Planning officer

The FoundationWe 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 vision of the foundation’s U.S. Program (USP) is to ensure that everyone in the US has access to life-changing opportunities so that race, ethnicity, and income are no longer predictors of educational and economic outcomes.In education, our primary focus is ensuring that all students especially Black, Latinx, and low-income students have an opportunity to earn a degree or credential that prepares them for a successful career and life.We also support efforts to increase the number of actors working together to understand and advance economic mobility. The U.S. Program works on five key drivers toward our goal :• Ensure early childhood learning systems provide high-quality learning experiences for young children.• Support schools in the K-12 system to improve student outcomes.• Transform colleges and universities to increase student success and eliminate attainment gaps.• Partner with stakeholders to ensure more people have the information and resources to tackle barriers to opportunity and to develop economic mobility strategies.• In our home state of Washington, improve the tools and practices of teachers, parents, and providers to ensure that all students have fair and equitable opportunities to reach their potential.USP works to expand access to life-changing opportunities. That’s why our primary focus in education is ensuring that all students especially Black and Latino students, and students experiencing poverty have an opportunity to earn a degree or certificate that prepares them for a successful career and fulfilling life.But often, education isn’t enough. Factors outside of schools and the classroom have an enormous impact on a student’s success.That’s why we’re also supporting efforts by public officials and community groups to better understand and advance economic mobility, leading to permanent ladders out of poverty for families and communities, such that race, ethnicity, and income are no longer predictors of outcomes.The goal of the USP Data Strategy is to drive improvements in the education-to-workforce data ecosystem that will provide practitioners and policymakers with the information they need to answer critical questions about student progress and to implement evidence-based reforms that equitably improve outcomes, especially for Black and Latino students, and students from low-income backgrounds.Your RoleA key member of the USP Data’s Strategy, Planning & Management (SPM) team, the Senior Officer is responsible for supporting the strategic and operational aspects of the team, including oversight of strategic planning, annual planning and budgeting, ongoing investment pipeline and portfolio management, business analysis and the coordination of business strategies across the Foundation.The Senior Officer must engage effectively at all levels of the organization; collaborate productively with peers, partners, leaders, staff, and consultants while exercising good judgment.This role will lead and influence the team towards working with rigor and in service of racial and socio-economic equity.What You’ll Do• Lead a team to develop and oversee portfolio strategic planning, investment, financial and operational processes which may include the full investment development process, annual planning, strategy review, decision support, rhythm of business, and budget management and forecasting.• Provide Deputy Director for Strategy, Planning & Management and program strategy team leadership with critical, transparent, challenging thought partnership.Consult / strategize with program leadership to maximize impact of investment and financial processes and ensure optimal learning, decision making, and collaboration.Provide support to program leadership in translating strategy goals into coherent portfolio level theory of action and investment plans.Guide program officers to ensure that portfolio investments are strategically aligned, and outcomes are defined that will lead to impact on key strategy goals.• Monitor grant and contract pipeline to manage budget and produce accurate forecasts. Set up processes to monitor performance against key milestones and outcomes to facilitate management decision-making.• Articulate strategy and progress narratives, including strategy review, initiative strategy development, annual plans, and execution planning against theory of action.• Expertly facilitate process definition and improvement efforts in support of staff productivity. Work to improve business processes and identify process gaps and inefficiencies that impede effectiveness.Promote efficiency and productivity on the team by providing leadership and support in process development and improvement, implementation and improvement of tools, analysis, reporting and change management.• Maintain understanding of and connections with teams across the US Program (e.g. Postsecondary Success, WA State Initiative, Early Learning & Pathways, US Mobility) and US Policy, Advocacy, and Communications.• Maintain understanding of and alignment with cross-foundation operational initiatives and integrate program team members and processes to maximize impact.Responsible for being the primary liaison between the program and business partners including Financial Planning & Analysis, Grants & Contracts Services, and Legal regarding business processes, financial reporting, forecasting, and related systems and tools required for business and operational success.• As needed, design and manage special projects in support of team operations and / or in support of programmatic investments and portfolios.• Foster diverse, equitable and inclusive practices to create a work environment where everyone can do their best work in contributing towards our impact.Seek input from and values the uniqueness of people of different groups and cultures. Challenge practices or policies that may be exclusionary.Your ExperienceWe are looking for individuals who enjoy the opportunity of working on complex problems and collectively creating solutions that have the potential for transformative change.You must be prepared to work with flexibility, efficiency and diplomacy in an exciting and challenging environment. Additional qualifications include :• Strong portfolio and people / team management skills. Demonstrated complex project management skills, particularly for strategy development, execution planning, and business process redesign projects, and a successful track record of leading or managing multiple projects simultaneously.• Strong consultative and advisory skills. Demonstrated excellence in influence and leadership, ability to build trust, be a team leader and player who motivates and educates other team members and understands the value of interpersonal relationship building.• Outstanding relational and collaboration skills comfortable working within a team that values collaboration and agility.• Ability to act independently to determine methods and processes on assignments, to prioritize in a dynamic and complex environment, and to alternate between thinking strategically and executing at high quality.• Ability to effectively facilitate, manage and summarize divergent points of view to advance the thinking of the group, synthesize and extract meaning from complex bodies of work and effectively communicate key takeaways for diverse audiences.• Experience creating analytical models / tools and ability to communicate results to inform sound strategic and tactical decisions.• Technically proficient and creative; successful in both collaboration and as an independent problem solver.• Financial savvy plus budget development, financial analysis, and operational management skills.• Bachelor’s with 7+ years of experience or equivalent experience required. MBA or equivalent advanced degree in public administration, economics, or other relevant master's degree preferred.Hiring RequirementsAs part of our standard hiring process for new employees, employment will be contingent upon successful completion of a background check.Candidate AccommodationsIf you require assistance due to a disability in the application or recruitment process, please submit a request .Inclusion StatementWe are dedicated to the belief that all lives have equal value. We strive for a global and cultural workplace that supports ever greater diversity, equity, and inclusion of voices, ideas, and approaches and we support this diversity through all our employment practices.All applicants and employees who are drawn to serve our mission will enjoy equality of opportunity and fair treatment without regard to race, color, age, religion, pregnancy, sex, sexual orientation, disability, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, and prior protected activity.Last updated : 2024-08-22