Assistant Program Coordinator

Do you want to make a difference by helping communities mitigate and adapt to climate change? Do you thrive working in a fast-paced, dynamic online environment? Is being kind and highly organized your natural state of being? Are you someone who can support the work of many organizations — while also managing your own time and energy with discipline and care? If so, this small, efficient, mission-driven team needs your smarts, organization skills, and ability to work independently.

This is not an entry level position, because it requires the lived experience that can only be gained from at least 3–5 years of in-person and remote work. Because it is a remote contractor role, candidates with independent contracting experience who can speak specifically to how they manage that lifestyle will stand out. As will those with (1) deep experience with project management, program coordination, and / or logistics planning; and (2) general familiarity with environmental and climate issues combined with experience working across sectors. It requires a high degree of organization, self-discipline, and self-direction. This person must be able to deliver within set time limits, managing personal energy across multiple simultaneous workstreams. The screening application and resume upload is here: https://forms.gle/LiVQut5xaz3egv8UA

Term and Hours. This is a temporary position, with a performance-based possibility of longer-term work. The initial term is a test period from June - Dec 2026. Hours are between 10–15 per week, with openness to less or more as need and availability dictate. This person will play a supporting role in daily workflows, with typical availability during 3-5 peak U.S. working hours on Mon – Thurs. EST late am and early pm overlap preferred. They must have high-speed, reliable internet, an office with a door, and an optimized, fast computer fully equipped with basic processing platforms like the Microsoft suite and Dropbox Pro.

About Sutherland & Associates. S&A provides honest, non-judgmental guidance and kind, clear, organized support for entities working to be less carbon-intensive, more sustainable, and more resilient to climate change. Project schedules do not lag, commitments are exceeded, and clients know the value of eased workloads and carefully planned next steps. Excellence is a daily habit.

Job goal. S&A needs a highly responsive and organized individual to support our work as we facilitate many programs and projects simultaneously. They must be friendly, quick-learning, and easily adaptable to assist with a variety of administrative and programmatic tasks in a team setting. Success in this role comes via consistent organization, purposeful communication, and the ability to think critically about what outcomes any given task is supposed to accomplish. It manifests in great relationships with the team.

The S&A team coordinates:

• Co-workers, to set work schedules, processes, and to contribute to the creation of client materials.
• Client teams, so that they can initiate and complete work in compliance with program guidelines.

With flexibility and kindness, the program coordination team is responsible for:

• Data collection and assessment from calls, emails, reports, and desktop research.
• Data entry and assessment into and from databases and spreadsheets for reporting purposes.
• Processing incoming materials from various program participants with timely due diligence.
• Updating various client Salesforce and website databases when interim and final products arrive.
• Providing content to smooth information flow between clients and their S&A point of contact.
• Contributing to the development of materials so desired outcomes of each project are achieved.
• Participating in iterative client meeting design and associated material packet development.
• Attending meetings for record keeping purposes and building appropriate next steps from them.
• Quick reporting to answer time-sensitive questions from the consistent data collection process.

The program coordination team is known for reliable consistency in performing these primary activities:

• Tracking the progress of contracts to ensure commitments are met within reasonable timeframes.
• Executing day-to-day program activities aligned with company and client objectives.
• Preparing for decision-making processes, ensuring that they run smoothly with prompt follow-up.
• Overseeing individual projects and budgets to ensure successful and documented completion.
• Building progress reports for internal and external audiences to show outcomes and impact.
• Providing support in scope/proposal drafting, assisting with time tracking data to inform budgets.

Their responsibilities include equal parts pro-action + reaction, requiring skilled time management to:

• Plan and coordinate across programs and activities, maintaining good records.
• Ensure timely implementation of the policies and practices of specific programs.
• Execute effective meetings: scheduling, reminders, agendas, talking points, notes, and next steps.
• Track individual projects, monitoring expenditures, deliverables, and time spent.
• Keep all team members current on relevant project and program information.
• Provide quick reporting on program financials and the status of various activities.

The Assistant Coordinator must be able to work independently and communicate effectively remotely:

• Excellent, concise writing and communication skills, deployed after active listening.
• Highly organized, with ability to manage multiple deadlines and systems simultaneously.
• Willing to proactively share information using relationships, technology, and other tools.
• Demonstrated ability to structure personal time and workflow without external accountability.
• Experience setting and maintaining professional limits — with clients, scope, and hours.

The Assistant Coordinator must be good at adaptive management, considering many perspectives:

• The ability to work well with many diverse personalities, using servant leadership skills.
• The ability to perceive and navigate complex and / or sensitive situations.

The Assistant Coordinator must know how to think critically about existing strategies and processes:

• The ability to notice and address details, correcting mistakes and improving practices as we work.
• Confidence in research and analysis as large data sets are created, managed, and analyzed.

The Assistant Coordinator must be skilled and comfortable with long standing + emerging technology:

• Customer relationship management (CRM) databases for data collection and extraction.
• Cloud-based storage systems like Dropbox Pro and Google Drive for shared workflows.
• Microsoft products (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) for outputs and data assessment.
• Graphic design platforms like Adobe, Canva, and/or Lucid Chart for attractive outputs.
• Online survey platforms, scheduling polls, and time trackers to gather needed information.
• Social media and website editing so that content can be added and managed.
• Judicial use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to maximize efficiency.

Flexible, remote work on a drama free, close team who respects each other and our clients. We work across time-tested systems to take the guess work out of daily priority setting and execution, always plan ahead to remove any need for panic or last minute work, and strive to maintain strong work-life balance even as the field goes through its ups and downs.

Highly skilled in reading and writing in English.