Executive Administrator (contract; 20 hours per week, to start)
The Tor Project, Inc. ("Tor") is accepting applications for an Executive Administrator! This new role is designed to improve processes and drive execution as the hub of our diverse and driven global community. Tor has dramatically expanded the software products and services that it provides since it became a non-profit organization in 2006, and the executive team needs help in coordinating efforts to efficiently support and scale its operations.
Reporting to a small executive management team, the Executive Administrator's primary focus is to promote organizational effectiveness by improving core administrative and managerial processes, systems and functions. We seek an intuitive problem solver who is able to tailor organizational responses to the diverse needs of our global community. We seek a problem solver who will improve the flow of information within the leadership team and among those it serves, including end users, volunteers, contractors, employees, the Board of Directors, funders and the greater community.
Responsibilities include performing a wide variety of complex and confidential tasks, including:
- Perform day-to-day administrative tasks as directed by the executive team.
- Maintain calendar, schedule meetings and appointments, and make necessary travel arrangements; manage the business calendar for the Executive Director and 5-6 team members.
- Establish and maintain office files and company documents, both physically and virtually; make recommendations for better information management practices and tools in a free and open source software environment.
- Assist the Executive Director in managing, re-directing, prioritizing and responding to large volumes of email and other correspondence.
- Screen and respond to a variety of routine inquiries by developing knowledge and understanding of the organization, projects and procedures related to the work of the Executive Director and Tor. Coordinate future responses to recurring issues/requests.
- Prepare meeting materials, formalize agendas, and record and share minutes to promote exchange of actionable information and timely decision-making.
- Translate executive level direction into working level operations, ensuring roadmap and plans are successfully implemented.
- Establish and build relationships with key stakeholders inside and outside the community.
- Serve as liaison with finance and accounting on diverse issues, including contract management, project planning and budgeting, report writing, expense management, external funding, event planning and human resources paperwork.
- Coordinate with Tor's Project Manager and team leaders in supporting needs and objectives of diverse developers and teams.
- Identify and articulate a daily and weekly leadership agenda of macro tasks, clearly defining milestones and deliverables with deadlines. Continuously seek out a mutual understanding from executive management regarding how to resolve.
- Other tasks as mutually identified, and as assigned.
Qualifications
- Shares the non-profit, free and open software culture, as well as Tor's privacy values within a security environment.
- Strong project management skills plus ability to broadly support managers, including experience with facilitating communications, scheduling, information management, human resources and accounting.
- Accessible and engaging with diverse global community. Capable of moderating among diverse communication styles, from less formal developers to more formal Board and funder communications.
- Knowledge of office and communication practices and procedures, especially within the non-profit and/or open source community. Comfort level with common open source and encrypted communication technology strongly preferred.
- Experience with the advanced features of email and chat clients, spreadsheets, calendars, shared documents, etc., especially in a security-focused, open source environment.
- Ability to act on own initiative to identify needs and to enhance Tor's overall administrative/management functioning.
- Exceptional communication skills, sophisticated understanding of professional standards, practices and relations. Knowledge of correct English usage, knowledge of other language(s) prevalent within the community is preferred.
- Willingness to learn how to interact with journalists interested in covering Tor and its work.
- Experience within non-profit organizations preferred, as is experience within free and open source software communities.
- High levels of integrity, autonomy, self-motivation, diplomacy, humor, common sense and attention to detail.
- Ability to work in a fast-paced, fluid and often ambiguous environment.
- Background check required.
About the role:
This position will be based in Tor's offices in Cambridge, MA. Initially, we anticipate the need for 20-24 hours per week during flex business hours in Cambridge, with the potential for increasing the number of hours, some of which may be off-site. We coordinate our global community via IRC, instant messaging, email, phone and video chats, and TRAC, as well as bi-annual meetings.
We only write free and open source software, and we don't believe in software patents.
How to apply:
- Provide a CV explaining your background, experience, skills, and other relevant qualifications.
- Include a cover letter that describes how your skills and background qualify you to meet the challenges of this role for this unique organization. Please supply a writing sample (blog post, article, etc.).
- Provide at least three references who can tell us more about you.
- Email the above to jobs @ torproject.org, specifying the "Executive Administrator" position.
About the company:
The Tor Project is a US 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to research, development, and education about online anonymity and privacy. The Tor network's 6000 volunteer relays carry 48 Gbps for several million daily users, including ordinary citizens who want protection from identity theft and prying corporations, corporations who want to look at a competitor's website in private, people around the world whose Internet connections are censored, and even governments and law enforcement. Tor has a staff of 30 paid developers, researchers, and advocates, plus many dozen volunteers who help out on a daily basis. Tor is funded in part by government research and development grants, and in part by individual and corporate donations.