Senior Project Coordinator – Media in Exile

Thomas Reuters; London; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

The Thomson Reuters Foundation is looking for a Senior Project Coordinator to manage grants and capacity building for exiled media. This role involves overseeing grant applications, maintaining compliance, and coordinating support efforts for independent media outlets, making a significant impact in journalism under threat.

Benefits

Competitive salary packages

Market-leading benefits

Access to continual professional development

Qualifications

• Experience managing grant and award lifecycles.
• Proficiency in coordinating training and mentorship programs.
• Strong knowledge of budget management and compliance.

Responsibilities

• Oversee design and management of grant program for media outlets.
• Ensure compliance with financial reporting and internal policies.
• Coordinate capacity building interventions for independent media.

Skills

Project management

Organizational skills

Grant management

Capacity building

Financial management

Interpersonal skills

Problem-solving

Job description

The Thomson Reuters Foundation is seeking a highly organised and motivated Senior Project Coordinator to manage the delivery of grants and capacity building interventions for media in exile. This is an exciting time to join the Foundation, as the postholder will play an essential role in delivering an element of TRF’s expanding programme of support to independent exiled media organisations, which has grown substantially since 2022.

Exiled / Hybrid media is an increasingly important feature of the global independent media landscape: as the spread of authoritarianism, restrictions on press freedoms and violence against journalists forces media organisations to leave their home countries to continue providing citizens with fair and accurate coverage of critical events. This phenomenon poses complex business, technological and journalistic challenges and TRF is committed to playing a leading role in supporting independent journalism to respond and thrive.

The programme of work includes a significant training programme element and a grant-making component, with a mix of long-term grants; shorter-term project funds; and associated technical assistance available to eligible organisations. This role would sit within the core project team and focus on the design and delivery of key programmatic elements, including a capacity building training programme and a one-year grant programme which fits within the wider programme for exiled media. The successful post holder will coordinate and lead the implementation these, working closely with the Project Manager and Finance Team to ensure grants and training delivery are managed to a high standard and contribute to TRFs overall strategic and learning objectives for the programme.

The postholder will be based within TRF’s Central & Eastern Europe programmes team and report to the Project Manager for media in exile. Successful candidates will bring regional and contextual knowledge, previous experience of coordinating, implementing, and managing sub-grants and awards, as well as training programmes or similar capacity building interventions, have great people skills, and be able to demonstrate a strong understanding of financial and budget management. Knowledge of the Russian and/or Belarusian language would be a considerable asset.

Please note, this is a fixed-term contract till 30 September 2026 with a minimum of 2 days per week in our London office. Occasional travel in Central and Eastern Europe may be required.

About the Role

As a Senior Project Coordinator at the Thomson Reuters Foundation, you will:

• Oversee the end-to-end design and management of a one-year grant programme for independent media outlets in exile, including the call for applications, proposal evaluations, due diligence, grant agreement development, monitoring, and narrative and financial reporting processes.
• Manage the advertisement, application and evaluation process for the grant programme, working closely with prospective grantees, external evaluators, and internal selection panels.
• Ensure that all due diligence, contracting and financial set-up processes are followed accurately and comply with TRF’s processes and requirements. You will conduct thorough due diligence assessing eligibility, financial stability, alignment with our mission, and compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, in collaboration with colleagues in the Programmes and Finance teams.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders and external partners to develop comprehensive grant agreements, ensuring alignment with organizational objectives and compliance requirements.
• Oversee the management of key reporting and financial processes for the grant programme: including ensuring the timely receipt of narrative progress and financial reports and support to the wider project team to deliver a quality evaluation and learning framework for the programme.
• Work collaboratively with colleagues in the Finance department to review grant budgets, financial reports, process requests for budget changes and additional disbursements, and ensure timely receipt of grant funds.
• Work with the Project Manager and Finance department colleagues to ensure grantee adherence to TRF’s financial reporting guidelines, including the provision of support to grantees to enable them to meet these guidelines accurately, where necessary.
• Ensure all grant activities adhere to internal policies, procedures, and governance standards, in line with TRF’s Project Cycle Management (PCM).
• Design, coordinate, and deliver capacity building interventions, including training and mentorship programmes, to support the development of independent media outlets in exile. This will involve working closely with internal stakeholders, external partners, and participants to identify capacity building needs, develop tailored interventions, and evaluate their effectiveness.
• Work closely with internal stakeholders and external suppliers to coordinate and manage the delivery of in-kind technical assistance / capacity building support where this has been identified as an additional element of TRFs grant award. This is likely to include: undertaking supplier due diligence; onboarding and contracting of TRF experts; ensuring timely receipt of reporting and processing of invoices for suppliers; and acting as the routine point of contact for suppliers working on TRF grants.
• Working closely with the Project Manager, ensure that any relevant risks, issues, and lessons associated with specific grant awards are identified and managed appropriately: including where appropriate through monitoring mitigating actions and/or escalating when required.
• Cultivate strong relationships with grant partners, providing guidance and support, addressing any queries or concerns, and fostering effective communication channels.
• Maintain accurate and up-to-date records of grant-related activities, including documentation of agreements, reports, correspondence, and any other relevant information.
• Support knowledge sharing and learning for the Programmes team by sharing lessons learnt and contributing to Monitoring Evaluation and Learning (MEL) activities within the programme.

