Special Projects Manager Jobs

About Activate Global

Activate empowers scientists to reinvent our world and address climate change by bringing their research to market. We partner with leading funders and research institutions—including a groundbreaking new partnership with the National Science Foundation—to offer the Activate Fellowship, providing the funding, technical support, networking, community, and time that scientists need at the outset of their entrepreneurial journey.

The results are game changing: Activate Fellows have launched 106 new companies since 2015. These companies have raised more than $1.3B in follow-on funding, created more than 1,200 U.S.-based high-tech jobs, reached scientific breakthroughs, and defined new market categories. Activate supports fellows in Berkeley, CA; Cambridge, MA; New York, NY; and across the U.S. through Activate Anywhere.

Activate exists to create a better future, for all. In service of this purpose, we are building a foundation of equity and inclusivity across our business, including our operations, our fellowship, our partnerships, and our brand.

Position Summary

Activate is looking for a Special Projects Manager to own a myriad of high-impact responsibilities to drive maximum impact for Activate, our fellowship, and our fellows. In this role your time will be split between special projects, internal people & culture projects, event management, and strategic executive support, meaning you will jump in and help bridge the gap on projects ranging from internal communications efforts to operation data analysis projects to supporting the executive team with key decisions. Due to the diversity of these responsibilities we’re looking for a true self-starter, with high flexibility, independent decision-making and comfort with ambiguity. This role will be a true joker card for Activate, helping us secure and finalize some of our most consequential efforts. You will have close support from our Senior Director of People & Culture and Chief Operating Officer to ensure you’re set up for success, are well supported and have reasonable expectations in your work.

Primary Responsibilities

Special Projects

• Deliver on complex projects by creating clear project management plans, building relevant workstreams, communicating updates with stakeholders, and partnering with relevant peers to execute on plans.
• Partner with leaders across the organization to drive ad-hoc critical projects. Examples of such projects might include project management for Exec Team strategy development projects, performance management process management, develop an org-wide annual calendar of events and seasonal processes, design team discussions about key employee engagement goals, among others.

Internal Event Management

• Lead internal cultural efforts such as volunteer days, holiday parties and team-bonding events
• Lead internal culture committee

Strategic Executive Support - please note some of these responsibilities would shift as we strategize around best executive-level support and other open roles

• Orchestrate board meetings and executive off-sites throughout the year for our executive team
• Collaborate with COO to manage agenda for TagUp and Exec Team meetings
• Partner with exec team members on efforts like building agenda and decks for All Hands and board meetings

Core skills and competencies

• Excellent judgment and able to hold sensitive information with discretion
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Self-motivated, adaptable, able to work independently or as part of a team
• Strong executive relationship building skills with efficient communication
• Ability to prioritize among a wide range of critical projects and communicate priorities to stakeholders
• Takes initiative, thinking critically and strategically across projects to identify gaps or points of coordination to address
• Organizational skills, attention to detail and ability to produce accurate and quality work in a fast-paced environment

Physical Characteristics of Work Environment:

• Flexible: Proximity to one of our in-residence communities (i.e. Berkeley, Boston, Houston, and New York), or ability and willingness to travel 5% of the time
• Typing and computer usage throughout the day
• Office-based work environment

Encouraging Applications from All Backgrounds

We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to age, race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran, or disability status. We will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics. Activate Global, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer.