Salary:  US$ 50,000 - US$ 55,000 (per annum pro rata) dependent on experience 

Location: Brooklyn, New York, Open to other locations within commuting distance to Brooklyn

Reports to: Managing Director, Forum for the Future US

FLSA Status: Exempt           

We are looking for a passionate, organized and process-oriented individual to administer and coordinate our US-based operations. This is a perfect role for a professional in administrative management who is energized by working long-term on the operational side of a small sustainability nonprofit, or who is interested in systems change and eventually stepping into a delivery role. 

Working closely with our US Managing Director, you will have a bird’s eye view of nonprofit management and stakeholder engagement. We are in search of a dynamic individual to take the reins and keep our team functioning like a well-oiled machine. In this position, you will have the unique opportunity to be on the forefront of continuing to build an amazing culture and working with a globally distributed team. Our team coordinator is a shape-shifter that dives into a dozen different roles a day and is a creative and forward thinking team member.

About Forum for the Future

Forum for the Future is an independent, global non-profit with a mission to accelerate systems change for a just and sustainable future. We have a 21 year track record in partnering with pioneering companies who recognize that social and environmental issues are already shaping their business context today, and want to actively create the conditions for their future success. In addition to working with these organizations one on one, we bring companies, NGOs, government representatives and others together to create action-oriented coalitions on particularly urgent and complex sustainability challenges. Examples include The Protein Challenge 2040, which is working to ensure we can feed 9 billion people with enough protein in the future; Cotton 2040, which is working to mainstream sustainable cotton; and The Net Positive Project, which is helping to create a movement of companies giving more back to society and the environment than what they take out. As a charity, we publicly share our learnings from this work through communications, events and our School of Systems Change.

Forum has offices in London, New York, Mumbai and Singapore.

We operate as a global team, delivering both international and local projects. This role is based in New York, but while we prefer the candidate to be based locally, we are open to a remote set-up with easy access to come to Brooklyn as required.

Our US office is celebrating its tenth year, working with partners including Target, Danone North America, FoodCorps, Omidyar Network, and Garfield Foundation, among others. We drive Forum’s full strategy – from advising organizations on a 1:1 basis to driving wider collaborations to running our School of Systems Change.

Our Work Environment

We are inspired by the world in which we live and those with whom we share it. We celebrate the indivisibility of all life forms on Earth, are committed to the pursuit of equity, and seek to act justly in all we do. These values help build our common culture, shape our shared purpose and guide us in all actions and decisions. We believe in being courageous, adaptive, inquisitive, respectful, empathetic and playful.

We enjoy working in teams, collaborating, and learning from each other. We are a dynamic, flexible and supportive team of people who care about each other’s wellbeing and the world around us.

At Forum, we aspire to foster positive team spirit and to provide the best possible working environment for all our staff; one that is based on highest standards of ethics, honesty, integrity, openness and transparency.

We are an inclusive organisation that encourages applications from across our diverse communities. We’re committed to building a team of capable and thriving people from all walks of life.     

Together we can reinvent the way the world works.

About the Role

The Executive Assistant and US Team Coordinator will support our growing US team by providing a highly effective and seamless administrative and executive function across the team. Reporting to the Managing Director of Forum for the Future US, the Executive Assistant and US Office Coordinator will support our growing team primarily through (1) supporting our US Director with stakeholder engagement and governance including scheduling, travel arrangements, internal and external engagement and other support; (2) managing financial, technology and other systems to help our mostly virtual office run efficiently and effectively; (3) supporting aspects of our marketing and communications, including organizing events; coordinating speaking engagements; supporting material development; and liaising with media when necessary; (4) supporting a fun, dynamic and collaborative team environment (virtual and in-person) and (5) supporting projects as needed.

We are looking for someone who will be accountable for:

• Full preparation of and support for the US Managing Director’s schedule enabling effective use of her time.

• Effective and timely support for Forum’s US team and partners, including, but not limited to, around scheduling, travel, material development, etc.

• Efficient and effective running of the US office by working collaboratively with HR and Finance teams to manage financial, technology and other systems and processes.