About You

To be a Senior Project Coordinator at Thomson Reuters, you will likely have:

• Strong knowledge and experience in managing entire grant and award lifecycles: including building strong, collaborative partnerships; experience reviewing and analysing project budgets; monitoring, evaluation and reporting with grantees while ensuring corporate and donor compliance requirements are met.
• Proficiency in planning, organising, coordinating, and managing activities related to grants, ensuring deadlines are met and deliverables achieved.
• Experience in designing, delivering, and evaluating capacity building interventions, including training and mentorship programmes.
• Excellent organisational skills and the ability to work with changing priorities and time pressures.
• A keen eye for detail and experience in reviewing grant submissions and documentation.
• Experience of working effectively on donor-funded projects, including experience of narrative and financial reporting, and monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) frameworks.
• Pro-active and problem-solving attitude, with an ability to work across internal stakeholders to resolve issues and unblock processes to avoid delays.
• Resilience, ability to manage high pressure projects and work environments with competing and sometimes changing priorities.
• Experience in project budget management skills, including forecasting, tracking expenditure, and strong Excel skills.
• Ability to work under pressure and to tight deadlines.
• Ability to quickly understand complex information and translate for audiences with different levels of understanding and differing priorities.
• Excellent interpersonal skills – able to establish and maintain positive working relationships both internally and externally, with people from diverse cultural and professional backgrounds.
• Fluency in English.

Desired skills

• Knowledge of Belarusian and/or Russian language would be a considerable asset.
• Regional expertise and contextual knowledge of Central and Eastern Europe, including previous experience of working with a focus in the region.
• Experience of working in an organisation or role linked to international relations, international development, media, human rights, or relevant field.
• Experience in adult learning principles, curriculum design, and facilitation techniques.

To apply for this position, attach your CV and cover letter in English describing how you meet the specifications for this role and provide your availability to start. Applications without a cover letter will not be considered.

Please note that this role is subject to availability of funding.

About the Thomson Reuters Foundation

Join a team which has unique expertise combining the power of journalism and the law to advance media freedom, foster more inclusive economies, and promote human rights. Through news, media development, free legal assistance and convening initiatives, we combine our unique services to drive systemic change.

TheThomson Reuters Foundation is corporate foundation of Thomson Reuters, the global news and information services company. As an independent charity, registered in the UK and the USA, we work to advance media freedom, foster more inclusive economies, and promote human rights. Through news, media development, free legal assistance and convening initiatives, we combine our unique media and legal services to drive systemic change.

For more than 35 years, we have promoted the highest standards in journalism by training reporters around the world to cover issues relevant to their local context, accurately and impartially. Today, we work to strengthen local and national journalism, improve media ethics, standards and regulation, combat misinformation, and explore and shape the future of the profession. We do this through newsroom consultancy, journalism training and mentoring, capacity-building, and via our funding of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford.

The Thomson Reuters Foundation runs the largest pro bono legal service, TrustLaw which helps high-impact NGOs and social enterprises, to grow, streamline their operations and navigate complex laws and regulations by connecting them with free legal assistance from the best law firms and corporate legal teams around the world. We also deliver ground-breaking legal research on key social and policy issues that our members use to support their advocacy and law reform efforts, and we deliver innovative capacity-building workshops on legal issues across the globe.

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What’s in it For You?

• Global Perspective and Impact: Interested in working for a dynamic global organization with a focus on social impact? With hubs all over the world from Bangkok to Madrid to Rio de Janeiro, join a truly international team with a shared goal of helping to build societies around the world that are free, fair, and informed.

• Unique Approach: Our expertise in media and the law is world class. We combine the power of both to address the critical issues faced by humanity.

• Our Relevance: With a focus on advancing media freedom, fostering more inclusive economies and promoting human rights, our work has never been more needed than right now.

• Industry Competitive Benefits: We offer competitive salary packages and market-leading benefits.

• Learning & Development: We are dedicated to the continual professional development of our employees and offer access to both in-house and external training opportunities.

About Thomson Reuters Foundation

TheThomson Reuters Foundation is corporate foundation of Thomson Reuters, the global news and information services company. As an independent charity, registered in the UK and the USA, we work to advance media freedom, foster more inclusive economies, and promote human rights. Through news, media development, free legal assistance and convening initiatives, we combine our unique media and legal services to drive systemic change.

About Thomson Reuters

Thomson Reuters informs the way forward by bringing together the trusted content and technology that people and organizations need to make the right decisions. We serve professionals across legal, tax, accounting, compliance, government, and media. Our products combine highly specialized software and insights to empower professionals with the data, intelligence, and solutions needed to make informed decisions, and to help institutions in their pursuit of justice, truth, and transparency. Reuters, part of Thomson Reuters, is a world leading provider of trusted journalism and news.

We are powered by the talents of 26,000 employees across more than 70 countries, where everyone has a chance to contribute and grow professionally in flexible work environments. At a time when objectivity, accuracy, fairness, and transparency are under attack, we consider it our duty to pursue them. Sound exciting? Join us and help shape the industries that move society forward.

As a global business, we rely on the unique backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences of all employees to deliver on our business goals. To ensure we can do that, we seek talented, qualified employees in all our operations around the world regardless of race, color, sex/gender, including pregnancy, gender identity and expression, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, citizen status, veteran status, or any other protected classification under applicable law. Thomson Reuters is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer providing a drug-free workplace.

We also make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and for sincerely held religious beliefs in accordance with applicable law. More information on requesting an accommodation here.

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More information about Thomson Reuters can be found on thomsonreuters.com.