Office Operations Manager

About The Bridgespan Group

The Bridgespan Group  (“Bridgespan”) is a global nonprofit that aims to build a better world by strengthening the ability of mission-driven organizations, philanthropists, impact investors, and corporations to achieve breakthrough results in addressing society’s most important challenges and opportunities.

Founded in 2000, Bridgespan has offices in Boston, Johannesburg, Mumbai, New York, San Francisco, and Singapore. Across these six locations, we have a diverse team of staff with varied backgrounds and experience across multiple sectors. We work with social change organizations such as TaRL Africa, Tiko, and CAMFED; philanthropies and foundations such as OSF, Women First Fund, and The Ford Foundation; impact investors such as TPG’s Rise Fund, Black Ambition, and AfricInvest; and bold funding collaboratives such as TED’s Audacious Project and Co-Impact.

Bridgespan aims for a world where all people have the opportunity to flourish. Given how society works today—as manifest in systems and mindsets that have developed over time—that opportunity is not accessible to all. We are committed to equity, specifically to doing work to help ensure that race, gender, and other dimensions of identity are not determinants of life outcomes and to building an organization where the diverse set of individuals we need can thrive in pursuit of their full professional potential, and to proactively addressing the systems that help or hinder these goals. It is a commitment to both external equity work and internal inclusivity that gets Bridgespan closer to achieving its mission.

Responsibilities and Duties:

The Office Operations Manager is an integral member of the Bridgespan office management and administrative teams, requiring close collaboration with the New York Office Head, Partner group, Talent Partner and Manager, EAs, Receptionists, and the broader office team to provide the best support possible to ensure the smooth running of Bridgespan’s New York office and optimization of our business performance and staff environment. This role will supervise the New York Office Receptionist, and support people and projects as they relate to the management of the New York office.

The Office Operations Manager will split their time amongst three distinct focus areas:

Office Facilities Management (about 50%)

- Manage day-to-day facilities at our New York office, responding quickly to urgent issues, including the occasional situation that needs after-hours follow-up.
- Supervise the New York Office Receptionist, including day-to-day direction, regular feedback, annual performance reviews, and professional development.
- Build strong working relationships with building management, property managers, security, contractors, and vendors, and negotiate vendor contracts.
- Maintain safety measures, including fire safety protocols and staff assignments for drills.
- Manage organization of lockers, storage, and access passes.
- Maintain and improve office and kitchen systems, layouts, and equipment procurement and maintenance.
- Troubleshoot basic office technology issues. IT support may be limited, so you'll learn unfamiliar systems as needed.
- Help coordinate office moves, renovations, and other in-office events and/or projects.
- Organize quarterly office-wide cleaning days.

Executive Assistant to the Office Head (about 30%)

- Calendar management: Manage Office Head's calendar and schedule meetings, resolve conflicts, and prioritize requests accordingly
- Coordinate domestic and international travel, including air, train, hotel, and ground transportation.
- Prepare and submit time and expense reports for Office Head
- Meeting set-up coordination: Support key meetings and events with conference room arrangement, catering, A/V, agendas, and minutes. This includes convenings, team retreats, and social events.
- Communicate with clients and colleagues on the Office Head's behalf, and draft and proofread letters, memos, presentations, as needed.
- Collaborate with EAs and colleagues in other offices and across geographies/time zones, working effectively across cultural differences.
- Perform other ad-hoc administrative duties for the Office Head (OH) in support of their work with clients and internal teams

Office Operations Support (20%):

- Support the Office Head in their leadership of the office, going beyond EA tasks, and build strong relationships across the office.
- Support Office Head with office communications in coordination with Internal Communications team as needed.
- Keep the partner availability tracker current, coordinating with partners and the regional Chief of Staff and EA to maintain a regional view.
- Work with partners and EAs to keep the CRM up to date.
- Maintain the office distribution list and office management-related dashboards.
- Work with the Office Head and Talent Partner to design and run the cadence of office meetings, including content on active cases, pipeline, client impact stories and any other office culture-related announcements. Facilitate portions of the meetings.
- In coordination with HR and Office Head, plan celebrations and gatherings for milestones such as promotions, service awards, and retirements.

Work Arrangement

- Your first month: in the office at least three days per week.
- After that: onsite as the role and office needs require. You'll model our in-office norms and policies as a manager.
- Key weeks and events: expect to be in the office all five business days.

Qualifications:

- Bachelor’s Degree or related experience is required
- 8+ years of experience providing direct administrative or program support to organizations and executives, and designing and installing efficient management processes AND at least 3 years of experience in office management
- Experience providing support in a professional services or management consulting firm is preferred
- High degree of comfort with ambiguity and enthusiasm for learning and shaping the role
- Comprehensive knowledge of computer software applications such as Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, and the ability to learn new technology quickly, is required
- Strong interpersonal skills, ability to communicate and manage well at all levels of the organization and with staff at remote locations
- Strong problem-solving and creative skills and the ability to exercise sound judgment and make decisions based on accurate and timely analyses.  Natural orientation towards being proactive.
- High level of integrity and dependability with a strong sense of urgency and results orientation.  Discretion with confidential data.
- Outstanding written and verbal communication skills are required
- Must be able to work both independently and as an integral member of various teams
- Strong organizational skills and attention to detail
- Ability to meet deadlines, prioritize assignments, and juggle multiple tasks simultaneously
- Interest in and enthusiasm for the nonprofit sector and administration/operations
- Commitment to strong performance, high standard of accountability, and openness to feedback
- Must be comfortable working in a fast-paced environment and calm under pressure
- Must have an articulate, diplomatic, and highly responsive communication style
- Must be highly adaptive to management styles and changing needs, reprioritizing tasks and projects as needed

At Bridgespan, we are committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion because we are passionate about helping our clients achieve breakthrough results. An organization that reflects the diversity of our clients and their beneficiaries will produce deeper relationships, engagement, and insights. Bridgespan is committed to providing equal opportunities. We serve diverse organizations and are committed to non-discrimination. Bridgespan will not discriminate against any employee with respect to any term or condition of employment, including but not limited to less favorable treatment, exclusion from employment or employment opportunities (including hiring, assignment, performance assessment and promotion) on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, citizenship, ancestry, gender (including pregnancy), gender identity, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, expression, veteran’s status or other protected characteristics or status. We actively partner with organizations representing minority concerns and interests to build high-performing teams that mirror the communities we serve.

All company sponsored programs including training, job, social and recreational activities are required to be nondiscriminatory and all human resource practices are monitored to ensure equal opportunity.