Interim Program Strategy Manager

Strategy Execution

• 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.

Grants & Grantee Management

• 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.

Ecosystem Engagement

• 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.

Internal Coordination

• 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).
• Coverage of internal coordination duties as needed.

Teamwide Influence & Strategic Partnership

• Provide flex capacity, juggling multiple priorities as programmatic needs evolve over time, including global work as applicable.
• Communicate in a clear and timely manner with team members to enable the team to extend its reach while staying tightly coordinated.
• Collaborate closely across teams, engaging key stakeholders in work as needed.
• Offer timely, humble feedback to others, contributing to a culture of transparency and shared accountability.
• Model intellectual rigor and mission focus, bringing perspective to the unique opportunity Pivotal Philanthropies has to advance social change in the United States.

Core Competencies

• Build and Maintain Trust
• Drive Impact
• Learn and Grow

Required Qualifications

• Minimum 7-9 years of experience in philanthropy, communications, and/or social impact fields, or an equivalent combination of advanced training and experience.
• Established knowledge of the philanthropic ecosystem advancing economic justice and efforts to end gender-based violence, including familiarity with relevant grantee partners, peer funders, field leaders, and movement infrastructure in the U.S.
• Demonstrated grantmaking experience, with the ability to independently apply grantmaking practices, assess opportunities, manage grantee relationships, and move work forward without requiring foundational onboarding to philanthropy or grantmaking.
• Proven ability to quickly build credibility and hold sensitive, trust-based relationships with grantee partners, peer funders, and other external stakeholders, including in complex or high-context environments.
• Familiarity with measurement and evaluation approaches in philanthropy.
• Knowledge of current diversity and inclusion initiatives in the U.S. philanthropy and non-profit sectors.
• Proven ability to design effective strategies and strategic initiatives that advance impact goals.
• Ability to synthesize complex information and lead a project from conception to completion, engaging relevant stakeholders throughout.
• Ability to remain objective and serve as an honest broker when synthesizing and presenting information, avoiding bias or over-interpretation.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including executive communications, content tailored to varied audiences and formats, negotiation experience, and track record of producing memos, strategy documents and presentations.
• Experience working with and on behalf of a senior leader.
• Experience managing vendors.
• Proficiency using Microsoft 365 (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and SharePoint).
• Fluency in use of systems necessary to role (e.g., Salesforce, Workday).