[foundation-board] Revised project coordinator job description

Wed Sep 22 10:58:32 UTC 2010

Hi peeps

Following on from last week's Board meeting, I've revised the project
coordinator job description.

Text below and at
http://wiki.okfn.org/coord/Project_Coordinator_Job_Description. Headline
changes as follows:

1) the main project coordinator tasks are now described and the role is
characterised as part time, 2 days a week, on a fixed term contract of 12
months.

2) additional project management opportunities are described as such and
offered to the right candidate on a day-rate basis as they come up. Ditto
"ad hoc contributions to other OKF activities" like fundraising and helping
out at OKCon.

3) Salary is not specified and instead described as "Generous compensation
commensurate with experience."

Subject to your approval, I'd like to get this out there.

Beyond approval, I'd like:

1) Advice on where to post this so that as many of the OKF network as
possible will get a look at it, and if appropriate where else to post.

2) Advice on who to ask to get a project-coordinator at okfn.org email address
directed to my inbox.

Cheers

Becky

Begin job description//

*About the OKF
*
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:

   - 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:
      - Helping to spot 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.

*Terms*
The role is part time (roughly 2 days per week, or up to 10 days per month),
offered initially on a fixed term contract of 12 months. However, the Board
anticipates further opportunities for the right candidate to get involved
with the work of OKF on a day-rate basis, for example:

   - Undertaking direct project management on several ongoing legal,
   technical and design projects where the OKF has direct funding from partners
   and institutions:
      - 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
   - Contributing in an ad-hoc fashion to other organisational activities,
   for example:
      - OKCon, the OKF's annual Spring conference
      - Fundraising

*Salary*
Generous compensation commensurate with experience.

*Skills*
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 to the Board at quarterly 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 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 Date A. Interview will be conducted in
Cambridge/London in the week beginning Date B.

//ends
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