Consultant, Operations/Development Operations (Part Time)

CIMA Consulting is a small social impact consulting firm in Charlottesville, VA, providing clients with strategic insight and support through institutional fundraising (grant writing) and a range of other deliverables. Our team works on behalf of nonprofit organizations across the country, furthering their organizational capacity via fundraising, business development, and organizational design. Our clients are socially conscious organizations seeking a thoughtful, agile, results-oriented firm to assist them in achieving their mission.

About the Position

This role may be filled as either a part-time employee (W-2) or an independent contractor (1099), depending on candidate experience, availability, and mutual fit.

CIMA seeks a highly organized and strategic Consultant to support multiple client relationships and internal processes with a focus on grants administration, development operations, and firm-wide internal operations. This role plays an integral part in ensuring cohesive, efficient, and productive engagement with CIMA clients, combining hands-on grants management with strategic operations support, process improvement, and client relationship building.

Core Responsibilities

• External Consulting: Grants Administration, Development Operations
• Serve as primary grants administration and development operations support for two or more CIMA clients, building trust-based relationships with stakeholders across development, finance, programs, and leadership
• Lead grant submission and reporting processes, including navigating portals, preparing or coordinating budgets and financial reports, compiling materials, and ensuring on-time delivery of concept notes, LOIs, proposals, and reports
• Manage shared deadlines calendars and coordinate inputs from client staff
• Support research and other prospecting activities
• Generate data-driven insights to inform strategy and decision-making, including revenue analysis, forecasting, and pipeline trends
• Develop templates, style guides, and boilerplate language libraries to ensure consistency across donor materials
• Create analytical tools that improve efficiency in budgeting, projections, and reporting
• Assist with maintenance of clients' CRM systems, file management, and password tools
• Streamline data capture processes and oversee development of systems to manage grant deliverable inputs
• Provide counsel on optimizing development workflows and cross-functional coordination
• Establish, refine, and implement policies for development operations (e.g., donor privacy, recognition, document retention)
• Lead process improvements that enhance efficiency for internal teams and client staff
• Contribute to meetings through agenda-setting, note-taking, and follow-up
• Support onboarding of new team members
• Internal Operations
  • Maintain active participation in the CIMA Consulting community and serve as client lead or co-lead on select projects
  • Lead new internal projects to develop, document, or improve processes that support staff success and high-quality client delivery
  • Design and improve internal systems and tools, which may include company policies, internal reference resources, knowledge management tools, and internal software workflows
  • Execute existing internal processes that support day-to-day functioning of the CIMA team
• Additional responsibilities may be defined by mutual agreement based on project scope and client needs

The ideal candidate will have:

• Demonstrated experience in development operations or grants administration, ideally supporting multiple stakeholders or clients
• Proven success in project management and cross-functional coordination, with the ability to manage complex timelines and deliverables
• Strong working knowledge of grant submission and reporting processes, including funder portals and financial/compliance requirements
• Experience using CRM-based reporting and/or other data and systems to inform strategy, including revenue tracking, forecasting, and pipeline management
• Comfort building templates, tools, and workflows that improve consistency, efficiency, and quality
• Experience working in a remote environment and fluency with common collaboration and data tools (e.g., Microsoft, Google, Slack, Notion, CRMs)
• A demonstrated commitment to—or deep familiarity with—the nonprofit and social impact sector

Qualities we consider essential for CIMA team members:

• Highly organized and self-directed, with the ability to manage multiple clients, priorities, and deadlines simultaneously
• Strong interpersonal and client-facing communication skills, including the ability to build trust with development, finance, program, and leadership staff
• Comfort taking ownership of complex workstreams, asking thoughtful questions, and exercising sound judgment independently
• Ability to thrive in a fast-moving, intellectually rigorous, start-up-style consulting environment
• Flexibility, curiosity, and a sense of humor
• An understanding of, and commitment to, DEI principles and inclusive practices

Our team is primarily based in Charlottesville, VA, and surrounding areas, but we have a hybrid, flexible-work schedule. While our preference is for team members to be based in Charlottesville, qualified candidates wishing to work remotely will be considered.

Position Details

• Time Commitment: Scope-based engagement with a part-time equivalent workload (approximately 15–25 hours per week, depending on client needs and project scope)
• Location: Hybrid preferred (Charlottesville / Central VA); remote candidates will be considered
• Compensation: $31–$36 per hour, depending on experience and qualifications
• Benefits (W-2 only): 401(k), profit sharing

CIMA’s Commitment to Equity

Our goal is to be a company that is representative of the people that we and our nonprofit clients serve. We encourage all interested applicants to apply, including but not limited to members of the LGBTQIA+ community, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color), and individuals with disabilities. CIMA does not and shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or military status.

Note: Resumes without cover letters will not be considered.

If filled by a W-2 employee, eligible for 401(k) and Profit Sharing. Contract employees are not eligible for benefits.