Project Assistant to Executive Director, NWP

Position: Project Assistant to Executive Director, NWP

Location: Los Angeles, CA or Flagstaff, AZ/Navajo Nation surrounding area; frequent travel required

Employment type: Full-time, hourly, nonexempt

Compensation: $22.00-$25.00/hourly

Level: Early career

Education requirements: Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent professional experience preferred

Reports to: Executive Director of the Navajo Water Project 

Manages: None

Supported by: Program Managers, Program Operations Manager, Flagstaff Project Coordinator, Project Assistants

Start Date: ASAP

We Are DigDeep  

The DigDeep Right to Water Project is the only WaSH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) organization serving the 2.2+ million Americans who still don’t have a tap or a toilet at home. 

DigDeep believes access to clean water is a human right. Today, we run several nationally recognized programs that empower communities to build their own water and sanitation systems. We won the 2018 US Water Prize for our Navajo Water Project, which has brought clean, running water to hundreds of Native families across New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. Dig Deep launched the Appalachia Water Project in July of 2020, which will bring clean, running water into the homes of Appalachia families across southwestern West Virginia and northeastern Kentucky. The project has already set up planning to work with PSD to install plumbing in approximately 150 homes in one section of McDowell County.

DigDeep is deeply committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. We believe social change happens when people with a wide range of backgrounds, experiences, and identities come together with a common purpose. DigDeep is built on the principles of equity, transparency, and the power of human experience. Your work will improve the daily lives of real people – people you’re likely to meet. Every American should have the clean, running water they need to thrive. Join us, and we’ll close the US water gap in our lifetimes.

The Opportunity

DigDeep is looking for a creative, collaborative, organized, and detail-oriented person to join our growing Navajo Water Project team as the Project Assistant to the organization’s Executive Director of the Navajo Water Project (“ED”).

The position will handle a wide variety of administrative tasks. It requires nimble, strategic thinking, excellent prioritization, a positive “everything is figure-out-able” attitude, diplomacy, and above all, complete discretion. Our new PA can work independently with limited guidance and exercise independent judgment, knowing when to elevate concerns or issues. You enjoy a high-growth environment with lots of change. The PA will support the Executive Director by working with their teams and external stakeholders. Ultimately, you will contribute to DigDeep’s impact by providing exceptional, personalized support for one of our key executives as the company grows.

Key Responsibilities

This is what you’ll do once you join the team.

Calendar and Meetings:

• Partner closely with other team members to manage the ED’s calendars and keep them on schedule throughout the day.
• Prioritize and shift meetings as scheduling conflicts arise, based on the preferences and priorities of the ED. 
• Prep the ED for meetings with documentation and a review of purpose, attendees, agenda, and goals; have a clear understanding of each meeting’s purpose and benefit; maintain excellent communication with key participants around location, technology, attendees, and scheduling; document distribution and conference technology setup (Ex. Zoom). 
• Attend meetings and take notes; disseminate notes to appropriate stakeholders; add action items to the appropriate task management system (ex. Asana); and follow-up on action items. 
• Format and distribute information for internal and external communications (ex. memos, emails, presentations, reports, etc.)
• Order and pick up meals (personal & professional) as requested.
• Regular personal support tasks (i.e., errands for home, work, family, and pets).

Operations & Program Support:

• Support the ED and NWP team in determining areas of potential project growth; tasks include following up on potential leads, assessing viability of the project area, communicating with local community leaders, government and other organization officials, attending community meetings.
• Routinely visit existing and potential project sites as required by the ED. Travel includes semi-frequent field assignments. 
• Support operations and communication between all Navajo Water Project locations (Flagstaff, AZ; Thoreau, NM, Dilkon, AZ, and Navajo Mountain, AZ); this includes but is not limited to, communicating with both NWP staff, community members, and DigDeep HQ.
• Assist with maintaining and organizing files in relevant internal, project databases.
• Support the planning and coordination of team activities, trainings, events, and team celebrations.
• Assist with miscellaneous “special projects,” as needed.

