Associate, Programming Data & Operations

MILKEN INSTITUTE•Santa Monica, CA

9d•$31 - $33•Hybrid

About The Position

The Milken Institute is seeking an Associate, Business and Program Development in the Santa Monica office to support the development, planning, and execution of finance and business programming across the Institute’s global events. In this role, the candidate would be focused on auditing and maintaining business development-lead panels within our bespoke grid database, which is maintained in Salesforce. This role combines program tracking, speaker coordination, event production, database management, and business development support. The Associate will work closely with the Business and Program Development team, and collaborate across Global Programming, Speaker Relations, Events and other internal teams. The ideal candidate is highly organized, detail-oriented, digitally fluent, and comfortable managing multiple workstreams in a fast-paced environment. This role requires strong communication skills, sound judgment, intellectual curiosity, and the ability to work independently while maintaining consistent follow-through. The candidate will report to the Director, Business and Program Development.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required.
Minimum of three years of relevant experience in business development, programming, events, database management, or a related field.
Exceptional organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple projects, deadlines, and large volumes of information simultaneously.
Excellent oral and written communication skills.
Self-starter who demonstrates initiative, productivity, good judgment, and consistent follow-through.
Team-oriented and willing to support colleagues as priorities shift and deadlines approach.
Proficiency in Microsoft Office, particularly Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint; experience with Salesforce, CRM systems, event-management platforms, or project-management tools preferred.
Strong digital literacy, including the ability to quickly learn and effectively use CRM platforms, collaboration tools, data-management systems, AI-enabled productivity tools, and emerging technologies to improve workflow efficiency, research, communication, and program execution.
Comfortable using and actively experimenting with AI tools (e.g., Claude, Copilot, Agentforce) to support data entry, quality control, and document drafting — with an eagerness to keep learning and applying new implementations to improve efficiency and accuracy.
Intellectual curiosity and an interest in global finance, markets, business, technology, and current events.
Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, collaborative, and globally focused environment.

Nice To Haves

experience with Salesforce, CRM systems, event-management platforms, or project-management tools preferred.

Responsibilities

Audit and maintain internal CRM and program databases, including Salesforce, to ensure data accuracy, completeness, and consistency.
Create, maintain, and update program grids and master schedules for Milken Institute conferences and international summits.
Track speaker availability, requests, invitations, confirmations, and scheduling.
Maintain accurate panel information, including titles, descriptions, speakers, moderators, timing, locations, and other program details.
Take detailed notes during team meetings, speaker discussions, and conference calls to ensure clarity, accountability, and alignment.
Facilitate screen sharing, conference-call logistics, and other virtual meeting requirements.
Support day-to-day programming operations, event logistics, registration workflows, and speaker coordination.
Maintain clear records of program changes and ensure updates are reflected consistently across internal systems.
Draft and facilitate communications to Business Development, Programming, Speaker Relations, and other internal stakeholders regarding program developments and processes.
Collaborate across departments to ensure timely execution of program milestones and deliverables.
Duties as assigned.