Assistant Director, Millennium Leadership Program

Overview of the Role
The Atlantic Council seeks a positive, entrepreneurial, and execution-oriented individual with strong operational and program management skills to join our team and scale the Millennium Leadership Program. This role will have a split portfolio of responsibilities between working on the Millennium Leadership Fellowship and the Young Global Professionals internship program. The individual will report to the MLP director, but will collaborate closely with members of the HR Department to support and administer the internship program.

About the Millennium Leadership Program
The Millennium Leadership Program (MLP) is the Atlantic Council’s “leadership accelerator” for future global leaders, between the ages of 25 and 35. We run an annual fellowship program – the Millennium Leadership Fellowship – which takes fellows to the front lines of global challenges and equips them with the skills, networks, and understanding to make a difference. Alongside world- class convenings, skills trainings, executive coaching, and a curriculum of master classes in key international issues, a distinguishing feature is our experiential “study tours.” In recent years, these have included exploring migration near the Syrian border in Turkey and along the migrant route through the Greek islands; peacebuilding after the historic FARC deal in Colombia; and democracy after the Revolution of Dignity in Kyiv, Ukraine, among many others. Through these programs we deliver a rich and once-in-a-lifetime experience to our fellows.

Fellows are selected through an extraordinarily competitive process and include elected officials, ministers, and senior advisors to heads-of-state; rising executives at fortune 500 companies, young CEO’s and entrepreneurs; and award winning and world-renowned artists, activists, authors, academics, and others. All under 35, they are an incredible community that will shape the world for decades to come. In total, our community exceeds 500 fellows and span over eighty countries.

Position Description
The Assistant Director must be effective in working with colleagues throughout the Atlantic Council to coordinate:

• Outreach efforts linked to recruitment for the Millennium Leadership Fellowship and Young Global Leadership internship program

• Support in curriculum building and strategy processes related to the Fellowship and internship program;

• Workshops, trainings, panel discussions and other elements of the Fellowship and internship curriculums;

• Support a cross-functional process that engages every program and center across the organization in selecting Fellows and interns;

For the Millennium Leadership Fellowship specifically, the candidate will provide:
1. Operational support to the MLP program director in scaling MLP. This includes supporting the full cycle of the Millennium Fellows program as well as our business development cycle.
The program cycle includes: (1) recruitment, (2) selection, (3)onboarding, (4) virtual leadership development program and master classes, (5) executive coaching series, (6) annual study tours, and (7) alumni community management.
The business development cycle includes: (1) prospecting new corporate, institutional, and individual partners/donors, (2) recruiting to executive education learning opportunities (3) supporting the campaign to bring on sponsors to the program, and (4) fundraising through the pursuit of individual grants and partnership opportunities
2. Logistical planning support for our annual study tours including working with the program director and external partners to assemble agendas for 1-2 week expeditions around the world to the front lines of global challenges. This work practically entails a great deal of open-source research into themes, regions, and people who we might meet and visit on programs; outreach to speakers; and logistical planning including securing hotels, on-ground transportation, event venues, organizing group meals, and other necessary aspects of running in-person programs in the field. Finally, this person will be expected to travel with the team on all tours and provide in-person support to program leaders on-the-ground throughout.
3. Administrative support for our annual fundraising campaign, including supporting the director in prospect research, preparation of marketing and collateral materials, and executing key elements of the fundraising cycle including drafting gift agreements, processing invoices, and maintaining up-to-date records in salesforce.
4. Administrative support for our program activities, including managing the MLP director’s calendar and scheduling, drafting of program materials, data entry and tracking for candidates, and serving as a point of contact for participants.

A successful candidate must communicate effectively by email and in-person; demonstrate excellent administrative abilities and attention to detail; enjoy and thrive in our fast-paced and entrepreneurial environment; be capable of embracing both ambiguity and structured processes; and possess a positive, outgoing spirit that enables them to effectively build and manage relationships with interns, fellows, staff, and the senior leaders who engage with our programs around the world. The candidate must be discreet, engaging, collegial, reliable, exceptionally organized, culturally sensitive and respectful, and have an interest in leadership, education, and foreign policy.

Because this position is designed to scale a major new program at the Council – the Young Global Professionals program – and scale an existing program – the Millennium Leadership Fellowship – it has significant potential for growth tied to the expansion of these initiatives. This position will play an instrumental role in all aspects of our work, including program management, faciltation, operations; and business development. It is also unique in that it provides exposure to every center and program across the Atlantic Council.

Job responsibilities

• Work collaboratively with the Human Resources and MLP teams to execute full cycles of our fellowship and paid internship program annually for 20-30 participants per cycle. Both cycles include the following phases: (1) recruitment, (2) selection, (3) onboarding and initial training, (4) leadership development curriculum during internship, (5) transition to alumni, and (6) alumni community management.

• Work collaboratively with junior and mid-level staff throughout the organization to coordinate operational activities associated with the processes described above.

• Lead the administrative side of the program, including data tracking and management for applicants, scheduling, production of program materials, and coordinating meetings and program activities.

• Play a leading role in the logistics side of the program, planning logistics for tours, retreats, trainings, and other in-person and virtual elements of the program.

• Curate and manage content creation for MLP’s various social media platforms (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram).

• Travel to retreats and join study tours to provide on-ground support.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree, preferably in the fields of education, entrepreneurship, or international relations.

• Relevant experience working in supporting fellowship or internship programs.

• Ability to see the “big picture” and break it down into parts and tasks, anticipate and orchestrate next steps, and coordinate many moving pieces simultaneously.

• Exceptional organizational and administrative skills; ability to initiate, prioritize, and follow through on plans.

• Research skills and computer literacy; proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, i.e., Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and report/query tools preferable.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

• Excellent interpersonal and community-building skills

• Excels working in an independent and self-motivated manner (particularly during COVID teleworking periods) as well as part of an organization-wide, matrixed team.

• Ability to work under pressure and meet tight deadlines in a fast-paced environment.

• Commitment to the Council’s mission and the ability to translate that commitment into compelling external communications, including social media posts, emails to partners, and program collateral materials.

Personal Characteristics
The successful candidate should be:

• A citizen of the world. Someone who through international work understands and has a passion for addressing challenges on a global scale.

• An expert coalition builder. Superb people skills and the ability to work well with a wide range of constituencies ranging from senior government officials and major donors to corporate sponsors and interns.

• A consummate communicator. As a public face of the Atlantic Council, someone with the ability to define and articulate the team’s mission and work to diverse audiences.

• A respected leader. Someone with a recognized ability to build and garner respect from domestic and international policy leaders, the Board, and Council staff.

• An entrepreneur. Someone who can use natural ingenuity to build and create a program from scratch with often times limited resources and assistance.

• A “hands-on” implementer. Someone who is eager to work with a team in order to execute projects they envision.

• A team player. Someone whose ego is in check and who will enthusiastically share credit and the spotlight and thrive in the collaborative culture of the Council.

• A hardy traveler. Someone with the ability and desire to travel and work with partners around the world.

• A flexible work style. Someone that can work easily with ambiguity in a fast-paced environment with tight timelines and constrained funding.

• Above all, someone who is passionate to the core about the mission of the Atlantic Council and the Millennium Leadership Program.

Job Type: Full-time