Specialist, Strategic Foresight
World Economic Forum GenevaThe role
Strategic foresight is a set of practices to support future preparedness by fostering long-term thinking, anticipation and resilience in organizational strategy and policy. At the World Economic Forum, the Strategic Foresight team is responsible for convening the Global Foresight Network, a community of foresight experts across public and private sectors, and developing and applying foresight frameworks to enhance agenda-setting, strategic alignment and knowledge products across the World Economic Forum’s workstreams and partnerships.
To support these efforts, we are looking for a Specialist, Strategic Foresight, to support overall engagement with the Global Foresight Network and execute operationally on projects and events spearheaded by the team. This role will involve deep collaboration across teams, attention to detail, event planning and delivery, and a desire to make foresight practices and futures thinking accessible and additive across diverse thematic areas and initiatives.
Key responsibilities
Foresight research and analysis
Conduct horizon scanning and desk research across global, regional and industry topics, identifying signals, trends, drivers of change and areas of uncertainty.
Support the development of strategic questions, trend narratives, scenarios, implications and other foresight outputs for internal and external audiences.
Use digital and AI-enabled tools to accelerate research, clustering and sense-making, while applying human judgement to validate sources, interpret context and draw conclusions.
Maintain clear records of sources, analytical choices and assumptions so that outputs are transparent, credible and reusable.
Project and engagement delivery
Support the planning and delivery of foresight workshops, briefings, webinars and other engagements, including agendas, materials, facilitation support, logistics and follow-up.
Manage defined work packages within larger projects, tracking actions, milestones, dependencies, risks and decisions and escalating issues when required.
Work with the team to gather perspectives, coordinate inputs and support collaborative outputs.
Prepare concise briefing notes, presentations, speaking points, workshop materials and written updates tailored to different audiences.
Contribute to monitoring and evaluation by collecting feedback, documenting outcomes and identifying practical improvements for future delivery.
Knowledge products and team contribution
Help identify connections between foresight work and the Forum’s wider global, regional and industry agendas, including opportunities for cross-Forum collaboration.
Support the maintenance of shared foresight resources, templates, databases and content collections, ensuring information is current, well organised and usable.
Share methods, findings and relevant developments with colleagues and contribute constructively to a learning-oriented team culture.
Requirements for the role
University degree or equivalent experience in foresight, international relations, public policy, economics, business, social sciences, futures studies or a related discipline.
Experience supporting or managing projects, including coordinating deliverables, timelines and stakeholders preferred.
Experience engaging external stakeholders and working collaboratively across complex teams and ambiguous environments is an advantage
Relevant experience in research, strategic analysis, consulting, policy, programme delivery, innovation, communications or a related field; experience applying foresight methods is an advantage.
Ability to research unfamiliar topics quickly, assess the quality and relevance of information, and synthesise complex material into a clear narrative.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to adapt content for senior, technical and non-specialist audiences.
Strong organisational skills and the ability to manage multiple priorities, meet deadlines and follow through on agreed actions.
Comfort working with digital collaboration, research and presentation tools; willingness to use AI-enabled tools responsibly and critically.
Fluency in English. Additional languages are an advantage.
A collaborative, proactive and self-directed approach, with the judgement to ask for guidance when a question, source or conclusion is uncertain.
Ability to deliver at a high standard and reliably, collaboratively, and with the capacity to take increasing ownership of defined pieces of work.
Reporting lines
The Foresight Specialist reports to the Manager: Strategic Foresight and works closely with the wider team in Intelligence and Foresight and Digital Strategy and Growth. The role also collaborates with Forum Centres, regional and industry teams, the Global Foresight Network, partners and external experts.
Why join us?
Join an independent and impartial organization with over 55 years of connecting leaders to make sense of global challenges and move the world forward together.