Job description
Schmidt Futures is a philanthropic initiative, founded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt, that bets early on exceptional people making the world better. We knit talent into networks, bet on the most promising ideas through diverse forms of competition and support, and equip people to scale through partners and modern tools. To realize this vision, Schmidt Futures uses a broad set of tools — including gifts, grants, investments, and startup activity — for charitable, educational, and commercial efforts with a public purpose. Our initiative brings together the efforts of various charitable and non-charitable entities to improve our potential impact by making diverse types of capital available to the efforts we support.
The Role
Schmidt Futures is launching a new fellowship program with the goal of identifying, supporting and cultivating the most extraordinary leaders working on the most compelling and bold new ideas to protect and advance American democracy.
Fitting with our mission of betting early on exceptional talent, we aim to identify and build a cohort of outstanding champions of democracy by (i) supporting their innovative projects, (ii) advancing their professional development, (iii) connecting them to each other, and (iv) architecting a network to help catalyze their work. In the process, we hope to increase the stickiness of the democracy space and make it easier for these individuals to dedicate their careers to the unending work of making American democracy better.
Every cohort of fellows will have a thematic focus. For our inaugural cohort, the thematic focus will be “building a multiracial democracy”; we will identify extraordinary leaders who are wholly committed to making our democracy more inclusive, more equitable and more representative for people of color.
Schmidt Futures is currently seeking a Manager who can launch and lead this new fellowship program this year.
Key Responsibilities:
The Manager of this new fellowship program will:
- Develop and manage an application process, helping to define the criteria we will use to select fellows and the ways in which we will collect the requisite information needed for evaluation.
- Encourage applications through direct outreach to a network of nominators and through posting of an open call on the appropriate channels.
- Manage the selection process and finalize our inaugural cohort of fellows, in close collaboration with senior leaders and external advisors and stakeholders.
- Assist with the public launch of the program and the announcement of our inaugural cohort, in partnership with our Communications team.
- Build out a full offering of resources and support for each of our fellows. (e.g., matching our fellows with a professional coach, etc.)
- Establish a regular cadence of programmatic touchpoints in the form of recurring meetings and events. (e.g., brown bag lunches, happy hours, etc.)
- Foster a sense of connection between the fellows through community building efforts and activities.
- Serve as the primary point of contact for each of our fellows and the main liaison. between the cohort and the rest of the Schmidt Futures team.
- Work closely with each fellow to help them achieve the goals, objectives and intended impact targets of their respective projects.
- Help to ensure that our fellows enjoy the program and make the most of it.
- Surface insights and lessons learned in order to evolve and improve the program over time.
Knowledge, skills, and abilities
- Demonstrated knowledge of the democracy space, including some of the challenges currently facing American democracy and some of the best new ideas and the most innovative solutions out there.
- Demonstrated leadership ability, including comfort coordinating efforts and maintaining alignment across multiple stakeholders.
- A track record of driving impact at scale in high-intensity, team-based environments
- Stellar project management skills, including the ability to craft and stick to a detailed work plan with clear deadlines.
- Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to serve as an effective ambassador and recruiter for a talent-based program.
- Exceptional problem-solving skills for both conceptual and analytical problems and an openness to creative, innovative solutions.
- Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to communicate effectively with senior executives and principals.
- Demonstrated commitment to the highest standards of ethics and confidentiality.
- Unwavering commitment to equity and inclusivity both in the workplace and outside of it.
- Unwavering commitment to democratic values and a foundational belief in the promise of democracy as a system of governance.
Requirements
- Have ~7+ years of relevant work experience in the democracy space and/or related fields such as politics, government or philanthropy.
- Have a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited university. (advanced degree preferred)
- Be based at the Schmidt Futures office in New York and be able to travel within the U.S. on a regular basis as needed.
At Schmidt Futures we are committed to fair, transparent pay and we strive to provide competitive, market-informed compensation. The target base salary range for this role is $155,000 to $185,000. Compensation for the successful candidate will be informed by the candidate’s particular combination of knowledge, skills, competencies and experience.
Futures Action Network, LLC, which operates Schmidt Futures, is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer that proudly pursues and hires a diverse workforce. We do not make hiring or employment decisions on the basis of race, color, religion or religious belief, ethnic or national origin, nationality, sex, gender, gender-identity, sexual orientation, disability, age, military or veteran status, or any other basis protected by applicable local, state, or federal laws or prohibited by Company policy. We strive for a healthy and safe workplace and strictly prohibit harassment of any kind.
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