Project Assistant, Dilkon

Position: Project Assistant, Dilkon

Location: Dilkon, AZ (Regular onsite work required) (all candidates should be based in the United States)

Employment Type: Full-time, Hourly, Nonexempt (For this position full-time is considered 38 hours per week.)

Compensation Range: $21.50/hour - $26.50/hour DOE

Level: Associate I

Reports to: Senior Project Manager, Navajo Water Project

Manages: None

Supported by: Lead Water & Sanitation Tech; Water & Sanitations Techs; Navajo Water Project team, Operations team

Education/Experience Preferences: High School Diploma or GED required; Associate’s degree, or equivalent professional experience preferred

Start Date: ASAP, open until filled

We Are DigDeep

The DigDeep Right to Water Project is a WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) organization committed to closing the water access gap for the 2 million + people in the U.S. who still don’t have a tap or a toilet at home.

DigDeep believes access to clean water is a human right. 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. DigDeep launched the Appalachia Water Project in 2020, in McDowell County, WV. It has since brought clean, sustainable running water to hundreds of families in Southern West Virginia through public - private partnerships with the McDowell County PSD and East Logan PSD in Wyoming County. In addition to clean running water, the project is installing septic systems and connecting households to centralized sewer. The AWP is now expanding into neighboring states of Kentucky and Virginia to continue its quest of clean water for every Appalachian family. Our water projects expanded in 2022 when we launched our Colonias Water Project. This project works to bring clean, running water to the residents living in communities along the Texas-Mexico border. The Texas colonias are largely unincorporated, low-income communities that fall just outside city limits and often lack basic infrastructure. Our work began in Cochran colonia near El Paso. DigDeep partnered with residents, housing nonprofits, and county officials to innovate a new model for public-private-partnership that brings these basic services to families for the first time. Now we're getting the water flowing in 5 more communities.

The Opportunity

DigDeep is looking for a motivated, organized, and detail-oriented person to join our growing Navajo Water Project Dilkon team as the Project Assistant.

The position will handle a wide variety of administrative tasks. They should love streamlining processes, and working both collaboratively and independently. It requires nimble, strategic thinking, excellent prioritization, a positive “everything is figure-out-able” attitude, and diplomacy. In this role, you will play a key role in liaising between the Dilkon team and other teams/departments across the organization. The PA will also support the Senior Project Manager of the Navajo Water Project by working with their team and external stakeholders. This is an administrative focused role, so you must love organizing, streamlining systems, and multi-tasking! 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:

Administrative & Office Duties

• Support general administration at NWP office; this includes, but is not limited to: organizing mail, answering phones, receiving deliveries, coordinating visitors, property upgrades, repairs, and maintenance, photocopies, composing and sending mail/email, and generating other documents as needed
• Serve as a first-contact at NWP office, relaying urgent information, updates, or calls to the field team
• Prioritize inquiries, emails, calls, etc., making judgements and recommendations to ensure smooth day-to-day operations
• Support the planning and coordination of site visit activities, training, events, and visits from donors, government officials, and other DigDeep staff; organizing meals, lodging, and transportation
• Assist in planning and coordination of all aspects of team travel, domestic travel (air, ground, lodging); compose detailed itineraries for travel
• Serve as the operations liaison between NWP and DigDeep HQ
• Assist with maintaining and organizing files in relevant internal, project databases
• Create and maintain excellent hard copy filing and record-keeping system
• Scanning correspondence or other printed materials and compiling basic reports
• Maintain and monitor inventory of office supplies, ordering and picking up supplies when needed
• Assisting with maintaining office cleanliness and organization, including occasional sweeping, dusting, kitchen cleaning, trash removal, etc.
• Research inventory, equipment, work vehicles, and services to find high-quality parts at the lowest cost that are suited to each project area’s unique needs
• Support team reimbursement invoice submissions, including creating and tracking monitoring usage to submit throughout the year

Program Operations & Project Duties

• Support NWP operations; this includes, but is not limited to: coordinating and scheduling vehicle maintenance appointments, assist with maintaining internal vehicle database, driving vehicles between auto repair shops and field sites, assist NWP staff in purchasing inventory
• Support inventory management of project site parts and tools: regularly monitoring and tracking inventory, proactively ordering supplies before levels are low and submitting receipts and invoices
• Support with onboarding new staff members, working closely with human resources at DigDeep HQ
• Coordinate with NWP team and Program Ops team to respond to mWater questions, share key information, and ensure timely collection and cleaning of monitoring data
• Assist in survey gathering and coordination with residents and local community members
• Assist in coordinating operations and data monitoring between NWP, DigDeepHQ, and remote staff
• Assist the Project Monitoring Officer in formalizing data and monitoring procedures, including, but not limited to: procedure manuals, reports, etc.
• Support the review and organization of NWP records collected from client surveys, and updating reported project metrics

Senior Project Manager Support

• Manage the Sr. PM’s calendar; work closely with Sr. PM and DigDeep team members to assist in scheduling meetings, appointments, and events (especially when Sr. PM is in the field)
• Attend meetings with Sr. PM to record thorough, concise meeting notes
• Support Sr. PM on work/budget planning, tracking, and expenditures
• Create slides or documents to relay project or training information
• Coordinate all aspects of domestic travel (air, ground, lodging); compose detailed itineraries for travel and meetings
• Assist with ad-hoc projects and support other tasks/duties as assigned.

