Program Finance and Operations Lead

rockymountain; United States; On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Rocky Mountain Institute is seeking a Program Operations Lead to join its Strategic Operations Department. The role focuses on execution and coordination, tracking progress toward objectives, budgets, and reporting to funders.

You will work closely with senior staff to support high-performing teams and foster collaboration, inclusion, and growth within the energy transition program. You will engage in operating rhythm, cross-workstream coordination, and financial management to enable the program

Responsibilities

• Operating rhythm and cultural stewardship: support team operating rhythm, prepare materials, track follow-ups, translate leadership discussions into coordinated action.
• Facilitate coordination across programs and influence reporting to leadership with clear updates.
• Financial management: support end-to-end budgeting, coordinate annual budgeting, forecasts, and workforce planning; provide updates to leadership.
• Revenue management: track funding pipeline, report on funding status, assist with donor reports and proposals.

Job description

Job Description

Position Summary: RMI seeks a program finance and operations lead to join our collaborative and ambitious community of operators. This role will report to a Program Finance and Operations Manager and sit within RMI's Strategic Operations Department. You'll spend your day-to-day embedded within a program team advancing the global energy transition. You'll partner closely with senior staff to support effective, high-performing teams and contribute to a culture of collaboration, inclusion, and growth - enabling RMI to maximize its impact in the global effort to advance the energy transition. This role focuses on execution and coordination, with opportunities to build toward ownership and strategic influence over time

We warmly welcome applications from individuals of all diverse backgrounds and cultures and encourage candidates who may not meet every qualification to apply.

Major Roles and Responsibilities

The Program Operations Lead ensures the team they work within runs efficiently and delivers strong, mission aligned results. You'll support operational excellence by tracking alignment across strategy, resources, and execution so that the team can focus on delivering impact. This includes tracking progress toward objectives, managing budgets, supporting internal knowledge sharing, and ensuring reporting to funders and staff is clear, compliant and consistent. You'll support cross-workstream coordination and knowledge sharing to help the team operate as a connected, learning organization-facilitating collaboration across workstreams and with partners to translate insight into impact.

Key Responsibilities

Operating rhythm and cultural stewardship:

• You will support the team's operating rhythm - preparing materials, tracking follow-ups, and helping leadership conversations translate into coordinated action.
• Support Program Finance and Operations Manager, managing directors and principals in maintaining operating cadence and rhythm of business, supporting alignment with business cycles
• Facilitate internal coordination with other programs and operations on shared resources and objectives, providing frequent updates to leadership. This may include but is not limited to cross team projects and shared organizational outcomes
• Model RMI's values in team settings and support preparation and follow up for group discussions to ensure clarity and alignment
• Support annual employee engagement planning and implementation efforts in coordination with program leadership

Financial management:

• You will support end-to-end budgeting and financial management - coordinating budget cycles and forecasts, maintaining accurate data, and preparing routine financial updates for leaders.
• Coordinate the development of program budgets including annual budgeting, proposal budgeting, financial reforecasting, revenue planning, expense planning, and workforce planning.
• Provide routine updates and analysis to managing directors, principals, managers, and at times the CFO on the team's finances
• Coordinate independently with RMI's Finance and Development teams to ensure program budgets and funding pipelines are accurate
• Analyze budgeting data and prepare summaries and recommendations for principals and managers regarding fundraising, staffing and financial management
• Track project and grant balances and flag variances or risks to leadership

Revenue Management:

• You will track and analyze the funding pipeline - helping leadership anticipate risk, prioritize opportunities, and align commitments with capacity.
• Track and report on the funding pipeline and providing timely status updates to managing directors, principals and managers on potential funding gaps and other risks
• Support and sometimes facilitate the development of proposals and reports for donors and non-philanthropic projects (clients, governments). Includes