Operations Associate

Samvid Ventures

Samvid Ventures (SV) is a philanthropic foundation committed to improving lives and advancing society through innovation in entrepreneurship, education, and wellness. It has staff and board presence in Detroit, New York, and Miami, and a national footprint in its programming. In its team members, SV looks for individuals who are motivated by excellence, will thrive in an entrepreneurial environment, and have demonstrated a strong impact-orientation through their work.

Operations Associate Role

Operations Associates play a critical role in our fast-paced environment that requires drive, grit, positivity, and enthusiasm for the challenge at hand. An Operations Associate is a detail-oriented self-starter who will contribute meaningfully to improving processes and ensuring functions are as efficient as possible while also engaging in significant program-related work.

Responsibilities will include:

Organization-focused work

  • Develop and advance systems management: Is facile with technology and able to learn new software and tools quickly; can assist with the implementation of firmwide software and other technology tools. Examples include: Microsoft 365 Suite
    (including Planner, Sharepoint and OneDrive), upcoming Salesforce implementation, task management tools, etc.
  • Drive meaningful process improvement: Can uncover and analyze opportunities within operational systems and processes in support of SV’s mission; identifies existing or potential hurdles and appropriately flags these for leadership or proposes changes. Example includes: Identifying a broken process, speaking to team to understand what isn’t working, and proposing process changes to leadership
  • Support functional effectiveness and efficiency: Provide support to functions including HR, IT and Finance to improve service delivery as well as coordination and communication between support and business functions. Examples include: supporting staff recruiting searches and interview processes onboarding new hires and ongoing performance management for HR
  • Execute special projects: On an as-needed basis

Program-focused work

  • Manage program planning activities: Able to collaborate with teammates to contribute to workplanning (typically in excel using gantt charts); clearly understands where task ownership is in place and how those tasks fit into the larger program workstreams and goals; is able to confirm workstreams are well understood ahead of time and can raise questions to get guidance needed if necessary; is able to work with frequent deadlines
  • Support program team in pre-work activities: Work closely with program team to support specific activities, such as managing inflow of applications, responding to applicants and participants via email, ensuring all software and other systems used to run an application process are working seamlessly and are as user-friendly as possible (interfacing with software reps to make changes and add customizations; identifying issues real-time during application open periods), etc.
  • Drive specific components of program execution: Serve as a key ambassador of SV with program participants; ensure smooth logistics throughout lifecycle of program (through email, scheduling tools, zoom invitations, coordination of in person events); build relationships and directly manage communications across a variety of enquiries
  • Promote operational excellence: Support continued operational improvement through better management reporting, information flow and management (via excel-based dashboards, surveys and other software), and business process improvement as driven by leadership
  • Conduct independent research: Perform occasional desk research to inform tasks and build expertise as needed

Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s degree with 3+ years of work experience, ideally with some time spent in a fast-paced work environment
  • Ideally at least 2 years in operations (nonprofit operations experience not required)
  • Extremely organized, detail-oriented; has an appetite to learn and can pick up new skills quickly
  • Demonstrates resourcefulness and an ability to adapt quickly to changing priorities and environments
  • Maintains a solutions-oriented mindset; assumes full ownership and accountability over individual workstreams
  • Ability to work both independently and collaboratively; high integrity; possess a strong team spirit while maintaining professional confidence to get things done on your own
  • Strong oral and written communication skills

To apply

  • Email resume with salary requirement to recruiter@samvid.ventures
  • This position is based in NYC and Samvid Ventures is currently hybrid in-office
  • No cover letters please