[foundation-board] Project Coordinator job description

Fri Aug 20 08:32:02 UTC 2010

Hi guys, it's been a week since I've circulated this and I'd like to
keep momentum going so am sending you all (and especially Rufus) a wee
prod. Jo's uploaded the description to the wiki, so if you'd like to
edit it, please go ahead:

http://wiki.okfn.org/coord/Project_Coordinator_Job_Description

In the meantime, I think the first thing we need to do is address my
point 1) below...

On 13 August 2010 11:31, Becky Hogge <becky.hogge at gmail.com> wrote:

> 1) What salary can we offer? How many of the projects (ongoing and in
> train) have a project manager budget which would fill the project
> coordinator pot, and how much of our operating surplus are we willing
> to put in for the Board reporting work?

Rufus, since you have the best overview of the activities of the OKF
over the next six months or so, I need your input here. Have you had a
chance to put the budgets for future projects into Xero yet? Or are we
waiting to hear from Jordan's lovely Xero folk how best to do this? In
any case, for the project coordinator recruitment to move forward, we
need a handle on how much project managing budget is available from
the combination of projects (LOD, JISC, WDMMG etc) that we listed out
at the meeting last week, so we can calculate a salary. Note that we
can also make up the salary from this year's operational surplus.

This also has a bearing on question 2), below.
>
> 2) What are the contractual terms we can offer?
>
Cheers

Becky

> 3) Where will we advertise the position? Are we happy for this to
> circulate around our networks, or do we want to pay for advertising
> in, say the Guardian? ($$$!)
>
> 4) Who will take part in the interview process? Ian and I have already
> volunteered, but I think Rufus also needs to be there, as he has the
> best sense of what the job entails and will be the one working closest
> with the successful candidate in the first few months. Who else wants
> in?
>
> Cheers
>
> Becky
>
> Begin job description//
>
>
> OKFN Project Coordinator job description
> ----------------------------------------------------------
>
> Founded in 2004, the Open Knowledge Foundation is a not-for-profit
> organisation promoting open knowledge: that’s any kind of information
> – sonnets to statistics, genes to geodata – that can be freely used,
> reused, and redistributed.
>
> We're community-driven and volunteers are behind everything we do -
> our network extends to practitioners and experts in chemistry,
> genetics, archaeology, linguistics, libraries and law. Our
> infrastructure, software and expertise drives the government's open
> data portal, data.gov.uk, as well as the public-spending analysis
> tool, Where Does My Money Go? We maintain the legal license that
> underpins the world's largest collaborative mapping project, Open
> Street Map, as well as the servers that drive some of the UK's most
> popular parliamentary transparency websites, TheyWorkForYou and
> PublicWhip. As open knowledge rises up the political agenda across the
> globe, the Open Knowledge Foundation has seized the opportunity to be
> the front-running non-partisan partner organisation offering expert
> advice to a range of actors, including institutions and governments
> wondering how to open up their knowledge and data, campaigners for
> transparency in state aid (famrsubsidy.org, IATI) and journalists
> seeking to make sense of raw spending data released from government
> (the Guardian).
>
> Job Description
>
> As the newly-created role of Project Coordinator, you will be responsible for:
>
> *Undertaking direct project management on several ongoing legal,
> technical and design projects where the OKF has direct funding from
> partners and institutions (~x? to start):
>  * Creating and executing project work plans and revising as
> appropriate to meet changing needs and requirements.
>  * Managing operational aspects of a project, liaising with a variety
> of skilled contractors
>  * Reviewing deliverables before passing to client, enforcing
> standards, and maintaining relationship with partners
>  * Minimizing the organisation's exposure and risk
>  * Ensuring project documents are complete, current, and stored appropriately
>  * Communicating project progress to the OKF community and wider public
>  * Tracking and reporting team hours and expenses and managing project budget
>
> *Maintaining an overview of all live projects where the OKF has direct
> funding from partners and institutions
>   * Liaising with project managers, keeping track of delivery
> schedules, cashflow etc and in general making sure the organisation's
> exposure to risk is minimised
>
> *Reporting quarterly to Board of Directors
>  * Liaising with the Chair's administrative assistant and the
> Treasurer to prepare management accounts
>  * Liaising with general counsel to flag potential legal issues
>  * Working with the Coordination Committee Chair to prepare overview
> report of network activities.
>
> * Using overview of organisational activities to participate in
> Coordination Committee meetings, a weekly forum for all projects
> (funded and unfunded) to develop the direction of the OKF's work:
>  * Spotting opportunities for different project groups to work
> together, or to learn from each other's experiences
>  * Highlighting and eliminating process duplication
>  * Working with Committee Chair to review ongoing development of
> Coordination Committee as a networked self-governing body.
>
> *Contributing in an ad-hoc fashion to other organisational activities,
> for example:
>  * OKCon, the OKF's annual Spring conference
>  * Fundraising
>
> For the right candidate, the job offers the opportunity to work in a
> growing, networked organisation with people who are leaders in their
> respective fields and passionate about the organisation's mission. The
> project coordinator is a new position, created in response to the
> dramatic success of the OKF over the last year. In this sense, the
> role is ripe for development, and the successful candidate will have a
> considerable stake in defining it. The project coordinator will be
> joining the OKF at a crucial time in its development, and will be
> expected to hit the ground running.
>
> OKF is and intends to remain a virtual organisation, with no physical
> location/offices. As project coordinator, you would therefore be
> expected to execute your duties remotely, and the Board is looking in
> particular for examples which show that you are a self-starter.
>
> The Project Coordinator will report directly to the Board at quarterly
> Board meetings, and will be expected to be in regular contact with the
> Coordination Committee chairman, General Counsel, Treasurer, and Chair
> of the Board. Two other paid staff members, the Chair's administrative
> assistant, and the Community Coordinator, should also be regular
> contact points. Much of the work required of the project coordinator
> is currently being handled by the Chair, and so the successful
> candidate will be expected to work closely with the Chair in the first
> few months after gaining the position to ensure a successful handover.
>
> The role is permanent and full time, with a three month probationary
> period and the opportunity to review the contract after one year.
> Salary £x?
>
> The successful candidate will have the following skills:
>
> *Understanding of and passion for the mission of the Open Knowledge Foundation
> *Self-motivated, ability to work remotely
> *Comfortable in a volunteer-centred, consensus-driven, experimental environment
> *Proven track record in efficient project management, preferably in a
> technical setting
> *Ability to work with a variety of people from all areas of life:
> government, NGO sector, coders, designers, academics, volunteers
> *Experience managing budgets
> *Experience preparing management accounts
> *Some fundraising skills desirable, both in academic and grant-giving
> foundation context
>
> To apply, please send a CV and covering letter to
> project-coordinator at okfn.org by 30 September. Interview will be
> conducted in Cambridge/London in the week beginning 11 October.
>
> //ends
>