Overview of Watson Institute
Watson Institute powers transformative Fellowships in partnership with leading corporations and foundations to support highly promising entrepreneurs and leaders from underserved backgrounds. The Fellowships provide proven entrepreneurship and leadership skills training, committed mentorship, community development stipends, long-term Alumni support, and access to a global community of peers, mentors, and opportunities.
In partnership with Google, JPMorganChase Foundation, Walmart.org, Wells Fargo, Ford Philanthropy, SAP, Truist Foundation, BMO, Comcast, Western Union, and several private foundations, Watson Institute’s programs will reach over 2,400 rising leaders this year.
Alumni of Watson Institute’s Fellowships have raised over $190 million, created over 2,300 paid jobs, and impacted over 11 million people around the world through initiatives they have helped lead. 93% of Watson Institute alums are employed, continuing their education, or building a venture. 85% of Watson Institute Alumni use a skill they learned while in a Watson Institute-powered program up to 12 years later. Watson Institute’s Alumni have been selected to Y Combinator, the Echoing Green Fellowship, and 11 have been named to Forbes’ 30 under 30 lists. Alums continue their education at Harvard University, New York University, and Princeton University, among others.
Operations Coordinator - Mission Statement
The Operations Coordinator helps power Watson Institute’s People & Operations Team, ensuring the seamless day-to-day functioning of core operational systems. This role reports to the Associate VP of Operations and supports Talent, Financial, and IT operations. This person thrives in a fast-paced, scaling environment, is highly organized, and is comfortable navigating shifting priorities and high-pressure moments with strong attention to detail and follow-through.
Talent Operations (40%)
The Operations Coordinator will support and execute key components of Watson Institute’s hiring process and talent pipeline, setting the standard for the best candidate experience across the impact space. Responsibilities include:
- ATS Management & Candidate Coordination: Support the Operations Manager in maintaining the applicant tracking system (ATS), ensuring candidate pipelines, stages, and records are accurate, organized, and consistently up to date, while coordinating interview scheduling and supporting candidate movement through each stage of the hiring process.
- Candidate Communication: Manage timely and professional communication with candidates throughout the hiring process, ensuring consistent updates and a positive candidate experience at every stage.
- Onboarding Logistics: Support the Operations Manager in coordinating onboarding processes for new hires by executing key logistics, including creating and maintaining onboarding trackers within Monday.com (Work OS), coordinating schedules with internal team members and new hires, and managing system setup (e.g., email creation, platform access, and permissions) to ensure a smooth start.
- Talent Pipeline Support: Leverage the applicant tracking system (ATS) to support the upkeep of an evergreen talent pipeline by organizing candidate records, revisiting prior applicants, and ensuring strong candidates remain accessible and easy to re-engage for future roles.
Finance Operations (30%)
The Operations Coordinator will support and execute day-to-day financial operations, ensuring accuracy and timely processing across the team. Responsibilities include:
- Transfers & Disbursements: Execute and track financial transfers, including Fellow stipends and vendor payments, using platforms such as Wise to manage high-volume, time-sensitive domestic and international disbursements.
- Fellowship Financial Coordination: Support Program Managers in managing Fellow stipend processes, assisting with stipend-related questions, and delivering clear, engaging presentations to Fellows on stipend processes and expectations.
- Expense Tracking & Follow-ups: Support People & Operations expense management processes by ensuring receipts and submissions in Expensify and Airtable are complete and accurately recorded, and by following up with team members on missing or incomplete information.
- Financial Documentation & Organization: Support financial processes by maintaining and organizing trackers within Monday.com and Google Sheets, ensuring accurate records and clear visibility across disbursements.
IT & Systems (10%)
Optimize Watson Institute’s core systems infrastructure, with a primary focus on Google Workspace Admin, ensuring systems are structured for scalability, security, and seamless team access. Responsibilities include:
- Google Workspace: Optimize the management and organization of the Google Workspace Admin account, ensuring systems are structured to support team growth and evolving organizational needs.
- User Set Up: Oversee user account setup, access, and permissions across platforms (e.g., Google Workspace, Slack), ensuring appropriate access and role alignment.
- System Organization: Maintain and improve system organization, including file structures, shared drives, and internal documentation for ease of use and scalability.
- Team Support: Serve as the primary point of contact for internal technical support, troubleshooting issues, and ensuring timely resolution.
- Security Improvements: Proactively identify opportunities to improve security.
Supporting UFOs (20% of their time)
Support the Associate VP of Operations in executing urgent, organization-wide priorities by assisting with time-sensitive tasks, maintaining organization, and ensuring timely follow-through across key initiatives.
*New responsibilities may develop as the Operations Coordinator position evolves.
Requirements
Culture Add
To thrive as an Operations Coordinator at Watson Institute, you will:
- Demonstrate an eagerness to join a team with high standards for quality and excellence.
- Hold a high bar for quality and detail, with a strong ability to spot inconsistencies in writing, formatting, and communication.
- Be highly organized and process-driven, using systems, trackers, and clear workflows to manage work accurately and efficiently.
- Operate with intention and structure, planning ahead and creating order in complex or fast-moving environments.
- Take ownership and follow through, approaching work with a results-driven mindset and ensuring responsibilities are completed end-to-end.
- Demonstrate high integrity, exercising sound judgment, handling sensitive information responsibly, and making decisions aligned with the organization’s values.
- Think in systems, with experience building, improving, and managing processes that support consistent and reliable execution.
How We Communicate
Based on a story from Watson Institute’s early days, ‘Come to the Window’ represents our communication culture. This means:
- Obligation to Dissent: If you disagree with a decision or direction as an organization, you are expected to bring attention to this challenge because true leaders believe dissent is an obligation.
- Disagree and Commit: To complement Obligation to Dissent, there are times when we need to Disagree and Commit. Once all concerns and criticisms are shared, the course of action must be committed to by all involved.
- No Drama: We prioritize purpose and don’t involve ourselves in the drama created by backroom chatter, hearsay, and unnecessary focus on issues that do not place impact first.
- Go to the Source: Our culture is defined by direct, honest, and frequent communication. We expect team members to ‘go to the source’ of concerns by speaking up, communicating frequently, and taking issues directly to the individuals involved.
Candidate Profile
Top candidates bring a strong operational mindset and are excited to build, organize, and scale systems, and should demonstrate:
- A deep-seated passion for building and strengthening the operational infrastructure that enables Watson Institute to equip the most promising impact-driven entrepreneurs, small business owners, and leaders with the skills, networks, and resources to grow.
- The ability to ‘weather the storm’, remaining organized, focused, and detail-oriented during fast-paced, high-volume, and time-sensitive periods, while maintaining a high standard of execution.
- A natural inclination to build strong relationships and communicate effectively across teams, supporting collaboration and clarity in day-to-day operations.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
- A systems-oriented and highly organized approach to their work.
- Confidence navigating tech systems, with experience in tools such as Google Workspace Admin and an interest in building and maintaining scalable internal systems.
- Eagerness to use applicant tracking systems (ATS) to improve and elevate the candidate experience, helping position Watson Institute as an industry leader in candidate experience.
- Familiarity with Monday.com or similar workflow management tools.
- Exposure to SaaS-based tools to support operational workflows, with familiarity in expense management platforms such as Expensify preferred.
- The ability to quickly learn and navigate new systems in a fast-paced, scaling environment.
Benefits
Salary and Benefits
- Competitive base salary according to experience: $60,000.00-$65,000.00.
- An Annual Happiness Fund that increases with time and seniority.
- Unlimited PTO (with 3 weeks of required vacation time per year).
- Healthcare benefit via Thatch (ICHRA provider), where employees have the option to apply this amount towards their choice of medical plans, with the option to add vision and dental plans.
- Retirement account through Guideline, with an automatic 3% contribution.
The Vitals
- The Operations Coordinator is a full-time commitment and reports to the Associate VP of Operations.
- The Operations Coordinator can work remotely, but should be based in AZ, CO, DC, FL, GA, MD, ME, OK, PA, or SC.
- We accept applications on a rolling basis until the position is filled.
- The start date for this position is August 10, 2026.
- We use E-Verify to confirm the identity and employment eligibility of all new hires.
