Future of Good is hiring a Director of Operations

We’re looking for someone to join us who is passionate about social impact, and can bring bold operational management to our bold ambition.  

About Future of Good

Future of Good’s mission is to enrich changemakers with smart coverage of the social impact world. We are the essential source of stories, analysis, and commentary to make sense of a sector and society in transition. Future of Good content illuminates how technology, social finance, work, philanthropy, social services, global development, corporate social impact, inclusion, and social entrepreneurship are evolving post-pandemic. We equip impact-oriented professionals, leaders, and entrepreneurs with insights that help them stay current, stay ahead, and work smarter in a new era of impact. Every week, thousands of changemakers from the nonprofit, co-operative, corporate, social enterprise, philanthropic, social finance, academic, and public sectors subscribe to read our content.

Our topics include tech for good, giving and philanthropy, anti-racism and inclusion, global issues and SDGs, social enterprise, social finance, corporate social impact, and the changing nature of work. Our 1500+ members are influential individuals working in organizations such as: Shopify, Employment and Social Development Canada, Pinnguaq, Canadian Red Cross, First Nations Technology Council, Oxfam Canada, Suncor Energy Foundation, Heart & Stroke, Causeway, Calgary Chamber of Voluntary Organizations, Energy Futures Lab, Victoria Foundation, TELUS, Scotiabank, WEST Neighbourhood House, Imagine Canada, United Way Centraide Canada, Centre for Social Innovation, Philanthropic Foundations Canada, Vivo, IBM, Pillar Nonprofit Network, The Co-operators, Ontario 211, and WWF Canada.

What we’re looking for

Our first-ever Director of Operations will be a hands-on leader and take on the day-to-day management of the HR, team culture, administrative, project reporting, and operational planning and integration functions of the organization, with the CEO playing a support role in these functions in order to focus on editorial, growth, and strategic projects and partnerships. 

You will be a thought partner to the CEO, and a key member of the leadership team. 

You will help structure the organization in such a way as to implement our vision and ensure we can deliver against our objectives. You will also provide hands-on leadership on operations, connecting dots between active projects, annual strategic planning and goal-setting, governance, budgeting, HR, contracts and deliverables, and risk issues. 

Your mission will be to set a sustainable coordination, operations, and pace for an ambitious organization; nurture an organizational culture that is bold and daring, yet serene and fulfilling; and streamline our day-to-day decision-making, workflow and project management processes for more agile and optimized ways of working and achieving our goals. 

We want a manager who can lead a team in an inspirational way; who is dynamic, entrepreneurial and unafraid to take calculated risks; resourceful enough to succeed without all the support systems of bigger organizations; and who has experience establishing operational processes, culture, and trajectories of smaller organizations. 

Your management style should be hands-on while allowing people to take ownership over their own work; to deliver against expectations while having fun; and to work in a healthy, positive and open environment. We seek someone who is humble and shares our values. 

You should have excellent people management skills and operational acumen; and thrive off of the dynamism – and sometimes chaos! – of small start-ups, in which there is much to be figured out. 

Experience & Background

• Minimum 5 years of relevant professional experience, including at least 2 years of experience as a manager 
• Experience implementing and coordinating annual planning as well as managing operations, teams, change, processes, and culture
• Strong understanding of organizational functions such as budgeting, financial management, HR, annual planning and project management 
• Understanding of grants, contracts, and funder relations and reporting with respect to deliverables
• Working knowledge of data analysis and performance/operation metrics

Core competencies

• Building open relationships of trust within organizations and organizational stakeholders: A shared vision and trusted relationship with the CEO will be key to success in this role. 
• Enlightened and inspirational management: Your management style allows team members ownership over their work while remaining present and supportive. You thrive on bringing out the best in colleagues; building support for a vision; and inspiring and motivating others. You like to coach and nurture the people around you. Your ego is in check: you lead while empowering. 
• Building operational capacity for change and growth: You are able to move an organization towards new ways of working; maintain stability during times of rapid growth; re-assure and bring teams along amid change. You can build consensus around tough issues.
• Implementing annual and quarterly planning processes: You give structure and process to annual plans and quarterly goals; You are integrating the different moving parts across projects and within an organization; You can host planning processes that lead to tangible ways forward. 
• Judgment: You make smart decisions in ambiguous and unclear situations. You can absorb a lot of information and make sense of it to craft a way forward. You can set organizational priorities amid competing demands. 
• Agility: You don’t need a high degree of certainty to feel comfortable. You are flexible enough to adapt to evolving demands of the job and try different approaches before deciding what works best. You are proactive in seeking solutions to challenges.

We have described the qualities we are seeking in this role, but we recognize that there will be strong candidates who do not meet all the requirements listed here but have other important qualities. 

Responsibilities

Operational execution and implementation of strategic priorities: 

• Work with the CEO and leadership team to develop and steward the annual workplan and quarterly goals for the organization 
• Translate the organizational vision and annual priorities into implementation by building and nurturing the capability of the organization to deliver on its goals: create an enabling environment, identify operational gaps, create processes and efficiencies, obstacles and bottlenecks to execution, and support other members of the leadership team to optimize and streamline their work 
• Coordinate and integrate activities across projects and ensure they are aligned to the strategic direction 
• Review grants and contracts signed in the organization’s name and keep track of deliverables and reporting

Integrating programs and monitoring of performance:

• Track organizational performance against annual strategic priorities, and against quarterly deliverables and goals
• Connect the dots between the diverse offerings, programs and projects to cross-pollinate learnings and link to annual priorities
• Lead the quarterly leadership team meetings to monitor and track performance
• Identify ways to improve measurement, monitoring, and analysis of performance including exploring a birds-eye-view dashboard to analyze and interpret data and metrics
• Take measures as necessary to improve performance and hold the team collectively accountable for deliverables 
• Support the CEO to produce reports to the investors and advisory board on performance 
• Build and maintain a reporting and knowledge management system that centralizes and helps relevant parties find information quickly 
• Work closely with CEO to manage and adapt organizational spending; monitor cash flow and overall budget; anticipate and mitigate financial risk; and ensure sound financial management

Organizational culture, structure and development: 

• Build organizational agility and capacity to respond to needs and opportunities in an entrepreneurial manner
• Assess the organizational capacity to implement new initiatives; measure ambitions against the risk of burnout and overload, striking a balance that allows staff to find pleasure and sustainability in their work; make recommendations to the CEO accordingly 
• Ensure coherent internal management of the organization, including clear and devolved decision-making, efficient workflow and clarity of goals
• Manage all HR policies, coaching, employee professional development, quarterly goals and reviews, and processes 

Desirables

• Training, education or experience in operations, HR, project management 
• Background in communications 
• Familiarity of best practices in finance and HR 
• Familiarity with the social impact sector
• Experience working in start-ups 
• Bilingual English/French

Type: Full-time

Location: Ottawa, Canada

Compensation approach: Salary range for this role is $70,000 – $80,000. We have a comprehensive benefits package that starts 1 month into the role. We have unlimited paid time off. Our approach to compensation is a listening, co-shaping conversation with you. We want to discuss compensation with you to make sure we get it right.

To apply please submit a resume and cover letter to Vinod Rajasekaran at info@futureofgood.co. Posting is open until the role is filled.

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