervision of varied work programs

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience leading a performance management, strategy, or business analysis function, including direct staff supervision, hiring, performance management, workload prioritization, and quality review of strategic or analytical deliverables
• Proficiency with data, analytics and reporting tools (e.g., Power BI, Excel, Python, SQL) and hands-on experience with AI-assisted or automation tools (e.g., Copilot Studio, Microsoft Foundry, AI agents) to improve processes and analysis
• Experience managing multiple concurrent projects or strategic initiatives, using data or performance metrics to inform recommendations for executive or department-level stakeholders, and experience with performance management frameworks (e.g., balanced scorecards, KPI dashboards, strategic plan alignment) or budget and revenue analysis, in local government or another large, complex organization

The Strategic Initiatives Manager job responsibilities include:

• Manages the Business Strategy & Performance team (three staff, plus an intern as capacity allows), including workload management, coaching, and performance evaluations
• Serves as the City's central hub for performance management, KPIs, and strategic initiatives, working with city leadership to ensure departmental services, programs, and results align with City Council priorities, and reporting on that alignment to leadership on an ongoing basis
• Maintains a citywide inventory of programs and services, and leads the City's efforts to earn and maintain data and performance-related certifications and awards, such as What Works Cities certification, coordinating documentation and evidence across departments
• Partners with the Data Analytics & AI team to build automations and AI agents (e.g., using Copilot Studio) that improve performance reporting and business processes, acting as a power user of AI tools rather than a developer of them
• Partners with the Budget and Revenue divisions of FWLab, and departments citywide to align performance data, strategic initiatives, and resource decisions
• Oversees delivery of FWStat and other citywide performance reporting products, and reviews team deliverables for quality and accuracy before they reach department leaders, the City Manager's Office, or other stakeholders
• Leads process improvement and strategic initiative projects from development through execution, including risk assessments and implementation recommendations
• Builds relationships across departments and with senior city leadership, communicating findings and recommendations clearly to non-technical audiences

Working Conditions and Physical Demand

Depending on assignment, positions in this class typically require touching, talking, hearing, seeing, grasping, standing, walking, and repetitive motions.

Sedentary Work—Depending on assignment, position in this class typically exert up to 10 pounds of force occasionally, a negligible amount of force frequently, and/or constantly having to lift, carry, push, pull or otherwise move objects. Sedentary work involves sitting more of the time. Jobs are sedentary if walking and standing are required only occasionally and all other sedentary criteria are met.

Applicants for this position must pass a Criminal Justice Information Systems (CJIS) fingerprint-based background check and maintain CJIS eligibility. Due to CJIS requirements related to system access, the following will result in being disqualified for this position: Felony Convictions, Felony Deferred Adjudication, Class A Misdemeanor Conviction, Class B Misdemeanor Convictions in the last 10 years, Class A Misdemeanor Deferred Adjudication, Class B Misdemeanor Deferred Adjudication in the last 10 years, an Open Arrest for Any Criminal Offense (Felony or Misdemeanor), and ALL Family Violence Convictions regardless of class.

The City of Fort Worth is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. It is the policy and practice of the City to recruit, hire, train and promote a diverse workforce without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, parental status, military service, or another non-merit factor.

The City of Fort Worth is committed to full compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to participate in the job application or interview process and to perform essential job functions.

Candidates who do not meet the Education requirement, may be considered if they have more relevant work experience than the position requires. Those selected for employment will be required to pass Pre-Employment checks depending on the position requirements. Those could include, but are not limited to: criminal background check, drug screen, education verification, etc. criminal convictions will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Employees are paid by direct deposit only.