Operations Associate or Manager

Operations Associate or Manager

Location: Washington, D.C. (preferred) or remote with regular D.C. travel, ability to be available East Coast hours is a must

Reports to: Chief Operating Officer (once hired, likely in January)

Status: Full-time

Compensation: $70-95k, depending on experience and other factors, plus competitive benefits

About the Recoding America Fund

The Recoding America Fund (RAF) is a new, bipartisan $120-million philanthropic fund to strengthen America by building the federal and state governments we need to compete globally and serve citizens effectively. RAF aims to restore the core capabilities of government and move to a new operating model—the right people, doing the right work, with purpose-fit systems and test-and-learn frameworks—so it can reliably deliver on its goals. The Fund seeks to help accelerate the growth and development of an ideologically diverse field of state capacity organizations, connect them to each other, fill in the gaps, and help them set ambitious common goals to drive transformational change across all levels of government in this time of unprecedented disruption. Change is coming to public institutions, and now is the time to shape that change in the public interest. That ambitious task cannot be the work of just one party or faction.

The Opportunity: Build the Operational Backbone of a New Organization

RAF is seeking its first Operations Associate or Manager(s) (depending on experience) to serve as the initial core connective tissue across our internal systems, grantmaking workflows, and program operations. Depending on the candidate pool, we may hire at the Associate or Manager level and may fill one or more roles. Given RAF is a fast-moving start-up, the nature of the role will evolve over time as we build out the team, and significant opportunities for growth in this role or in other roles will exist for high performers. 

This role is foundational to RAF’s success, ensuring our internal infrastructure is reliable, responsive, and enables high-quality execution across everything from internal meetings and executive support to external partnerships and grantee engagement. Reporting to the new Chief Operating Officer, the Operations Associate / Manager will maintain day-to-day operations while building long-term systems that grow with the fund’s needs.

This role requires a utility player who blends attention to detail with an appreciation for mission-driven complexity. The ideal candidate is highly organized, operationally savvy, able to structure and drive results in ambiguity, used to start-up environments, and energized by building lightweight processes that support strategic goals, internal clarity, and external accountability.

Key Responsibilities

Operational Systems & Execution

• Build, maintain and improve internal systems, tools, and workflows to support daily operations and long-term scale
• Support OKR and project tracking and initiative execution across internal teams and external partnerships, ensuring visibility into deliverables, owners, and timelines across workstreams
• Support team operations logistics including related to office space, HR, and IT 
• Assist with financial operations including processing payments, managing consultant/vendor documentation, and tracking expenditures
• Draft internal briefings, status reports, and dashboards to inform decision-making and facilitate team coordination and executive decision-making

Program & Grant Operations

• Support the execution of RAF’s grantmaking strategy, including tracking milestones, reporting, and deliverables across a growing portfolio of grants
• Manage follow-ups and documentation for grants under review; coordinate with the review board to address outstanding questions and maintain momentum
• Support in implementing strategic initiatives by tracking goals, surfacing blockers, and organizing key information
• Coordinate communications and logistics with external partners, grantees, and collaborators
• Support learning from other funds and from potential and existing grantee feedback to ensure RAF is a thoughtful, value-add, low-burden funder
• Support executing logistics for strategic events, such as convenings with grantees, donors, or policymakers 

Organizational Growth & Adaptation

• Identify and implement process improvements that increase organizational efficiency, clarity, and accountability
• Help shape the fund’s internal rhythm—planning calendars, meeting cadences, and documentation standards—to support team cohesion and execution
• Contribute to operational learning loops by integrating feedback and proposing systems that evolve with the fund’s needs
• Support special projects that strengthen RAF’s internal resilience and capacity for scale

We are a small, nimble team and expect the person who fills this role to handle anything else that needs to get done and provide flex capacity where it’s needed.

Ideal Candidate Profile / Qualifications

This role is for you if you: 

• Have a track record of demonstrating an “operations mindset” — proactively noticing what’s broken, moving fast to fix it, and continually identifying opportunities to do more with the same amount of time and resources.
• Intrinsically motivated by enabling a growing organization and ecosystem to do more impactful work and unlocking the capacity of a growing team and partners
• Proven ability to build and manage complex projects and internal systems with clarity and efficiency, including right-sizing processes and systems
• Excellent organizational and communication skills, with a strong attention to detail and follow-through
• Experience supporting grantmaking, program operations, and/or administrative infrastructure in a philanthropic or nonprofit setting 
• Comfort working across a broad set of responsibilities, from compliance and finance to strategic execution and partner coordination
• Ability to work independently in a fast-paced, evolving environment while contributing to a collaborative team culture
• Practical, solutions-oriented mindset with a drive to make systems better and more responsive over time
• Strong familiarity with using OKRs, ideally from experience in an organization or company that used them
• Fluency with AI-powered office productivity tools and an aptitude for learning new software and systems; proficiency in AirTable a strong plus
• Willingness and ability to engage constructively and with curiosity with people and organizations that have different ideological perspectives and ideas than you, including ones with which you may disagree, even strongly

We encourage anyone who is interested in this role to apply, regardless of whether you feel you meet 100% of the qualifications. The top candidates will bring their own unique perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds from a variety of industries/sectors along with many but not necessarily all the qualifications listed above. We especially encourage candidates who feel they would bring ideological diversity to the team and ecosystem to apply. 

Next Steps and Start Date

We’re building and need you fast. We are in the midst of a rapid recruitment for our Chief Operating Officer position, to which this position will report. We hope to have the new COO in place in January and hand them a shortlist of high-potential candidates from this applicant pool from which to immediately conduct final interviews and make a hire. Applications submitted by December 29 will receive priority consideration. We are targeting a start date no later than late January / early February. 

Reasonable Accommodations

We are committed to fostering an inclusive and accessible work environment. If you require any accommodations during the application or interview process, or to perform the essential functions of the role, please email us at [email protected] with the email subject “Accommodation Needed.” We will work with you to ensure reasonable accommodations are made to support your needs.