The Foundation
We are the largest nonprofit fighting poverty, disease, and inequity around the world. Founded on a simple premise: people everywhere, regardless of identity or circumstances, should have the chance to live healthy, productive lives. We believe our employees should reflect the rich diversity of the global populations we aim to serve. We provide an exceptional benefits package to employees and their families which include comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage with no premiums, generous paid time off, paid family leave, foundation-paid retirement contribution, regional holidays, and opportunities to engage in several employee communities. As a workplace, we’re committed to creating an environment for you to thrive both personally and professionally.
The TeamThe Global Growth & Opportunity (GGO) division works to catalyze sustainable transformative change in the face of inequities and market failures, to realize the potential of untapped markets, and to see the economic and social benefits of including everyone. We focus on the areas of Agricultural Development; Financial Services for the Poor; Global Education; Nutrition; and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene. We seek solutions that are sustainable, transformative, and inclusive with an eye toward applying technology innovations as well as data evidence to motivate change in the world’s developing countries.
The Large-Scale Food Fortification (LSFF) focused Nutrition strategy invests in impactful solutions to produce actionable data; delivers high-quality technical assistance to millers and food producers; advances new innovations in micronutrients and food vehicles; supports quality assurance data in mills to empower industry self-monitoring; and strengthens public sector standards and regulations for LSFF programs. We work with partners across public and private sectors, to support attainment of SDG 2 -a global commitment to tackle undernutrition and hunger.
This role reports to the Director, Nutrition.
What You’ll Do
The Senior Program Assistant (SPA) is a key member of the Nutrition team, and of the FP, MNCH, and Nutrition cluster of teams. The SPA will provide organizational support, project coordination, change management efforts, and administrative support. This person will be a member of the Nutrition leadership team.
Responsibilities
Completes a broad range of administrative tasks including managing a very active and complex calendar of appointments; completing expense reports; composing and preparing confidential correspondence; arranging complex and detailed travel plans, itineraries, and agendas; and compiling documents for travel-related meetings.
Works closely and effectively with the Director and informs them of upcoming commitments and responsibilities, following up appropriately.
Prioritizes conflicting needs; handles matters expeditiously, proactively, and follows-through on projects to successful completion, often under deadline pressures.
Assists with planning for events, key leadership meetings, retreats, convenings, and presentations.
Mentors Program Assistants (PAs) within the Nutrition team and partnering teams while also representing them in leadership and team meetings. Responsible for being the subject matter and process expert for these individuals.
Acts as a \"barometer\" by having knowledge of the key issues in the organization and highlighting appropriately to the Director, and rest of the Nutrition Leadership Team.
Leads projects to strengthen team culture, in collaboration with all team members.
Creates, updates and maintains organized files and records including the team’s SharePoint site, and developing a system for tracking, monitoring and prioritizing tasks and projects.
Coordinates arrangements and communications for multiple participants, handles logistics, prepares and disseminates materials. Liaison for team with internal partners, routing requests appropriately, supporting the investment approval processes. Supports communications and operational processes to ensure timely responses to inquiries.
Demonstrates keen ability to anticipate needs of leaders and team while also proactively identifying and resolving issues.
Works on assignments that are complex in nature where considerable judgment and initiative are required in resolving problems and making recommendations.
Works on team and division-specific special projects.
Core Knowledge & Skills
You are a creative, thoughtful, and curious leader who has an excellent track record of achievement in roles of increasing responsibility. You should be prepared to work across a diverse set of disciplines, bridging a wide range of expertise, with a demonstrated ability to work with agility, efficiency, and diplomacy in a dynamic environment.
Your love of efficiency, attention to detail, resourcefulness and good judgment to ensure smooth operations of the team will make you successful in this role. Additionally, we seek:
Proficiency in MS Word, Outlook, SharePoint, and Teams is required. Experience in learning and mastering new software applications.
Strong organizational skills that reflect ability to perform and prioritize multiple tasks seamlessly with excellent attention to detail.
Experience with calendar management, travel itineraries, and event planning coordination.
Excellent communication skills – both written and oral – as an essential responsibility in this role is the drafting of weekly newsletters which highlight key operational and strategic updates to be shared with the team.
Ability to build relationships with partners, including internal staff, grantees, high level officials.
Demonstrated collaborative and proactive approaches to problem-solving with strong decision-making capability.
Ability to set priorities and meet deadlines while balancing the needs of providing support for multiple individuals.
Shown ability to handle confidential information with discretion, be adaptable to various challenging demands.
Demonstrated savvy in working across multiple time zones and across various diverse cultures.
Ability to effectively manage and work through ambiguity.
Experience or desire to lead staff via providing training, coaching, and handling workload distribution across the admin team.
Experience establishing organizational systems to improve efficiency and functioning in a changing environment.