Location: Remote-first; candidates must be based +/- 2 hours of South Africa Standard Time
Reports to: IFI Founding Director
Commitment: Full-time (or most time)
Duration: 2 year contract (with strong possibility for extension)
Compensation: $80,000 - $95,000 (based on experience)
About IFI
The Innovative Finance Initiative (IFI)—powered by Intelligent Impact and fiscally sponsored by The ImPact—is a five-year collaborative effort to accelerate the adoption of finance structures that better serve people and the planet.
At IFI, we believe finance can be radically reimagined — designed to be fit-for-purpose, inclusive, and catalytic for the world’s biggest challenges. Our community brings together funders, practitioners, academics, and ecosystem builders to experiment with structures, incentives, and processes that can hardwire impact into the financial system.
The Role
We're looking for an exceptionally personable community operator who can build and manage the operational infrastructure that makes a 1,700+ member professional network function effectively. This is fundamentally an execution role - you'll take strategic direction and operationalize it into systems, processes, and member experiences that work.
You're a natural relationship builder who enjoys creating order from complexity. You thrive on project management, developing processes, and building systems that enable others to do their best work. You write clear, engaging communications and can translate technical concepts into member-facing materials. You have a management mindset - you implement, coordinate, and optimize rather than ideate or strategize.
Who You Are
You're the person who:
- Thrives off of building genuine relationships and maintaining them over time
- Gets energized by bringing order to complexity and building systems that work
- Naturally documents processes so others can follow them
- Follows through on commitments without needing reminders
- Writes clearly and professionally for diverse audiences
- Prefers executing well-defined strategy over generating new ideas
- A natural project manager and coordinator
- Stays calm when managing multiple concurrent priorities
- Takes pride in smooth operations and happy members
You're NOT:
- Primarily a strategist or visionary
- Uncomfortable speaking to numerous people virtually and in-person, each day
- Someone who gets bored with operational details and process work
- More interested in ideation than implementation
- Uncomfortable with managing team members or coordinating others' work
What You'll Own
Membership Operations & Systems (40%)
- Build and maintain all systems for member applications, onboarding, database management, and engagement tracking
- Process member applications with consistent criteria and efficient workflows
- Create scalable onboarding processes that work for both new and experienced members
- Manage member database (Airtable) with meticulous attention to data quality and tracking
- Develop and enforce standard operating procedures for all member-facing operations
- Write member-facing communications: weekly newsletters, onboarding sequences, campaign materials
Partnership Development & Management (25%)
- Identify potential Network Partners and Ecosystem Partners that align with IFI's mission
- Manage partnership outreach, negotiation, and ongoing relationship coordination
- Create and maintain partnership documentation (MOUs, collaboration agreements, tracking systems)
- Schedule regular partner check-ins and ensure follow-through on commitments
- Track partnership outcomes and maintain partnership health dashboards
- Represent IFI professionally in the innovative finance ecosystem
Engagement Programming Coordination (25%)
- Coordinate logistics for all member programming: Missions, Peer Working Groups, Community Calls, Office Hours
- Manage concurrent programs without dropping threads - scheduling, participant recruitment, communications, execution
- Work closely with Knowledge and Learning teams who design content while you handle all operational coordination
- Document program processes and create replicable workflows
- Synthesize member feedback and engagement data into clear reports for leadership
- Support regional chapter activation with structured processes and clear guidance
Reporting & Documentation (10%)
- Write quarterly reports on member engagement, partnership outcomes, and program performance
- Document all processes and systems for organizational knowledge retention
- Create clear, professional materials for internal and external stakeholders
- Maintain organized records of all community operations and activities
Required Experience & Skills
- 5+ years in community management, operations, or program coordination - you've built and run systems at scale
- Extremely personable and relationship-focused - people like you, trust you, and want to engage with you
- Base-level working knowledge of impact investing or social finance - you understand the ecosystem enough to engage credibly with members
- Exceptional project management skills - you juggle multiple concurrent projects, meet deadlines consistently, and keep stakeholders informed
- Process-minded and systems-oriented - you naturally document workflows, create templates, and build infrastructure
- Strong written communication - you write clear, warm, professional content for diverse audiences (newsletters, reports, onboarding materials, partnership agreements)
- Experience with professional networks or membership organizations (ideal, not required)
- Detail-oriented with strong follow-through - nothing falls through the cracks on your watch
Strongly preferred:
- Experience with digital community platforms (Slack, WhatsApp, bespoke products, etc.)
- Experience building operational infrastructure from scratch or improving broken systems
- Partnership management and coordination experience
- Comfortable with databases and project management tools (Airtable, Asana, or similar)
- Background working in or adjacent to impact investing, innovative finance, or development finance
- Experience managing or coordinating team members (even informally)
- Event coordination experience (virtual and in-person)
- Cross-cultural communication skills - our members span 50+ countries
Not required but valuable:
- Understanding of innovative finance mechanisms (blended finance, outcomes funds, catalytic capital)
- Regional network activation or chapter coordination experience
- Background in field-building initiatives or ecosystem development
What You'll Work With
Team:
- Global network of 1,700+ members across innovative finance ecosystem!
- Program Associate - executes event logistics, participant communications, operational support
- Comms & Events Lead (hiring concurrently) handles communications production and in-person event logistics
- Close collaboration with Head of Knowledge and Head of Learning on member programming
- Fellows - support operations and engagement model systemization
- Domain teams design programming content while you coordinate execution
Tools & Systems:
- Airtable (member database, tracking, project management)
- Member portal (Softr-based website with AI wayfinding through knowledge base)
- Member platform (Slack or WhatsApp)
- Zoom, email/newsletter tools, various integrations
Recruiting Process
Applications Open: 25 February - 11 March
Application Deadline: Weds 11 March at 12:00pm SAST
First Round Interviews: 20-mins slots: Thurs 12 March - Mon 16 March
Final Round Interviews: 45-mins slots: Weds 18 March - Thu 19 March
Ideal Start Date: early April
Questions or Queries? Email hello@intellimpact.com
This position was originally posted by Innovative Finance Initiative and has been curated by PurposePhil Career. To apply, please visit the original listing on the "apply" link on the side. We are not affiliated with the employer organization of this job ad or consultancy, and provide this curated listing as a service to our users.
