Open Lunar Foundation
When we look up at the Moon, we want to see something we’re proud of. Open Lunar was founded in 2018 to develop the initiatives and community that enable this vision. Today there are dozens of lunar missions vying for firsts, and our projects provide precedent-setting governance, infrastructure and coordination to the lunar ecosystem.
We source, generate and incubate projects through convening cross disciplinary experts, conducting in-house research, and coaching and funding talent to go from hunches to sustainability. An example is our work to create the Breaking Ground Trust.
Open Lunar is a United States 501c3 non-profit public charity.
Innovation Program Coordinator
This opening is a rare opportunity to lead our new community convening and impact innovation efforts. As Innovation Program Coordinator, you will be responsible for Open Lunar’s project development and community engagement with the projects. You will work with the Open Lunar Executive Director, Operations Team and Strategic Advisors and will influence all aspects of the organization.
This role will involve coordinating efforts to ensure new and existing concepts and projects are diligently sourced and rigorously evaluated. Concepts selected for further development will be pursued through awarding fellowships or grants, and then monitored against milestones to ensure they have the potential to deliver the impact that will progress Open Lunar’s mission. You will liaise with fellows and project leads to ensure they have the best support we can provide.
The community element of your role will include working with the team to develop and manage an affiliate network that will identify, evaluate, and monitor new and existing ideas, while managing the interfaces between this group, projects and staff, while also stoking the overall comradery of the community, making connections, and supporting inquiries and new directions.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
- Management of project leads, grant recipients and part time researchers, including their experience and deliverables
- Recruitment and selection process for researchers
- Development and management of advisory processes and community
- Cultivating new research ideas from volunteers, advisors and community members
- Managing a regular assessment process of the viability of research ideas for further investment
KEY SKILLS
This role encompasses work across multiple aspects of the organization and will require a strongly organized individual with experience working internationally to surface priorities, triage needs, communicate continuously, and know when to ask for help.
- Management of diverse relationships with part time and voluntary capacity around the world, to productive outputs
- Conduct work with a well organized approach including thoughtfully scheduled and prepared meetings, plans and updates
- Maintaining project documentation to enable leadership to regularly assess impact and performance
- Ensuring costs are within budget across all research projects
- Assisting with the production of fundraising materials for future research efforts
- Supporting overall team systems and processes including addressing emergent needs within the small core team
- Development and oversight of schedules and timelines
EXPERIENCE REQUIRED
- Comfortable working remotely using Slack, G Suite, Zoom
- Comfortable working in a small team environment
- Willing to be flexible to take occasional calls outside typical work hours as needed.
- Fluent English speaking and writing skills
- Experience in the space industry OR demonstrated capacity to enter new/adjacent fields of technical and geopolitically sensitive expertise
- Ability to quickly absorb and understand complex ideas through research and analysis, and leverage other peoples’ expertise.
- Track record of working with empathy while being professional and holding accountability.
- Experience and enjoyment working with high-level world leading professionals, including business leaders, government officials, scientists, engineers, and lawyers.
- Proven ability to self manage while also managing others, and keeping all colleagues and stakeholders informed.
WORK HOURS AND BENEFITS
- Full Time - 40 hours per week on average, you manage when you work, and coordinate with the team to make it most effective for work and family.
- Remote - We work remotely, across many time zones. Slack is our office, Zoom is our meeting room, Google Suite is our intranet. Our main time zones are PT,ET,CET.
- Flexibility - We care more about the work getting done than the times you’re sitting at your computer. Communication is key to successful remote collaboration and we all communicate about our work plans.
- International - though legally based in the US, we act as an international organization and work with and from many cultures.
- Whole Self - Our team is made up of smart, caring humans who take time to know one another personally and cater to individual needs or perspectives.
- Healthcare - If you’re based in California we offer BlueShield of California, if you’re outside California we will design a healthcare package with you through our global HR platform, and we cover 100% of premiums.
- Equipment - You will be supplied with a new work computer, and additional workstation set up costs will be covered up to a cap.
- Compensation - $60,000-$90,000USD range for North America/Europe, commensurate with skills, experience and adjusted for location.