Program Associate – William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

Location: Menlo Park, CA

Overview: The Program Associate reports to the Program Officer overseeing the foundation’s climate related work on China, on industrial emissions, and on artificial intelligence. This role will administer grants, manage the portfolio’s budget, sustain relationships with key partners and stakeholders, and contribute to strategy development, implementation, and evaluation.

The Program Associate will work directly with the program’s grantees, and manage all administrative aspects of the grantmaking process, including communications regarding proposals, budgets, and grant reports. The Program Associate may also research issues, programs, and organizations related to portfolio and to the Program’s climate and energy strategies.

Roles/Responsibilities: The Program Associate’s duties will include, but not be limited to:

Grants Administration and Contracts

• Manage a high volume of grants through the full grant lifecycle, from the proposal application process, to grant reporting and closing of grants.
• Implement processes to plan, coordinate, and track communications, timelines, and documents related to grants. Ensure grants meet reporting requirements and deadlines.
• Stay up to date on legal compliance issues that the grant portfolio presents and continue to develop expertise in managing complex compliance issues.
• Act as liaison to the grants management and legal officers for relevant program grant processing, including those related to scheduling reports and payments, grantee tax information (domestic and foreign), and the resolution of legal issues.
• Organize, compose, and manage communications with current and potential grantees.
• Manage, track, and forecast the portfolio’s annual grants budget.
• Track the status of approved grants or contracts through completion of payment process and closure.
• Prepare consulting agreements and serve as point of contact for consultants, including processing of invoices and other foundation administrative processes, as needed.
• Support the Program in funder convenings, meetings, and maintaining funder relationships.
• Work with Program to effectively prioritize workload, triaging deliverables to meet deadlines.

Programmatic and Strategic Support

• Support the Program Officer on strategic initiatives.
• Participate in meetings with Program Officer to provide strategic support and thought partnership.
• Research and prepare background information for meetings and presentations, and compile reference materials, as needed.
• Travel to and participate in select US and international climate events, conferences, convenings, and grantee visits in support of the portfolio’s needs.
• Participate in teamwide projects, such as team retreat preparation, grantee convenings, and assisting with new staff onboarding as needed.
• Support the foundation and Environment team’s commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Qualifications: We know some strong candidates may not have all the qualifications listed below. Please consider applying if you have most of the following:

• 2-5 years’ experience providing complex administrative support.
• Bachelor’s or Associate’s degree desired.
• Demonstrated ability to work across cultural contexts.
• International work experience desired.
• Excellent administrative and project management skills and experience, including the ability to plan and manage projects both independently and with colleagues.
• Experience in budget management.
• Strong commitment to the environment and combatting climate change, prior experience in climate policy a plus.
• Ability to meet tight, sometimes simultaneous, deadlines with a keen ability to prioritize and partner with others to meet common goals.
• Ability to work as a contributing member of a team to deliver philanthropic services in a clear, efficient, collegial manner.
• Strong oral and written communication skills.
• Experience in MS Office: Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Adobe; experience with Salesforce a plus.
• Experience in web-based document management tools and practices; willingness to learn new software tools and use them for program support.
• Proficiency with problem-solving, analysis, and applying an appropriate level of judgment.
• Experience with grants processing and grants database a plus.
• A commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• Positive attitude, sense of humor, and a commitment to being part of, and building, a positive work environment.