The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is one of the nation's largest independent foundations. The Foundation supports creative people, effective institutions, and influential networks building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. We work on a few big bets that strive toward transformative change in areas of profound concern, including the existential threats of climate change, the challenges of criminal justice reform, revitalizing local news in the U.S., and corruption in Nigeria.

In addition, we maintain enduring commitments in our hometown Chicago, where we invest in people, places, and partnerships to build a more inclusive Chicago and in journalism and media, where we invest in more just and inclusive news and narratives.

We also make awards to extraordinarily creative individuals through the MacArthur Fellows program and for solutions to critical problems of our time through 100&Change.
For more information, please visit our website at www.macfound.org.

The New Work Exploration team is responsible for researching, developing, and proposing new areas of grantmaking and ways of working for the Foundation. With direction from the Board and Foundation leadership, we source ideas internally and externally; explore them through research, convening, consultation, and grantmaking; develop initial strategic frameworks; and propose forms these ideas could take, whether short-term initiatives or longer-term programs. We collaborate with teams across the Foundation in pursuit of these goals.

The Project Management & Analytics (PM&A) Associate supports the Foundation’s efforts to identify and assess emerging areas for philanthropic engagement and investment. This role offers the opportunity for a highly organized, self-motivated, creative problem solver to apply project management processes and methodologies to help the New Work Exploration team organize and track multiple collaborative projects at once. The PM&A Associate has the opportunity to work closely with the Research & Analytics (R&A) Project Associate and the Program Development Officers (PDOs) on a range of projects to help visualize quantitative and qualitative data in creative ways, raise up actionable insights, and engage stakeholders to shape and decide on new programmatic directions. The ideal candidate combines strong project management and organizational skills with a passion for evidence-based, equity-centered social impact.

This role is time-limited for an initial period of 5 years, with the possibility of an extension.

Job Description

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Planning & Progress Management

• Support the creation and maintenance of goals, milestones, timelines, activities, deliverables, and progress measures using Asana project management for all New Work priorities
• Support the project management of New Work priorities in partnership with the New Work Exploration Program Development Officers, Director, and Managing Director, who lead and drive the substance of each project
• Support multiple New Work Exploration initiatives and projects at different stages of development in collaboration with Foundation leadership and Staff (stages include idea generation, exploration, selection, standing up emerging strategies and programs)

Communication & Collaboration

• Manage internal and external stakeholders to fully execute multiple project deliverables and develop detailed project plans to monitor and track progress
• Adjust and communicate effectively with project team(s) and leadership on project progress, changes, milestones, and challenges
• Support coordination, planning, and communication among cross-functional teams, consultants, and external partners
• Facilitate communication with external researchers, grantees, and field experts to ensure timely delivery of insights

Insight management & analytics

• Develop and maintain databases, systems and processes in partnership with the Research and Analytics Project Associate, IT, Evaluation & Learning, and Program Development Officers
• Organize and maintain systems to store, reference and share internal notes, reports, analysis, and insights, to drive transparency, accessibility, collaboration, learning and project effectiveness
• Support and sometimes lead the development of memos, slide decks, and reports to support collaboration and/or inform decision-making
• Collaborate with colleagues in Evaluation and Learning to track progress against exploratory learning goals and evaluation frameworks

Learning & Growth Mindset

• View problems and opportunities in context at the Foundation level, balancing New Work’s opportunity to introduce new ways of working with an understanding of current operational and programmatic systems and strategies
• Excited by the opportunity to support New Work Exploration team members in learning how to integrate project management mindsets and habits to elevate the quality of the work and the management of its pace and planning
• Contribute to the design, management and coordination of convenings, workshops, or feedback loops that support learning and iteration, and share learning across teams and/or with external audiences

Other Duties and Responsibilities:

• Lead special projects such as managing time-limited project teams or working groups, or to support cross-Foundation projects that may arise
• Support quantitative and qualitative data analysis tasks, such as coding interviews or producing charts or dashboards, as needed
• Attend webinars, meetings, and conferences as requested, and provide written notes and feedback

The position is hybrid and based in Chicago, Illinois.

Annual salary for this role will start at $89,500. We offer a generous total compensation package that emphasizes both base salary and a comprehensive benefits package to support your life, health, and well-being.

Physical Requirements and Work Environment:

The work environment is an office setting. Intermittent physical activities will include bending, reaching, sitting, and moving around the office during working hours. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable a person with physical disabilities to perform the job.

Qualifications

• A bachelor’s degree preferred, or relevant experience
• 3+ years of relevant experience in project management, research administration, or analytics support, preferably in consulting, client-serving business, philanthropy, nonprofits, or public administration
• Extensive project management skills and experience; knowledge of principles, methodology and tools
• Self-starter with initiative and strong organizational skills who can manage multiple tasks, work independently, and adapt and respond quickly to opportunities
• Demonstrated ability to work with colleagues in an inter-disciplinary group setting, including an ability to make effective connections across professional levels, both internally and externally
• Self-confident, diplomatic and collegial, with high professional standards and good judgment
• Ability to create presentations to summarize and communicate plans, status, and information graphically and creatively to drive projects and foster collaboration
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills, including the ability to write short memos, emails, and presentations for a variety of purposes and audiences
• Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite; experience or ability to learn and use tools like Asana or Power BI, a plus.
• Demonstrated interest in learning or practicing ways of managing projects to generate knowledge and ideas in participatory and collaborative ways, and supporting the synthesis and sharing out of those to support design choices
• Curious and interested in learning about a broad range of social issues, public policy, collaboration, and philanthropic approaches

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting short-term research or learning initiatives within think tanks, academia, think tanks, or nonprofits
• Ability to translate multiple sources of data into clear, actionable insights
• Familiarity with grantmaking and knowledge management tools

• Collaborative, adaptable, and committed to equity-driven work