POSITION TITLE:                  Manager, Education and Public Outreach, Google Lunar X PRIZE
REPORTS TO:                        Senior Director, Space Projects
LOCATION:                           Playa Vista, CA

X PRIZE FOUNDATION

The mission of the X PRIZE Foundation is to bring about radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity. We foster innovative, high-profile competitions that motivate individuals, companies and organizations across all boundaries to solve the grand challenges that are currently restricting humanity’s progress. 

The X PRIZE Foundation encourages focused work and groundbreaking innovation in fields such as energy, environment, life sciences, genomics, healthcare, global development, education, and space exploration.

GOOGLE LUNAR X PRIZE

The Google Lunar X PRIZE (GLXP) is a $30 million international competition that requires privately-funded teams to safely land a robot on the surface of the Moon, travel 500 meters over the lunar surface, and send images and data back to the Earth.  The first team to land on the Moon and complete the mission objectives will be awarded $20 million; the second team to do so will be awarded $5 million. Another $5 million in bonus prizes will be awarded. The final deadline for winning the prize is December 31, 2014.

This prize, the largest ever international incentive prize, is off to an exciting start. As of January 2008, sixteen teams from around the world are fully registered and working on their missions, with many more teams expected to join the race soon. The prize has touched people in over 80 nations, with potential teams and team members representing nearly every demographic on the planet. Over the coming years, the X PRIZE Foundation will work to spread awareness of the competition, its underlying goals, and the competing teams. Similarly, the X PRIZE Foundation will use the excitement of the competition to educate students of all ages and to inspire a new generation of scientists, engineers, and explorers.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

The Google Lunar X PRIZE’s Manager, Education and Public Outreach will develop and oversee the prize’s education and outreach plans and activities. The Manager, Education & Public Outreach will make use of available funding and help obtain other funds and resources develop compelling, robust and multi-part educational and outreach programs that inspire youth to learn more about the prize and its underlying goals.

Using past experience with non-traditional, interactive education and public outreach methods the Manager will build successful education programs utilizing existing online and social networking tools. The Manager will develop and implement ways to effectively and efficiently involve competing teams to strengthen the X PRIZE Foundation’s efforts in both the education and outreach realms.  Whenever possible, the Manager will use the X PRIZE Foundation’s heritage and core principles of “revolution through competition” to help spur interest among students and the general public through the use of competitions and prizes.

The Manager must be a creative and organized thinker capable of managing a diverse set of responsibilities and of developing unique and complex programs on time and under budget. The Manager must be a driven self-starter with a deep belief in the mission of the Google Lunar X PRIZE and of the X PRIZE Foundation. The Manager is a key member of the Google Lunar X PRIZE team, and must share GLXP team’s belief in teamwork and open communication.

Work assignments will be a combination of self-generated projects reflecting  individual strategic choices that are aligned with their primary accountabilities and the teams overall objectives, as well as assignments provided by the Senior Director, Space Projects. Occasional travel will be required (~10%).

EDUCATION PROGRAM RESPONSIBILITIES

• Develop an extraordinary and effective set of education programs for the Google Lunar X PRIZE to inspire young people to learn more about and pursue careers in related fields and to generate excitement about the lunar exploration being undertaken by competing teams and by government space agencies in the near future.
• Along with the Google Liaison, develop effective online platforms to support educational programs.
• Along with the Senior Director, Space Projects, identify and pursue additional sources of funding for education programs, ranging from sponsors, individual donors, grants or other unique sources, as well as partners who will create and provide content for education programs, ranging from NGOs to government agencies.

