Senior Associate, Portfolio Strategy & Management (BMP)

Blue Meridian Partners; New York (NY); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Blue Meridian Partners is seeking a Senior Associate to support senior leaders in sourcing and managing relationships with investees and developing investment roadmaps for greater impact.

You will help design and implement investee scaling plans, prepare performance reports, and assist in strategy sessions to guide the fund’s growth. A strong background in nonprofit or philanthropic settings is essential.

Qualifications

• Minimum seven years in non-profit, government, consulting, philanthropy, or related fields.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience preferred.
• Experience in communities with significant low income or disenfranchised groups preferred.
• Strong relationship skills and ability to represent Blue Meridian externally.
• Excellent interpersonal, written and oral communications.
• Experience with performance measurement systems and reporting.
• Strong project management across multi-year initiatives.
• Willingness to travel.

Responsibilities

• Support sourcing and due diligence to identify opportunities for investees.
• Maintain investee performance reports with current risks and future potential.
• Prepare investment recommendations and milestones with investees.
• Facilitate investee meetings, strategy sessions and reviews.
• Collaborate to develop program strategies for scalable impact.

Skills

Relationship skills

Data analysis

Project management

Written & oral communication

Presentation to senior groups

Quantitative methods

Travel willingness

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent

Tools

Microsoft PowerPoint

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Word

Job description

Posted on January 28, 2020

Background

Blue Meridian Partners is a pioneering philanthropic model for finding and funding scalable solutions to problems that trap America’s young people and families in poverty and limit economic mobility. We bring philanthropists together to make significant, multi-year investments that make it possible for social sector leaders to take their successful interventions to regional or national scale.

Today, Blue Meridian is evolving and extending its early vision for integrating the work of expanding solutions nationwide with regional and local strategies to produce the strongest possible outcomes for children and families. We are deeply aware of a growing body of research that highlights how place and economic mobility are inextricably linked and pervasive racial gaps in outcomes. We believe more cross-sector solutions are required to realize the potential of compounding benefits of coordinated work in communities.

In response to the needs identified by community leaders and a study of the challenges that seem to have stymied prior efforts, Blue Meridian is assembling a team to unlock significant new private and public resources for practitioners in order to accelerate place-based work across the country.

Position Description

Position Profile

Senior Associates support senior leaders to source and manage Blue Meridian’s relationships with select investees and develop innovative plans and / or investment roadmaps to help them achieve greater impact. Senior Associates may also support ‘innovation initiatives’ to expand Blue Meridian’s work.

The responsibilities of this position include but are not limited to the following:

Support Relationships with Investee Organizations

With senior team members’ guidance and collaboration, a Senior Associate will:

• Contribute to, and sometimes lead, activities including research, conducting interviews, and analyzing data to support Blue Meridian’s sourcing and due diligence efforts to explore potential investment opportunities
• Contribute toward investee leaders and their teams’ receiving excellent relationship management and support from Blue Meridian. Earn and maintain the respect of investees and be a trusted point of contact.
• Support the development and implementation of investee scaling plans and / or investment roadmaps that support the basis of investment recommendations. Support preparation of investment recommendations and help craft performance milestones with investees and chart a roadmap for success.
• Take ownership of investee performance reports, capturing current performance, risks, and future potential. Prepare materials and talking points for Partner and other updates.
• Contribute to the design, participate in, and sometimes facilitate investee meetings, strategy sessions and performance reviews.
• Recommend and participate in learning and evaluation activities to guide the evolution of programmatic work, including helping to develop convenings to review opportunities, challenges and progress across the fund and its investees.
• Work collaboratively with other team members to develop and implement program strategies to achieve significant and scalable impact, report regularly on the progress of those strategies, and recommend strategy adjustments to deepen the fund’s impact.

Qualifications

• Senior Associates must believe in Blue Meridian’s and be driven by personal values that align closely with Blue Meridian’s core values.
• At least seven years of professional/advanced academic experience in non-profit community-based work, local government, management consulting, philanthropy or a related field in the private or public sector preferred. A Bachelor’s degree and/or comparable and demonstrated professional or other experiences preferred.
• Perspectives from direct experience living or working in communities with significant low income or otherwise disenfranchised peoples preferred.
• Strong relationship skills, with the ability to represent Blue Meridian externally.
• Outstanding interpersonal skills with a professional and accessible demeanor, and the ability to work with people with different backgrounds and experiences.
• Sophisticated and diverse analytical skills and facility in quantitative and qualitative methods are ess
• Experience in building and maintaining performance measurement systems/reporting.
• Strong project management skills, including experience managing complex, multi-year projects.
• Strong oral and written communications skills are essential, including the ability to present to senior groups and craft well-written prose and PowerPoint materials.
• Demonstrated strategic and highly rigorous professional approach, balanced by a flexible and empathetic demeanor and responsiveness to the needs of others.
• Sound judgment and discretion, seeking input and feedback, listening well and sometimes making difficult decisions independently while understanding the need for collaboration and leadership’s endorsement of results. Open to finding creative, alternative solutions to challenges and disagreements that may arise.
• Results-oriented, with a track record of executing against agreed goals and deliverables.
• Strong computer skills with facility using popular document, spreadsheet, presentation, email, filesharing and other communication software.
• Willing to travel as needed.

Salary & Benefits

Total compensation includes an annual base salary, the potential for an annual incentive award based on performance, and an exceptional benefits package that includes medical, dental, vision, 403b retirement plan with employer contributions and generous time off. Base salary will be set commensurate with chosen candidate’s knowledge, skill and experience.

Blue Meridian Partners, Inc. is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, alienage or citizenship status, genetic predisposition or carrier status, disability, age, military or veteran status, familial status, marital status, partnership status, domestic violence victim status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

[1] This position description is a guide to the primary duties and functions of the job, not an all-inclusive list of responsibilities, qualifications, physical demands and work environment conditions. Position descriptions are reviewed and may be revised to meet the changing needs of Blue Meridian Partners at the sole discretion of management.