Operations and Data Success Specialist, UpLink

About World Economic Forum and UpLink

*This is a 1 year grant funded role with the possibility of an extension.*

The World Economic Forum, committed to improving the state of the world, is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation. The Forum engages the foremost political, business, and other leaders of society to build coalitions, projects, and initiatives – digitally and physically – to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

UpLink is the open innovation platform of the World Economic Forum to crowdsource innovative solutions which can accelerate the delivery of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).​ UpLink’s effort focuses on building bridges within the innovation ecosystem to support entrepreneurs for growth and scale.

Since its launch, UpLink has made significant progress in addressing the world’s biggest challenges in different thematic areas (e.g. Longevity, Urban Transformation, Food System, Sustainable Mining, Water, Circular Carbon Economy, etc.) alongside its esteemed partners by specifically delivering in enabling early-stage impact-driven start-ups to accelerate impact, building and strengthening innovation ecosystems and shifting perception around the value and significance of early-stage impact innovations.

Why we are recruiting

UpLink is growing its presence across new partnerships and thematic areas to identify and surface impact-driven early-stage start-ups. To support this growth path, we are recruiting an Operations and Data Success Specialist who will provide overall operational, administrative, contract/financial management and data quality support ensuring alignment, consistency and smooth running of team’s activities and processes.

Reporting Lines and Interactions

The role will be based in Geneva, report into the Operations & Data Success Lead and work closely across the Growth, Partnerships & Innovation Ecosystems, Technology, Engagement and Marketing units within the team. Across the Forum, this individual will work closely with the broader Technology and Digital Innovation cluster, with Legal & Compliance, Finance and Business Strategy and Partner Services teams.

Main Responsibilities:

Team Coordination – 30%

• Coordinating and supporting the day-to-day team activities, ensuring efficient operations
• Supporting the planning, scheduling and execution of team meetings and sessions
• Organize leadership team travel plans and logistics
• Onboarding new team members with the right technology tools and internal processes

Contract and financial management operations – 30%

• Coordination and compliance support in building and maintaining legal agreements, contracts, etc.
• Contract Lifecycle Management support for UpLink partnerships
• Financial and procurement operations support for UpLink receipts, payments and other disbursements

Data Quality Maintenance – 40%

• Provide data quality support during all project phases across all departments within the UpLink team
• Serving as the team’s point of contact for the data quality maintenance of UpLink Innovation Ecosystem and its memberships
• Support in maintaining internal databases and knowledge tools such as Salesforce, Box, Airtable and WeLink
• Ensure excellent data quality by providing support in maintenance of key stakeholder records in our systems and databases
• Support in performance analysis and insights sharing

To be successful, the candidate should:

• Have analytical mindset and the ability to break down complex problems into their component parts to strive for effective solutions & recommendations
• Contribute to the operational efficiency of the team by supporting and coordinating team activities and making best use of current and future process and digital tools
• Ensure seamless execution of activities and workshops involving the team
• Respond to requests in a timely manner, provide administrative support as needed and ensure stakeholder records are kept up to always date
• Identify areas for continuous improvement and streamlining of the team’s process and approach

Preferred requirements and Skills:

• Genuine passion for scaling impact in the SDG space
• University degree in business, operations, data management, or a related field
• 3+ years of professional experience in operations, business & data analytics, CRM data management, digital project delivery, preferably in a technology, business administration or start-up environment
• Mastery of Microsoft Office (PowerPoint, Excel, Word)
• Experience with Salesforce or another CRM tool and project management tools
• Working knowledge of Tableau and SQL
• Proven experience providing organizational support for cross-functional teams
• Strong project management, problem solving and organizational skills
• Proactive approach to work, prioritization and resourcefulness
• Strong service orientation towards internal and external parties; ability to collaborate with other functions, team members or cultures in the delivery of highly connected tasks
• Ability to handle conflicting priorities under stress and flexibility in the face of change
• Comfortable working in a challenging, quick and dynamic entrepreneurial and high-pressure environment