This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. As the organization continues to evolve, duties or tasks may change without impacting the overall job description.

Competencies

• Analytical Thinking: Begins to analyze information for related trends, patterns, and gaps. Makes logical deductions from information. Identifies and proposes workable options and solutions for any problems and inconsistencies. Gather information needed to address problems and inconsistencies. Prioritize between multiple issues and tasks. Investigates to define problems more accurately. With guidance, determines importance and priorities for action.
• Collaborative Working: Actively solicits ideas and opinions from others to efficiently and effectively accomplish specific objectives targeted at defined organization outcomes. Often expresses an interest in others' experiences, ideas, and roles. Always remains respectful in communications and approach where disagreement exists. Proactively sources feedback and integrates it into approach. Takes an interest in cross-functional teams and fosters relationships outside of individual scope.
• Initiative: Begins deeper questioning of processes in order to improve them. Able to focus in the face of pressure, deliver against timelines and not be intimidated by tasks/time limitations. Identifies person, resource, or technology that can provide support and procures their input. Identifies problems/challenges and collaborates with management towards a solution.
• Innovation: Actively seeks opportunities to try out new experiences. Beginning to generate innovative responses to current problems. Displays open mindedness and is willing to try new approaches. Adapts readily to changes and needs. Is able to shift attention and priorities in own work in response to needs of their work. Offers suggestions to improve the ways things are done.
• Personal Development: Displays commitment to improving and learning by seeking opportunities for development. Proposes ideas for own development. Independently reviews own progress. Reflects, analyzes and learns from past performance of self and others, both successes and mistakes. Responds well to new situations that require a stretch/growth.
• Professional Communication: Professional presence, strong written and verbal communications skills, with the ability to express oneself clearly and effectively in conversations and interactions with others (both internal and external). Ability to effectively determine and use appropriate written and visual communications, graphics, statistics, presentations, and language in such a way as to have maximum impact on the intended audience. Handles conflict empathetically. Converses and writes in ways that support both transactional and administrative activities. Seeks and shares relevant information, opinions, and judgments. Explains the context of interrelated situations, asks probing questions, and solicits multiple resources of advice prior to taking action when appropriate. Practices active listening, repeats message back to speaker in a way that it is clear that the message is understood.
• Technical Expertise: Has demonstrated ability and depth of knowledge with the technology in the desired technical area. Effectively uses and applies technical knowledge, and uses knowledge to identify solutions to existing problems. Basic understanding of data security best practices.

Skills and Qualifications

We want to hear from you if you have:

• High school diploma or GED required
• Associate’s degree, or equivalent professional experience preferred
• At least 2 years of applicable professional experience required; experience in non-profit, business, or environmental field preferred
• Proficiency in MS Office Suite, Google Workspace required
• Experience with Slack, Asana, Zoom, Expensify, strongly preferred
• Comfort and accuracy inputting, managing and reporting data, with experience and/or willingness to use data collection platforms (e.g., such as mWater)
• High computer literacy, and tech savviness required
• Able to focus in the face of pressure, deliver against timelines and not be intimidated by tasks/time limitations
• Organized, trustworthy, dependable, and detail oriented
• Comfortable with autonomy, able to work independently and complete assigned tasks within established time frames required
• Fluency/strong proficiency in the Navajo language strongly preferred
• Willingness to travel, including but not limited to: Navajo Nation (AZ/NM/UT), West Virginia, Texas, DigDeep HQ, and additional locations as needed
• Understanding of data security best practices preferred
• Flexibility in varied job assignments
• Willingness to pitch in when/where needed
• Good physical condition, with the ability to lift up to 25lbs, and walk up and down stairs
• Local recruit strongly preferred (from Dilkon, AZ or surrounding area)
• Ability to work full-time in office, Monday-Thursday, 7:00am-5:00pm
• Experience/Willingness to work across various cultural contexts and communicating across cultural differences

Compensation and Benefits

At DigDeep, we believe that great work requires a great job. We understand that people thrive with rest and holistic support, which is crucial for our long-term success. We take pride in offering top-notch benefits to our team across the United States, prioritizing their health and wellbeing, as well as providing additional support for our employees' families. If you join us, here’s how we’ll support you in your work:

• Competitive wage to commensurate with level of position
• Generous vacation and sick leave
• 23 weeks paid Parental Leave
• Annual Professional Development Stipend
• Annual Wellbeing Reimbursement
• BrightPlan membership (Financial Wellness Benefit)
• Health Benefits
  • Employee Offering: Medical, dental, vision insurance, 100% employer paid
  • Spouse/Children/Family Offering: Employer covers up to $500 of the monthly cost for medical insurance for spouse/children/family; Employer covers 100% of the cost for dental and vision insurance for spouse/children/family
• One Medical membership
• Life insurance, 100% employer paid
• Work laptop
• Work iPad
• Monthly cell phone use allowance (position dependent)
• Monthly internet use allowance (position dependent)
• Protective Footwear Reimbursement (position dependent)
• Protective Weather Gear Reimbursement (position dependent)
• 15 paid holidays (including one week closure for Labor Day)
• Domestic travel
• 401k retirement plan, with employer match

Fluency/strong proficiency in the Navajo language strongly preferred.