Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Intentional Futures; Seattle (WA); Hybrid; USD 300,000 - 375,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare coverage

401K match 4%

Paid parental and adoption leave

Paid time off

Life insurance

Short-term disability coverage

Flexible Spending and Dependent Care

Job summary

Intentional Futures is seeking a CEO to lead from Seattle, with full P&L ownership, shaping strategy and expanding partnerships. You’ll grow a high-performing, people-centered consultancy while preserving the firm’s values and impact.

You will drive revenue through new offerings, broaden client bases beyond current sectors, and recruit top talent to sustain growth and influence in tech, philanthropy, education, and the public sector.

Qualifications

• Must have led a professional services firm, consultancy, or agency.
• Proven track record of growing a people-powered business.
• Ability to balance client growth with culture and values.
• Experience attracting and retaining top talent.
• Experience leading strategy, digital innovation and transformation.

Responsibilities

• Set long-term strategy and vision for iF and the firm.
• Own P&L and drive profitable growth and client impact.
• Expand client base across sectors and geographies.
• Build partnerships and productized services to scale revenue.
• Lead with an inclusive, people-first culture and sustain high performance.

Skills

Leadership

Business development

Rainmaking

People management

Strategic thinking

Job description

Lead the next chapter of an idea-to-impact consultancy that helps courageous leaders pursue audacious ideas that matter.

The Opportunity

Sixteen years ago, we started Intentional Futures on a simple conviction: that good strategy and design can turn good intentions into real impact. Since then we’ve become a certified B-Corp and a high-performing team of strategists and designers who help leaders in technology, philanthropy, education, and the public sector, solve hard problems that matter.

We’ve built something rare: distinctive work, a magnetic culture, and the trust of some of the world’s most demanding clients. We’re now ready to grow into the firm we’re capable of becoming. That’s why we’re hiring a new CEO.

Michael Dix, who co-founded iF in 2010 and has led it since its inception, is moving into the role of Chairman. This is a deliberate, well-supported succession, not an exit. Michael will stay actively involved where it's supportive to the new leader: driving some business development, nurturing key relationships, and coaching the next generation of leaders. What changes is that full ownership of strategic direction and the company’s day-to-day operations passes to you.

Early on, expect a hands‑on partner in Michael who opens doors, provides advice, and shares hard‑won context. Over time, that shifts to a supportive advisor who has your back and wants you to have latitude to lead.

About Intentional Futures

Our vision. A healthy planet on which business and society prosper together.

Our mission. Turn good intentions into positive impact.

We help organizations discover what’s possible and co‑create the strategies, products, and programs that rally people to achieve more than they imagined. We work across three reinforcing areas:

• Intentional Learning: turning constant change into a shared learning advantage.
• Dynamic Strategy: moving clients from rigid plans to living strategies.
• Active Transformation: making transformation a shared, sustainable journey.

Our Education, Digital Strategy & Innovation, Operational Effectiveness, and Emerging Offerings practices serve clients ranging from big tech and market‑leading innovators to foundations, nonprofits, and governments. We’re proud to be a certified B-Corp—and prouder still of the values our team lives out every day: teamwork, excellence, and imagination.

What You'll Own

As CEO, you’ll hold full responsibility for iF’s performance, people, product & service offerings, and direction. Your mandate is to build on a strong foundation and take the firm somewhere new.

Lead and protect the firm

You’ll set our forward‑looking strategy and long‑term vision, own the P&L, and attract and nurture exceptional talent. Above all, you’ll steward the culture and craft that make iF exceptional. Growth that comes at the cost of our quality, positive impact, or our values isn’t the growth we want.

iF’s work is more distinctive than its reputation. You’ll change that, building our national and global standing through thought leadership, storytelling, and a compelling public voice for the firm.

Grow the business - and diversity it

iF has thrived, in large part, within the Gates Foundation ecosystem. Your task is to broaden that base: win new clients across new sectors and reduce our dependence on any single relationship. You’ll be a rainmaker who personally sources and closes significant work.

Consulting fees are the core of our business, but we see the need for more scalable and consistent revenue to help strengthen the business and amplify financial performance. You’ll find ways to design and scale new offerings—productized services and annuity streams that delight clients while adding new ways of monetizing what we do.

