Program Officer The Skoll Foundation

The Skoll Foundation was established in 1999 by eBay’s first president, Jeff Skoll, who serves as the founder and chairman. The Skoll Foundation’s mission is to drive large-scale change by investing in, connecting and celebrating social entrepreneurs and the innovators who help them solve the world’s most pressing problems. Social entrepreneurs are proven leaders whose innovative approaches and solutions to social and environmental problems are helping to better the lives and circumstances of countless underserved or disadvantaged individuals and society overall. By identifying the people and their organizations already demonstrating impact around the world, the Skoll Foundation partners with them to accelerate their impact and fundamentally transform society.

The Skoll Foundation seeks a Program Officer who brings a combination of intellectual curiosity, analytical rigor, a passion for social change, a focus on tangible results, a collaborative “can do” attitude and a desire for continuous learning and improvement. Program Officers manage the sourcing and selection of Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship as well as subsequent grants to, investments in and loans for scaling the impact of those innovations. Like the foundation itself, these programs are continuously evolving as the foundation seeks to maximize its impact. Skoll Program Officers have a broad set of strategic business skills including the ability to lead and manage change, sound judgment, proven operations and financial/investment analysis, excellent verbal and written communication, and a passion for driving impact on the world’s most pressing problems. The Program Officer proactively collaborates with other foundation teams and plays a key role in identifying, catalyzing and measuring the impact of social entrepreneur investment opportunities. Skoll Program Officers engage in evidence-based debate, drive for accountability and have an entrepreneurial spirit. They accept a high degree of individual responsibility for anticipating and meeting deadlines, analyzing and managing opportunities and risk, producing high-quality documents and graphic materials, maintaining records and welcoming feedback with the aim of continuous improvement, learning and contribution to team performance.

Primary Responsibilities

• Source and manage a portfolio of social entrepreneur investments, including conducting due diligence, analyzing applications, managing grantee relationships, developing investment outcomes and milestones, and monitoring and evaluating investment progress and impact.

• Participate in the development and implementation of investment best practices, with a goal of strategically and seamlessly linking social entrepreneurs to other foundation services, staff and/or external resources.

• Support the social entrepreneurs and Skoll Foundation measurement and evaluation programs.

• Develop relationships with networks of foundation, corporate, NGO and issue experts in order to advance grantees’ work and individual knowledge.

• Serve as primary and secondary point person on a variety of foundation investment programs and initiatives.

• Participate, and at times lead, multidisciplinary teams addressing current and emerging foundation priorities.

• Interest in and experience with building and cultivating community networks and connections to advance social change.

• Participate in the development of strategic plans and operational processes to measure, learn from and improve impact.

• Liaise with consultants, partners and evaluators as assigned.

• Interface with grant seekers, grantees and partners, responding promptly and appropriately to a variety of e-mail, written and phone inquiries, and conducting site visits and convenings in accordance with program objectives.

• Maintain collegial working relationships with foundation colleagues and constituents.

• Draft and edit investment proposal summaries and recommendations for management, executive team and board review.

• Undertake special projects, as assigned.


• The ideal candidate will possess the following characteristics:

• Demonstrated knowledge about grantmaking, the field of social entrepreneurship and leading social entrepreneurs in the Skoll Foundation portfolio.

• Experience and desire to work in a team environment with an emphasis on adaptability, learning and continuous improvement.

• Ability to manage multiple priorities and work collaboratively to advance foundation goals, exercising judgment to make trade offs.

• Proven business skills to analyze the strategic, operational and financial capacity of organizations.

• Ability to make a compelling case for investment decisions based on knowledge, evidence and opportunity.

• Expertise in assessment and measurement at all program stages in order to determine behavior, policy and system change.

• Outstanding verbal and written communication skills and ability to clearly articulate Skoll’s vision and strategy to multiple audiences and serve as a qualified spokesperson for the foundation.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, sound judgment and discretion.

• Demonstrated ability to work sensitively with diverse people and communities.

• High standards, integrity and a sense of humor!

• Expertise in MS Office (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint) and general database systems.

• Competency in language(s), in addition to English, is desirable.

• Ability to travel domestically and internationally


The ideal candidate will have the following education and experience:

• Masters degree in business, economics, international development, public administration or a related discipline is required.

• Ideally ten years but no less than five years of progressively responsible positions, with a distinguished record of accomplishments in the philanthropic/nonprofit or for-profit sectors.

• Experience working in a developing country, preferably with social entrepreneurs or other local organizations, is desirable.

• Prior investment and/or strategic consulting experience is desirable.

• Combination of both philanthropic/nonprofit and business experience.

A competitive compensation package will be commensurate with background.


Applicants

Send a cover letter and resume to: jobs@skollfoundation.org. Please specify Program Officer in the message subject line. The foundation will contact qualified applicants. In your cover letter please tell us how your specific experiences and accomplishments address our needs and mission.