Program Coordinator, Program Effectiveness

Landesa is seeking an analytically minded Program Coordinator with experience working with budgets, performance metrics, and data analytics to support management efforts to strengthen program work at this Seattle-based, international non-profit dedicated to securing land rights for the most vulnerable populations, especially women and the rural poor, in parts of Africa and Asia.  This individual will be part of the Program Effectiveness team and will be responsible for a range of administrative, financial, budgetary, and data analytics with the goal of improving the efficiency and effectiveness of Landesa’s growing number of programs and projects around the world.  The Program Coordinator will also work as a member of a team of program coordinators supporting the management, implementation, and refinement of processes that sit at the nexus of programs, finances, and operations for Landesa.

Reporting and Relationships: The Program Coordinator reports to the Program Manager, Global Program Operations and will work closely with the Director of Program Effectiveness, based in Washington, DC, providing support in areas relating to strategy, budgets, and data analytics.  The Program Coordinator will also work alongside peers as a member of the Global Program Operations team within Program Effectiveness and will contribute to that team’s development and integration of systems, processes, and tools that strengthen Landesa’s programmatic work and/or offer administrative support to global programmatic work on an as-needed basis. 

About Landesa: Landesa is an international nonprofit dedicated to ending global poverty by securing land rights for the people experiencing poverty around the globe. Founded in 1981, Landesa has worked in more than 66 countries throughout the world, with central office staff in the U.S. (Seattle, Washington and Washington, DC) and regional programming in China, India, Liberia, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Indonesia, Cambodia, and Thailand. Landesa partners with governments, civil society, and companies to develop pro-poor and gender-sensitive laws, policies and programs that have helped strengthen land rights for more than 720 million people in the last 5 years. The organization is supported by NGOs, foundations, donor agencies (USAID, World Bank, etc.), world leaders, educational institutions, and individual supporters around the world.

About the job:

The Program Coordinator will provide a range of programmatic and administrative support to Program Effectiveness projects and initiatives. Though based in the U.S., the cross-cutting nature and reach of this position extends to engagement across all Landesa offices. Programmatic and administrative support includes (80%):

Program operations:  

• Providing operational and administrative support by ensuring that teams and their projects run as well-oiled machines, managing respective tasks in a timely, organized, and efficient manner. 

• Assisting the Director in managing portfolio operations and non-programmatic initiatives, onboarding new staff to Landesa systems, and facilitating general troubleshooting and interdepartmental coordination. 

• Training Program Effectiveness staff on Program Operations processes, tools, and resources, as needed.

Program Effectiveness project coordination:  

• Working with a host of project staff – including project managers, budget owners, and technical leads – on administrative aspects of project implementation, including tasks related to calendar and timeline management; notetaking; travel logistics; event planning and support; copyediting; newsletter and communications management; and coordination of consultants, invoices, and contracts. 

• Project tasks may vary considerably depending on the needs of each program and portfolio.

• Providing administrative support to global programs, as assigned.

Data analytics: 

• In close collaboration with Program department management, develop and maintain systems, dashboards, and other technologically integrated tools to improve management and oversight of Landesa’s programs and impact. 

• Manage storage and flow of Program department information related to strategy and priorities, department discretionary and initiative funding, consultants and contractors, and partner organizations.

Budget development process support and financial backstopping: 

• Providing financial backstopping and support to project management, activity implementation, and program operations, including developing budgets and consolidating financial information; expense reporting; tracking team billability; and document storage.

• Facilitating communications between finance and program staff.

• Supporting tracking and improvement for proposal-stage budget development processes, including standardizing approaches and practices, developing templates, collecting cost analysis and overrun information, and maintaining centralized guidelines on Landesa standards and best practices.

• Facilitating data collection to inform analysis and recommendations that ensure continuous improvement in the efficiency, consistency, quality, and realism of Landesa’s budgeting for prospective projects.

As a member of the Program Operations team, the Program Coordinator will also be responsible for supporting (20%):

Systems change: Contributing insights to and supporting Landesa’s development and implementation of systems, processes, and tools to facilitate quality and efficiency in Landesa’s programmatic and operational work.

Distributed Approach: Furthering implementation of Landesa’s Distributed Approach by aligning financial and operational processes and facilitating communication between regional office(s) and the United States headquarters.

Connective tissue: Serving as the Program Operations focal point and representative for Program Effectiveness projects, the Program Coordinator will integrate Program Operations innovations into team habits and helping colleagues to adopt new technologies and processes.

About the successful candidate: The following experience and qualities will support success as a candidate:

Educational & Professional Requirements

• A bachelor’s degree or the equivalent combination of education and experience required.

• Knowledge of and dedication to principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion in internal and external work.

• 3+ years of experience performing administrative or coordinative work in a variable but process-intensive environment. Experience in a non-profit, financial, or legal setting is a plus. Experience working in an international organization or across countries and cultures is preferred.

• Top-notch ability in tools that enable highly effective administrative work, such as CRM Databases, Office 365, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word, and especially Excel; an enthusiasm for learning new features, tools, and systems is important. Expands comfort for learning new technologies to teaching others.

• Experience creating systems and tools that help managers use and make sense of data for decision-making including dashboards, data visualizations, etc. 

• A robust understanding of budgeting principles and approaches. Experience in Adaptive Insights platform a plus.

• A high level of comfort coordinating and managing information in large, complex, multi-stakeholder projects.

• Comfort with coaching and teaching others how to utilize and learn new technologies or ways of doing work, including around budget development or analysis.

Additional Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities

• An appreciation for process and an ability to quickly grasp the resources, stakeholders, information, and decision points necessary for bringing a multifaceted task to completion; an ability to shepherd people and workflows.

• An ability to manage a high volume of work with efficiency, with demonstrated systems for keeping tasks from slipping through the cracks. Able to juggle competing demands and prioritize without sacrificing quality. Plans backwards to make deadlines. Asks for help when needed.

• A sense of humor and excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to work in a multi-cultural environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity. A strong communicator who values process and the journey as well as the destination.

• An eagerness to seize challenges and to create efficiency and ease for multiple teams.

• Experience supporting resource development through fundraising and grant writing, as well as administration activities of grants and contracts of both private and public funders a plus.

• Experience with public and private sector contracting and administration a strong plus.