Portfolio Coordinator

IDEO.org is a nonprofit design studio on a mission to design a more just and inclusive world. Our work is rooted in shifting social systems toward a more just future. We partner with communities, nonprofit organizations, foundations, and governments to co-create solutions focused on health equity, early learning and care, social services, and economic justice. 

Over the past 10 years, our work has expanded beyond traditional service and product design in the social sector, and we are now regularly working hand-in-hand with communities and local organizations to design interventions in service of more equitable outcomes. Some examples include launching an incubator in Kenya for girl-led solutions to reproductive health, working with communities in Southern Dallas to improve access to quality health care, and working with refugee, immigrant, and migrant communities in the US to ensure everyone has access to reliable information about COVID-19. 

IDEO.org is looking for a Portfolio Coordinator to join our San Francisco studio, to provide administrative and operational support to both our Partnerships Team and Design Projects across our US portfolio of work. IDEO.org has three Portfolio Coordinators who work across our US portfolio of work.

What is the Partnerships team, you might ask? Our US-based Partnerships Team is responsible for building and maintaining our US portfolio of work. They identify new opportunities, pursue the right partners, bring in the business, create great transitions for our Design project teams who work on these engagements, and maintain long-term relationships with our partners.

Supporting Teams

• Support knowledge management for prospective and ongoing design engagements, including file management, creating and maintaining internal systems, tracking potential opportunities, and sharing information, tools and resources with relevant team members.
• Take the lead on coordinating team meetings, cross-sharing moments, and team celebrations.
• Manage day-to-day coordination and logistics, anticipating needs and keeping our team running smoothly.
• Create and maintain internal systems that allow the team to work and share knowledge efficiently, and collaborate with teams across the organization to improve existing systems.
• Ensure compliance by monitoring reporting requirements, submitting narrative and financial reports on time, in collaboration with IDEO.org’s finance and operations teams.
• Support with calendaring to meet internal and external partner needs.
• Support with travel logistics, by researching travel itineraries, hotels, proactively monitoring health/safety challenges, and planning around constraints.

Portfolio Stewardship

• Support research on and track different partners and/or relevant funding opportunities.
• Nurture partner relationships through identifying opportunities for collaboration and providing timely and informative communication.
• Support with scoping of work, proposal writing & editing, developing Memoranda of Understanding and other activities to formalize partnerships.

SF Studio & Community Support

• Support or lead workstreams around internal initiatives or partner-facing events. For example:
• Engage with ongoing internal Diversity, Equity & Inclusion initiatives
• Help organize our SF Studio Home Weeks
• Organize an inspiring partner event
• Contribute to studio management to create a welcoming, healthy and fun studio environment for our staff in San Francisco

• 2-4 years of relevant work experience in project management, coordinator, operations, administration, or a related field
• Interest in design’s potential to build a more just and inclusive world
• A proactive self-starter
• Service-oriented and collaborative, with a mindset of making others successful
• Highly organized and detail-oriented, enjoy bringing clarity to chaos
• Adaptable, adept at wearing many hats and transitioning seamlessly between them
• A time management and project management expert, capable of balancing multiple priorities at once
• A great writer, capable of producing clear and engaging communications for a variety of audiences, ranging from emails to proposal documents
• Strong computer and digital skills (familiarity with the Google Suite, Airtable and Slack is preferred)

In order to be considered for the role, please submit a resume, a cover letter sharing more about your interest in IDEO.org and in the role, and complete the required application questions. We look forward to learning more about you!

• A diverse and multidisciplinary team that is passionate about advancing our mission to design a more just and inclusive world (over 70% of IDEO.org’s global staff identify as people of color and over 75% identify as women)
• A community of creative thought partners across San Francisco, New York, and Nairobi 
• A team of collaborators focused on advancing the practices of co-design and designing for equity
• A talent team committed to supporting the development of our community 
• A generous benefits offering, including medical, dental, vision, 4% 401k match, commuter benefits, Internet & phone plan coverage, a $400 home office stipend for remote employees, a $300 annual studio and team welfare stipend, a $300 annual caregiver benefit, a $500 annual learning stipend, an unlimited vacation policy, 16 paid holidays a year, a 5-week paid Sabbatical for employees who have been with the organization for 5 years, studio ‘onsite-offsites’ called ‘Home Weeks’ 3x/year, and 12-18 weeks of parental leave.
• Relocation reimbursement is available for this role as needed.

At IDEO.org, our mission is to design a more just and inclusive world, and that means centering equity, justice, and belonging in everything we do. We strive to bring together diverse perspectives and lived experiences to create a culture where joy, care, and full self-expression can thrive. This means creating conditions for people of every race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, socio-economic status, physical ability or attribute, religion, national origin, or political belief can thrive. This includes our employees, candidates, and the partners and communities we work with. We hold ourselves accountable to providing equitable access to resources and disrupting systems of oppression both within our organization and among the communities we serve. 

• Fostering unconditional belonging for all staff
• Evolving processes and practices to shift power 
• Translating our values around equity and justice into structural and operational change
• Engaging in continuous and collective collective reckoning on an ongoing basis