Deepen our partnerships

We’ve built many promising partnerships we haven’t fully explored. You’ll turn latent relationships into real growth.

Who you are

You’ve led a professional services firm, a consultancy, an agency, or a comparable people‑powered business, and you know how to grow one without breaking it. You’ve achieved challenging business goals, built teams, and shipped work you’re proud of.

What you bring:

• A people‑first management approach. You recognize that consultancies like iF are all about people, their relationships, and their growth. You know how to incorporate this as you manage the business successfully.
• Passion for generating positive impact. You find ways to do good by doing well, reconciling seemingly difficult tensions to ensure that work and approaches maximize the potential for creating positive outcomes for as many stakeholders as possible.
• A rainmaker’s instincts. You build relationships and close business. Diversifying our client base energizes you rather than daunts you.
• A talent magnet’s pull and a steward’s care. Great people want to work for you, and you protect the culture and craft that keep them.
• Practitioner depth in strategy, digital innovation, and/or digital transformation. You’ve done the work, not just managed it, and you can earn the respect of a room full of sharp strategists and designers.
• Experience leading a consultancy. You know what it takes to pursue excellence while balancing the needs of clients and your people, while managing the business.
• A hunger for pragmatic innovation. You have successfully developed new tools, methodologies, and offerings that anticipate and satisfy the changing needs of the market, and differentiate the consultancy.

How you lead:

• Aligned to iF’s values:
• Imagination: We openly seek and explore novel perspectives, ideas, and approaches.
• Excellence: We passionately pursue solutions that thoughtfully address the real issues.
• Teamwork: We collaboratively activate the combined strengths of clients, partners, and each other.

• Low-ego. You lead through the team, not above it.
• Intellectually curious. You love grappling with hard, ambiguous problems and finding elegant, simple solutions.
• Mission‑driven. iF’s vision and B-Corp values resonate with you.
• Ambitious. You want to build something bigger and better—and you have the drive to do it.

Logistics & Additional Information

Location

This role is based at our office in Seattle. We’re open to supporting relocation for the right leader.

Although there are required in‑office work days for all staff meetings or project/client engagements, most of our employees enjoy a flexible workplace plan where they can choose to work from home or from our office in the Central District in Seattle, WA.

iF cannot offer work visa sponsorship at this time.

Salary, Benefits, & Additional Information

Compensation for this role will be a blend of base salary and incentives tied to your success in growing the company’s revenue and profitability. Base salary will range between $300k and $375k, with profit sharing and the opportunity to earn equity in Intentional Futures. We will discuss our business ambitions more specifically during the interview process.

Other benefits include:

• Healthcare coverage including domestic partner benefits
• Flexible Spending and Dependent Care Account options
• Life insurance
• Short‑term disability coverage
• Paid parental and adoption leave
• 4% 401K match
• Paid time off

Recruiting Process Expectations

iF has developed a process grounded in equity and is people‑centered. Given the uniqueness and seniority of this role, we are considering additional avenues to our usual process in order to help us make the most informed and strongest decision. With this context in mind, candidates for this role can expect the following steps and/of phases (this is not an exhaustive list):

• Members of the recruiting team to vet their resumes, cover letters, and other application materials
• Phone screens with members of the organization
• Interview sessions with members of the recruiting team; Zoom as well as in‑person
• In‑person working sessions and simulation exercises
• Work sample sharing and live exercisesOne‑on‑one meetings with members of the executive team

Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive work environment. We believe that having staff from many backgrounds allows us to better serve our clients, support one another, and fulfill our mission. As an equal opportunity employer, iF considers all applications without regard to race, color, religion, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, military service eligibility, veteran status, sexual orientation, marital status, physical or mental disability, or any other protected class. People of color, women, and LGBTQIA+ individuals are encouraged to apply. We take leadership and training seriously and will invest in you and your goals. Even if you don’t meet all the minimum qualifications but still feel you would be a strong fit, we encourage you to apply. We welcome non‑traditional paths into iF; our team is full of people with unique backgrounds and experiences.

We will notify every candidate about next steps, you can expect a response 2-4 weeks from the posting date of the role, pending applicant pool. Selected candidates will be moved forward to phone screens.