Development Operations Associate

Spark MicroGrants•New York, NY

1d•$55,000 - $65,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Spark MicroGrants is seeking a highly organized, proactive Development Operations Associate to support the Growth Team and CEO. This role is crucial for managing complex scheduling, coordinating international travel, and ensuring priorities are met across teams and time zones within a global, fast-moving organization. The ideal candidate will bring structure, clarity, and follow-through to administrative tasks, possess strong attention to detail and judgment, and communicate effectively. They should be adept at extracting and sharing information externally while handling sensitive data with discretion. Curiosity and a forward-thinking approach, including exploring new tools like AI for efficiency, are highly valued. The role is designed for someone energized by supporting mission-driven work and enabling a leader to operate at their best.

Requirements

3–5 years of development or operations experience, ideally supporting a CEO or senior leader in a global, mission-driven organization.
Proven ability to manage complex calendars, coordinate international travel, and support cross-time zone collaboration.
Strong organizational skills and attention to detail, with the ability to prioritize and follow through in a fast-paced environment.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with sound judgment and discretion.
Comfort working independently while anticipating needs and proactively solving problems.
Curiosity and openness to new tools and ways of working, including interest in leveraging AI to improve efficiency.
Experience working with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platforms such as Salesforce.
A high level of professionalism paired with a genuine interest in supporting mission-driven work.

Responsibilities

Manage executive and organizational calendars, ensuring internal and external meetings, travel, and events are synchronized and aligned with priorities across regions.
Coordinate scheduling across multiple time zones and stakeholders.
Partner with Chief of Staff and senior leaders to enable CEO to make progress on priorities.
Plan and coordinate international travel, including flights, visas, accommodations, and itineraries.
Anticipate and troubleshoot logistics to ensure smooth, end-to-end travel experiences.
Coordinate planning and logistics for events, gatherings, and conferences.
Coordinate check-ins with team leads to gather program updates and lessons learned for external reporting.
Support the drafting of donor briefs, reports, and proposals.
Ensure growth team trackers and databases are well organized and kept up-to-date.
Manage donor acknowledgment letters.
Research and support shortlisting of potential funding opportunities.
Help track key relationships and ensure timely outreach and responses.
Draft and manage external communications, including emails and follow-ups.
Support coordination of materials and communications tied to fundraising and partnerships.
Support review, categorization, and management of core language, stories and photos.
Manage expense reporting for organizational systems and CEO.
Support light office management and administrative needs (e.g. building access, accounts set up).
Manage both Spark’s general email address(es) and hard copy mail, sharing incoming messages with relevant departments in a timely manner.
Identify and implement improvements to streamline workflows and tools (e.g. AI explorations).
Other operational support as required (e.g. managing charitable registrations, serving as U.S. procurement point of contact, tracking process metrics).