• Contact information is kept current, with restricted storage of sensitive information, and a good bank of essential information established. Expenses are carefully managed and good records kept. Invoices are raised in a timely manner with supporting documentation.

• Delegated projects are delivered to budget, on time and in support of set objectives.

• Events and program logistics are delivered and managed smoothly, effectively and collaboratively.

• Our remote and physical office space (once the world returns to physical office work) is supportive of a fun, dynamic and collaborative team environment.

About you

You are a professional in administrative management and enjoys working with people from different cultures and across geographies and your preferred ways of working are embodied by Forum’s values (being courageous, adaptive, empathetic, inquisitive, playful and respectful).

We recognize and value diverse experiences that people bring to work. We are keen to hear from people from any relevant professional background who believe in our purpose, share our values, and will bring their skills and desire to enact change.

To thrive in this role you will be:

Experience:

You have relevant experience in administrative/ organisation capacity in a professional working environment, including:

• Liaising with and managing relationships with external and senior stakeholders, coordinating quickly and communicating professionally

• Scheduling calendar commitments and travel arrangements

• Administering financial transactions and tracking financial data

• Writing and editing communications

• Assist with research and editing of presentations

• Designing and managing program/project management systems and processes – coordinating staff, building budgets and managing timelines

• Building / office management including coordinating with vendors and implementing systems

• Proficient in MS Outlook and Office, Excel, CRM and other databases

• Event planning and execution (not required but a bonus)

Skills:

• Naturally organized with experience of designing efficient and effective processes and practices

• Excellent writing and editing skills, including drafting correspondence and communication materials, tailoring language and style to different audiences.

• Good financial planning skills with experience working with Excel

• Fluency in written and spoken English

Personal qualities:

• You are extremely organized and have a keen eye for detail

• You are motivated to complete administrative tasks while proactively coming up with practical solutions to challenges

• You are passionate about building capacity and maintaining effective systems and tools for a growing office

• You are able and willing to learn new tasks and software as required

• You are comfortable working with resource constraints in a fast-paced, dynamic environment

• You are able to work independently managing multiple tasks, meeting deadlines, as well as work with your manager to prioritize tasks

• You have strong interpersonal skills; able to build, manage and influence relationships with people at all levels - both within the organization and with external stakeholders

• You love building happy and well-functioning teams, and thinking about ways to build team culture

• You are passionate about sustainable development, and want to be part of a mission-driven organization

Application process – please read before applying

To find out more about this vacancy, please download and read the full job description.

Job Description

Application deadline is  11:59pm, 19th September 2021 EDT  

We use the Applied platform because it is designed to reduce bias in our recruitment process. To apply for this job, we ask you to answer a few work-based questions. Please therefore read the application questions carefully and answer them in the space provided (250 words) to clearly demonstrate your understanding of the role, and how your skills and experience will enable you to thrive and deliver in this post in Forum for the Future

The Applied platform includes instructions on how to use the portal. Once you start your application you will be presented with a dashboard which helps you to track your progress and reminds you of the closing date for the application. As you complete sections you can draft and save your responses to review and submit when you are ready to (as long as you’re within our required application deadline).

Some of the personal data you provide to Applied when you apply for a role with Forum for the Future will be passed on to us for the purposes of (a) reviewing your application; (b) inviting you for interview; and/or (c) offering you a job and getting you set up as an employee. For full details on how we collect and use your personal data please visit our privacy notice here.

If your application is not successful, any personal data provided to us by Applied (including any personal data relating to equal opportunities monitoring as set out above) will be retained by Forum for the Future for no longer than 12 months after the application deadline has passed, at which point your personal data will be securely deleted. We only keep your information for that period in order to allow us to comply with relevant legal obligations.

Please note:

All Forum employees are currently working remotely; once the offices re-open, we will return to working from our Singapore Office. 

If you do not already hold the right to work in Singapore and/or require sponsorship in order to continue working in the country, you should think carefully before applying. This is because we will be unable to sponsor you.