Associate Consultant/Analyst (OI)

Open Impact; Burlingame (CA); On-site; USD 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Open Impact is seeking an Associate Consultant/Analyst to join a mission-driven team in Burlingame, CA. You will support client-facing teams with high-quality project execution, research, and written products that inform strategy and impact.

The role emphasizes rigorous analysis, clear communication, and an ability to manage multiple projects in a fast-paced environment. A background in philanthropy or the nonprofit sector and strong PowerPoint skills are highly valued.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or commensurate experience.
• 2+ years of project management or other relevant experience.
• Demonstrated research experience.
• Mission-oriented with a proven commitment to social impact.
• Knowledge of the social sector, including philanthropic, nonprofit, or impact investing fields.
• Exceptional analytical and quantitative problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work autonomously and manage up, particularly in dynamic environments.
• Strong attention to detail, self-motivated, able to set priorities and self-manage.
• Demonstrated ability to write clearly, succinctly, and aligned to the sensibilities and language of the target audience.
• Skilled in presentation development (e.g. PowerPoint).

Responsibilities

• Assist in day-to-day execution of a portfolio of consulting projects, including proposal development and budgets.
• Develop engagement work plans, timelines, and deliverables.
• Coordinate staffing and client meetings to ensure on-time delivery.
• Draft and edit project documents, reports, and presentations.
• Coordinate logistics and execution of workshops, convenings, and events.
• Conduct qualitative and quantitative research and synthesize findings for client deliverables.
• Support development of grant portfolios and related research tasks.
• Contribute to internal firm projects such as newsletters and research.

Skills

Project management

Research

Qualitative analysis

Writing

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

PowerPoint

Job description

Open Impact is a strategic advisory firm known for its innovative approaches to how philanthropic capital can create systems-level solutions. It partners with leaders to envision, design, and accelerate philanthropy for social change.

Open Impact is seeking an Associate Consultant/Analyst to join its team. You should be:

• An exceptional project manager known for your laser-focus, clarity, productivity, and attention to details.
• An experienced researcher who can synthesize qualitative and quantitative data and information into products that help our teams and clients get to insight and impact.
• Savvy about the nonprofit, philanthropic, and investment sectors and each one’s unique strengths and shortcomings as agents of change and impact.
• An optimistic problem solver able to juggle and prioritize a wide range of commitments and projects with excellent planning and communication skills, judgment and efficiency.
• Drawn to a start-up environment where ideas, systems and structures are iterated, trial and error are expected, and no job is too big or too small.

The Firm

Open Impact is a focused team from diverse backgrounds passionate about driving impact on behalf of our client partners. Collectively, our team has experience working on a wide range of social issues, including K-12 public education, social justice and equity, human services, the environment, housing and community development, and global health, as well as cross-cutting issues such as collaborations, governance, leadership development, and nonprofit capacity building.

Since our founding, our firm has developed a national portfolio of distinguished clients and a formidable list of accomplishments, including:

• Strategic planning work to activate over $9B of philanthropic assets, designing visions and plans for how funds will be allocated for maximum impact
• Creating and implementing new philanthropic initiatives with clear metrics
• Advising on organizational development issues, including structures for governance, operations, and staffing
• Exploring new areas for expanded social impact, such as impact investing
• Convening diverse cross-sector leaders to develop networks and innovate new scalable solutions in a particular issue area
• Strategy development for leading social change organizations to strengthen their impact and business models, and align performance metrics
• Undertaking select research initiatives to inform our work and the larger field

We believe many of today’s problems are increasing in complexity, outpacing current solutions. No single organization or sector can solve them—instead we need more systemic approaches. As a result, today’s leaders must be strategic, innovative, and collaborative in their approach to social change; they must learn how to build strong organizations and networks to create greater impact. At Open Impact, we work with our clients to develop these new skills, and to harness the best people, ideas and resources needed to create breakthrough solutions that can scale.

The Associate Consultant/Analyst would work with the firm’s client-facing teams to ensure high quality project execution and develop research content that meets the needs of clients and contracts. Key responsibilities include:

• Project management support. Assist in day-to-day execution of a portfolio of consulting projects, which entails:
  • Proposal development. For potential future projects and firm work, develop drafts of proposals, scopes of work, and budgets as needed.
  • Workplans. Develop engagement work plans, timelines, and deliverables.
  • Staffing. Work with engagement team to ensure effective and on-time project delivery, including coordinating internal and client meetings, deliverable dates, etc.
  • Writing. Draft and edit project documents, reports, and presentations.
  • Convening and facilitation. Coordinate logistics, agenda-setting, execution, and follow-up of workshops, convenings, and events.
• Analysis. For client engagements, formulate and test hypotheses and conduct quantitative and qualitative research on a variety of issues. Specific responsibilities may include:
  • Articulate and structure research problems in a logical manner; design a method for answering key questions using research/data.
  • Gather, analyze, and synthesize qualitative and quantitative data, including literature scans and online research.
  • Conduct landscape scans and field analyses, using interviews, online research, and database searches.
  • Recognize patterns and insights in sets of data.
  • Communicate to team any obstacles impeding project progression.
  • Review deliverables for accuracy and quality.
  • Summarize and synthesize information in writing and PowerPoint formats.
• Grant Investment Portfolios. Provide a wide variety of support to various projects that entail developing grant portfolios for clients, including research support, sourcing, due diligence, and grants management.
• Special projects. Provide occasional support on internal firm projects including research and writing for newsletters, blogs, and other intellectual property related projects.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or commensurate experience.
• 2+ years of project management or other relevant experience.
• Demonstrated research experience.
• Mission-oriented with a proven commitment to social impact.
• Knowledge of the social sector, including philanthropic, nonprofit, or impact investing fields.
• Exceptional analytical and quantitative problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work autonomously and manage up, particularly in dynamic environments.
• Strong attention to detail, self-motivated, able to set priorities and self-manage.
• Demonstrated ability to write clearly, succinctly, and aligned to the sensibilities and language of the target audience.
• Skilled in presentation development (e.g. PowerPoint).

Additional Attributes

The firm is a small, intimate environment where shared values are very important. As a new firm, they welcome learning and are open to new and different approaches. Successful candidates should exemplify the following:

• High EQ. Thoughtful, open-minded listener and thought partner with high emotional intelligence.
• Committed Communicator. Believes strongly in the importance of communicating early and often and creates mechanisms for doing so.
• Flexible. Demonstrated work style that is flexible, humble, and adaptable.
• Collaborative yet independent. Collaborative with experience supporting and leading teams, while also being comfortable working independently and being resourceful and accountable.
• High integrity. Impeccable reputation for integrity and judgment; models ethics and trustworthiness in all actions. Personal and professional maturity. Ability to maintain confidentiality and discretion. Ability to establish and maintain credibility and trust.

Compensation

Salary and benefits are competitive and commensurate with background and experience.