Interim Program Strategy Manager

Company Overview

Founded by Melinda French Gates, Pivotal is a group of organizations working to accelerate the pace of social progress for women and young people in the U.S. and around the world. Inspired by our founder, we reach across communities and sectors to bring together innovative thinkers who can scale up proven ideas and catalyze new ones. We learn from their experiences, amplify their resources, and support them as they lead.

Pivotal includes Pivotal Philanthropies (charitable grantmaking and impact investing), Pivotal Initiatives Fund (policy and advocacy), and Pivotal Ventures (direct investments and partnerships).

The Interim Program Strategy Manager serves as a grant maker and project manager on the Program Strategy team. This role performs work on behalf of Pivotal Philanthropies Foundation and related 501(c)(3) entities ("Pivotal Philanthropies"). This individual works in close partnership with Program Strategy Directors, other team members, and stakeholders across Pivotal Philanthropies to successfully implement strategic initiatives and projects and make and manage grants.

This position tracks their assigned ecosystems and partners with teams internally to advance strategic goals.

This role is expected to have a duration of 12 months. This means that, absent some change, the position will end within that timeframe as defined in the offer letter.

• Project manage the implementation of strategic initiatives or projects, ensuring milestones are successfully met with oversight from program leadership.
• Support Program Strategy Director and/or Senior Director in executing approved strategies and/or strategic initiatives, expanding capacity and serving as a proxy in meetings and events as needed.
• Develop strong internal partnerships to support programmatic work, routinely communicating with stakeholders and making connections and recommendations to advance the work.
• Partner with Program Strategy Director/Senior Director to successfully manage a diverse portfolio of grants and strategic initiatives, maintaining flexibility as organizational needs evolve.

• Support the deployment of charitable capital at scale leveraging a variety of philanthropic approaches.
• Identify and manage a portfolio of grantee partners, coordinating resource movement to aligned partners.
• Partner with Program Strategy Director/Senior Director to follow internal procedures for grant and strategy development and deployment, coordinating closely with internal stakeholders.
• Maintain regular check-ins with grantee partners, sharing updates and gathering inputs across the strategy portfolio.
• Support the tracking of progress of grants individually and at the portfolio level, evaluating impact and course correcting where needed.
• Adapt to different grantmaking styles and modalities, applying best practices to fit context.

• Partner with Program Strategy Director/Senior Director to find opportunities for partner and ecosystem collaboration and make connections to improve efficiency and outcomes.
• Track, synthesize, and share developments and news within assigned ecosystems.
• Actively engage in the philanthropic community, building relationships and staying ahead of trends.
• Represent Pivotal Philanthropies’ interests and priorities in external forums, such as meetings and discussions as needed.

• Report about the strategy initiatives and/or ecosystem trends across the larger Program Strategy team and/or company, as needed.
• Draft materials and updates for internal knowledge sharing across the organization and for the Principal’s benefit.
• Continuously track progress and impact using measurement and evaluation frameworks.
• Make consistent, effective, and strategic use of organizational systems of record (e.g. Salesforce) to maintain actionable data, streamline processes, and promote knowledge sharing.
• Track data and information, particularly about the impact, through company platforms (such as Salesforce), ensuring high standards of data quality and completeness within assigned portfolio(s).
• Coordinate with Communications teams…