Travel & Expenses:

• Coordinate all aspects of domestic and international travel (air, ground, and lodging); compose detailed itineraries for travel and key meetings; collect boarding passes and complete check-in. 
• Maintain a clear understanding of ED travel preferences and make plans that align to those preferences and company policies (i.e., airline mileage program, airport location, seat assignment, rental car, hotel rewards, etc.).
• Reschedule or troubleshoot travel and logistics in real time; maintain tracking of meeting and itinerary changes and communicate proactively; track flights.
• Manage payment and expense reporting for all travel and meetings; organize and create cash and expense reports using expense system Expensify. 

As the organization continues to evolve, duties or tasks may change without impacting the overall Job Description. 

Competencies

• Results Oriented: You develop clear goals for self, team, and projects. You maintain commitment to goals, and employ creative, strategic solutions in the face of obstacles. Eager to take on new opportunities and tough challenges with a sense of urgency and enthusiasm. You have proven experience with managing complex timelines for multiple project proposals at once and the management skills to hold collaborating team members to these timelines.
• Fostering Innovation: You are innovative and adaptive and believe anything is figure-out-able. You propose and implement your own ideas and suggestions in order to develop and streamline processes. 
• Excellent Communicator: You are able to clearly express yourself verbally and in writing. You have the ability to creatively plan and deliver written communications, utilizing graphics, statistics, and language in such a way as to have maximum impact on the intended audience. You have an understanding of grant writing and reporting. Able to coordinate between departments and ranks in the organization.
• Builds Collaborative Relationships: You develop, maintain, and strengthen partnerships inside and outside the organization with those who can provide information, assistance, and support in furtherance of the organization’s mission. Your team management skills include a strong vision and clear direction, sound judgment, good communication and conflict management skills. You’re culturally sensitive and have experience supporting the development of diverse, inclusive and equitable work environments, including an openness for learning.
• Technical Expertise: You have demonstrated ability and depth of knowledge with the technology in the desired technical area. including, but not limited to, mechanics, fluids, electricity, logistics, etc. You effectively use and apply technical knowledge, and use your knowledge to identify solutions to existing problems. Broad knowledge base of topics including, but not limited to, the Navajo Nation, working on sovereign Native Nations, water poverty in the United States and internationally, the WaSH sector, and technical knowledge of water resource management, water quality, plumbing principles, and electrical power. You have a strong understanding and appreciation of engineering and humanitarian principles.

Qualifications 

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent work experience.
• The flexibility to work on evenings and weekends occasionally, as needed.
• The flexibility to travel, including internationally, as needed
• You’re devoted to professional growth based on constructive feedback.
• Excellent, error-free written and verbal communication skills.
• Experience working with a geographically dispersed organization in multiple time zones is preferred.
• Proficiency in MS Office Suite, G Suite, MacOS required
• Experience with Slack, Airtable, Asana, Expensify, Squarespace, Zoom.
• Maintain absolute discretion and confidentiality in all verbal and written communication including messages, calls and reports; treat all information confidentially required.  
• You’re ready to support the development of a diverse, inclusive, and equitable work environment and you’re open to learning.
• May entail occasional overtime work.
• Must love dogs!
• You’re driven by a desire to make our country (and our world) a better place.

Compensation and Benefits

At DigDeep, we believe that great work requires a great job. We pride ourselves on creating industry-leading employment opportunities for our team across the US. We’re a supportive working environment that values creativity, diversity and quick-thinking. Here’s how we’ll support you:

• Generous vacation and sick leave
• 23 weeks paid Parental Leave
• Annual Professional Development Stipend
• Medical, dental, vision insurance, 100% employer paid
• One Medical membership 
• Life insurance, 100% employer paid
• Monthly cell phone reimbursement
• 401k retirement plan, with employer match