Associate, Operations, Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data

Position Overview

The Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data, hosted at UNF, is a fast-growing, dynamic international partnership bringing together hundreds of different organizations including governments, UN agencies, private companies, civil society organizations, and many others. We convene, connect, and catalyze action to address the problems of poor data use, access, quality, and production, and to work with stakeholders to fully harness the new opportunities of the data revolution in the service of sustainable development.  We aim to link and align action, capacities, and resources across geographies, sectors, and data communities. 

The Operations Associate supports the Global Partnership by assisting with financial processes and providing logistical support to the Secretariat.  Reporting to the Senior Director of Operations, the Associate will help ensure that the Global Partnership is meeting all UNF and funder requirements as it implements its activities.  Working closely with other members of the Operations Division, the Associate will be integral to ensuring that internal and external events are successful by helping to arrange travel and logistics.

This position is based in Washington, DC or London.

Essential Functions

Financial Support

• Prepare expense and credit card reports.
• Review contractor invoices and bills for accuracy, prepare payment requests and work with the UNF Budget and Finance teams to process payments.
• Track incoming and outgoing payments.
• Analyze financial data to use in future budgeting and planning.
• Update funding forecast information in Salesforce.
• Track spending for discrete projects, as needed.

Logistical Support

• Arrange meeting logistics and manage logistics during meetings (scheduling people, conference rooms and video/teleconferences, greeting guests, note taking, catering, cleanup).
• Make travel arrangements for Secretariat and event participants (including preparing travel authorizations/letters of invitation, booking transportation, and lodging, and preparing travel reimbursements).
• Provide on-site event support at various events.

Grants and Contracts Support

• Conduct due diligence checks for all partners, grantees, and contractors.
• Assist with other compliance processes.
• Assist with the procurement process.
• Draft simple contracts, as needed.
• Maintain working knowledge of the UNF agreement process (for both contracts and grants), and when to utilize the proper templates accordingly. (As applicable to the role)
• Draft and review agreements and maintain an understanding of all agreement terms and applicable flow-downs, consulting with UNF’s finance/contracts team as needed. (As applicable to the role)
• Attend training sessions provided by UNF’s contracts team to maintain and keep up to date with UNF’s current policies and procedures. (As applicable to the role)
• Maintain a strong knowledge of UNF’s Salesforce database to be able to process and track agreements, extract information and prepare reports. (As applicable to the role)

Other Support

• Assist with timekeeping processes.
• Manage team-wide communications and file management tools, including Slack and Slack add-ons.
• Draft and edit internal and external correspondence, when requested.
• Other duties as assigned

Selection Criteria

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• 1-3 years of administrative experience.
• French or Spanish language proficiency required, both written and spoken.
• Strong attention to detail and demonstrated excellence working in a fast-paced environment.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities
• Strong professional interpersonal skills and diplomacy; the ability to interact with people from diverse, multi-cultural backgrounds.
• Interest, knowledge or experience in international affairs or data for development.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite to include Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Ability to work independently as well as a member of a team.
• Ability to travel several weeks out of the year.
• Previous experience with financial management preferred.
• Previous experience using Slack preferred.
• Previous experience with events management preferred.
• Previous experience with Salesforce preferred.
• Language proficiency for French or Spanish will be assessed during the interview process.
• Ability to meet regular attendance/tardiness policy
• Ability to work under pressure and handle stress.

Benefits & Compensation 

For full-time, U.S. benefit eligible employees, UNF offers an excellent range of benefits, including:

• a choice between two health plans through UnitedHealthcare (PPO or HDHP with HSA)
• dental insurance
• vision insurance
• flexible spending accounts
• 403b retirement savings plan with a generous matching contribution
• group term and supplemental life insurance
• short-term disability
• long-term disability
• health club discounts
• commuter subsidy
• back-up care
• employee assistance program

Additionally, all benefit eligible employees have 12 paid holidays, 20 vacation days, 10 sick days, 3 personal days, and 8 weeks of family leave care.

The United Nations Foundation is proud to be an equal opportunity and affirmative-action employer. The United Nations Foundation provides equal employment opportunity to all employees and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.