PUBLIC OUTREACH RESPONSIBILITIES

• Create and execute a public outreach strategy for the Google Lunar X PRIZE, with the assistance of the X PRIZE Foundation’s Vice President, Communications and the Senior Director, Space Projects. This strategy should address general audiences around the world, as well as targeted niche audiences focused on science, space, robotics, and exploration.
• Identify and highlight media angles and campaigns based around the Google Lunar X PRIZE, its underlying goals, and the competing teams.
• Assist in the development of public outreach and marketing materials such as press releases, press kits, PowerPoint presentations, newsletters, donor correspondence, bylined articles, and talking points. 
• Perform basic proofreading, writing, editing, and visual formatting for a variety of prize materials.
• Working with the Foundation’s communications staff, maintain a database of reporters and organize an media coverage archive system for the GLXP, accommodate journalist requests, strategize and coordinate press announcements, pitch reporters on potential coverage, and create post-campaign media measurement and tracking reports.
• Working with the Senior Director, Space Projects and the Google Liaison, create content for googlelunarxprize.org, thelaunchpad.xprize.org, and other relevant websites.
• Work with graphic designer to help create public outreach collateral and other online and print materials about the competition.
• Utilize and contribute to online social media networks for the prize and for prize-related events with tools such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, et cetera.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

The successful candidate will be a persuasive, values-driven individual with the demonstrated ability to work effectively with all levels of management and staff, as well as all external resources.  This person must have the highest level of integrity and be able to integrate with our exceptional team in a very fast paced and complex environment.  A collaborative, approachable leadership style with a highly ethical and hands-on approach to business.  Flexibility and ability to work with ambiguity is important.

• Minimum of seven years of relevant experience
• BS or BA in a related business, education, or space-related field, or combination of experience and education
• Highly organized individual with excellent project management skills and exceptional attention to detail
• Demonstrated ability to successfully obtain grants or similar funding for education programs
• Demonstrated ability to manage and lead communications, public outreach, and education professionals and programs
• Substantial experience in designing and  executing comprehensive education and public outreach strategies and programs
• Ability to balance multiple priorities and definitive deadlines
• Belief in a creative approach to education that makes full use of current technology & trends in education
• Skill in interacting with all levels of business people and with government agencies and educational institutions
• Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite, especially Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
• Flexibility to grow with the organization and assume new and expanded responsibilities
• Ability to quickly learn about and use new software, technology and processes Belief that a small group of motivated individuals can truly change the world for the better

X PRIZE and YOU

This position is currently located in Playa Vista, next to Loyola-Marymount University.  We offer a full range of employment benefits including medical, dental, vision, short-term and long-term disability, LIFE, and an employee assistant program all paid in full by the organization for our regular full-time employees.

The X PRIZE Foundation was established in 1995, attracting leaders in the fields of Life Sciences (Genomics, Medicine, etc), Space, Energy, Environment, Social Welfare, Automotive Technology and more. This position is for someone who will be dedicated to making an impact here at the X PRIZE Foundation and ultimately in the world at large.  We are a small and rapidly growing organization, who will value your ideas and advice and are looking for people who will thrive in our fast paced, small group environment.

X PRIZE CULTURE

Our goals are as lofty as they come; where only through entrepreneurial persistence and visionary thinking are solutions to seemingly insurmountable social, technological and environmental issues made possible. 

While we externally strive to create a better world, we are internally working to build a culture that supports the kind of passionate, forward thinking people we need to help deliver radical breakthrough solutions to today's most critical and meaningful challenges. 

To this end, we are working together to create an environment that fosters learning and growth and encourages creativity, transparency, and diversity.

The X PRIZE FOUNDATION offers a comprehensive compensation package to our employee’s which includes the following benefits:

- Medical Insurance
- Dental Insurance
- Vision Insurance
- Short Term Disability
- Long Term Disability
- LIFE & AD&D
- Domestic Partner Benefit Coverage
- Year End Discretionary Bonus Program
- Paid Vacation
- Paid Time Off
- Paid Holidays
- Flexible Spending Account
- 401K Plan

The X PRIZE FOUNDATION is an equal opportunity employer and does not unlawfully discriminate in employment. Equal access to employment, services, and programs is available to all persons.  Those applicants requiring reasonable accommodation to the application and/or interview process should notify a representative of the organization.

Please note: Though submitting a resume to the X PRIZE FOUNDATION implies that you are interested in a position(s), it does not imply that you are an applicant. You are not considered an applicant until you have been contacted directly by a Human Resources representative requesting that you begin the designated application process, which may involve phone and/or in-person interview(s), job-related testing, and background checking.