Lead, NAFA+ (1-year contract)

The Lead, NAFA+ plays a pivotal role in shaping and growing NAFA+ as a financially sustainable creative services entity that brings NAFA’s creative strengths into meaningful collaboration with external organisations and corporations, generating revenue and employment opportunities for fresh graduates. This role sits at the intersection of arts, industry, and education, translating creative potential into real‑world projects with impact. As a senior individual contributor, the role focuses on relationship‑building, opportunity development, and project stewardship, working through project‑based teams for each engagement.

Key Responsibilities

• Planning and Business Development
  • Shape and advance NAFA+ as a flagship initiative to kickstart graduate employment and expand NAFA’s presence and relevance in the creative industries.
  • Develop and implement a strategic plan for NAFA+ Creative Services, including its service offerings, target sectors and growth priorities where NAFA’s creative strengths are amplified.
  • Engage organisations, institutions and corporations to create awareness of NAFA+ and promote the value of integrating arts and design into their organisations.
  • Build, manage and maintain a regular portfolio of projects and partners, ensuring a steady pipeline of engagements.
• Partnerships and External Engagement
  • Serve as the primary point of contact for external partners (excluding international academic partners) seeking collaboration with NAFA through NAFA+.
  • Assess, manage and coordinate all partnership enquiries, working with relevant departments for follow‑up and progress monitoring.
  • Identify, initiate, and cultivate strategic partnerships with industry, institutional, government, and community organisations.
  • Host and facilitate partnership visits including planning and coordinating agendas, preparing presentations, facilitating discussions, ensuring a professional and engaging experience that reflects NAFA’s values and strategic priorities.
  • Gain oversight of partnership engagements across the academy to ensure consistency, alignment and meaningful engagement.
• Project Leadership and Management
  • Design and manage projects to provide meaningful professional outcomes, such as employment, income and portfolio development for NAFA graduates and alumni.
  • Assemble and work with project teams comprising NAFA alumni and/or external providers/students/staff based on project needs.
  • Work closely with other relevant departments to identify creative talent and project opportunities.
  • Provide functional leadership to project teams by:
    • Defining project scope, objectives, timelines, and deliverables.
    • Matching creative talent to client requirements.
    • Setting quality and professional standards for client servicing.
  • Serve as the main client liaison, if no project manager is appointed, and coordinate internal and external stakeholders to ensure successful execution, monitor progress, and conduct post‑project reviews.
  • Draft policies, guidelines, and processes for talent selection, project matching, client engagement, and project implementation.
• Strategic Business Management and Collaboration
  • Develop project models so that NAFA+ projects are well‑scoped and resourced, ensuring engagements are fair, driving employment, revenue and enterprise pathways for NAFA graduates and alumni.
  • Translate creative ideas into clear proposals and agreements that set shared expectations and support longer‑term collaborations.
  • Prepare regular reports on project performance, outcomes and impact for management review.
  • Contribute to institutional initiatives related to industry engagement, applied learning, and creative enterprise development.
  • Undertake other responsibilities aligned with the role, as assigned by the Director, Strategic Development & Global Engagement Division.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree, with at least 15 years of relevant working experience; experience in arts, creative or education contexts will be an advantage.
• Experience in partnership development, project‑based work and external engagement.
• Ability to lead through influence, coordinating cross‑functional and project‑based teams.
• Entrepreneurial: Proactive, resourceful, independent, embrace ambiguity and goal‑oriented.
• Excellent organisational and planning skills, with the ability to balance multiple projects and relationships.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills.
• Good proficiency in written and spoken English; proficiency in another language (e.g. Mandarin) will be an advantage.
• Passion for the arts and creative industries with a commitment to supporting creative talents.