Overview of Watson Institute

Watson Institute is a place where next generation entrepreneurs and leaders can find their community, discover their calling, and accelerate their careers.

Watson Institute powers Career and Venture Accelerator programs for partners including Ford, Western Union, Truist, Bank of the West/BNP Paribas, and several private foundations that are impacting over 1,800 entrepreneurial leaders this year. The Fellowship programs include award-winning training, seed funding, committed mentorship, and a vast network of resources.

97% of Watson Institute alums are employed (including by Amazon, Tesla, Microsoft, fortune 500 companies, and innovative startups), continuing their education, or building a venture. Even leading business schools are at 93% for the same metric.

Alumni of Watson Institute’s Venture Accelerators have raised over $175 million, created over 1, 500 part or full-time jobs, and impacted 5 million people around the world through initiatives they help lead. Watson Institute’s Alumni have been selected to Y Combinator, the Echoing Green Fellowship and six have been named to Forbes’ 30 under 30 lists. Alums continue their education at Harvard University, New York University, and Princeton University, among others.

Talent & Finance Manager – Mission Statement

The mission of the Talent & Finance Manager is to design and lead the hiring strategy and process for the organization. This individual will also be responsible for tracking comprehensive program budgets and financial management systems for each program.

Talent & Finance Manager – Role

Hiring (50% of their time)

The Talent & Finance Manager is responsible for sourcing, attracting, and recruiting qualified candidates for various org-wide positions. These duties include but are not limited to:

• Developing a search strategy to recruit top talent org-wide. This should include outreach to our partners, posting on job boards, networking, developing newsletters, and social media buzz. This strategy should be a long-term system for our hiring to become efficient and effective.
• Designing job descriptions for all new (and existing positions when applicable).
• Generating a strong pool of talent and qualified applicants for each hiring process.
• Lead and enhance our internal hiring process. This includes revamping our internal ‘Hiring Plan’ checklist.
• Develop and implement a system that specifies relevant team members' roles in the hiring and decision making process.
• Coordinate and execute on hiring timelines for each hiring process.
• Review and evaluate applicants during each phase of the hiring process.
• Managing our internal recruitment software, Workable.
• Managing the Careers Page on the Watson Institute website.

Employee Onboarding & Offboarding (15% of their time)

The Talent & Finance Manager is responsible for leading the onboarding and offboarding process for all Watson Institute Team members. These duties include but are not limited to:

• Developing and leading onboarding plans with each new team member to ensure they feel supported and well-trained for success in their role.
• Build out Gmail, Google Calendar, and Slack for all new team members before onboarding.
• Ensure that each team member is added to our Team Drive and the Team page on our website.
• Order business cards for all new and existing team members.
• Developing and leading offboarding plans for exiting employees to ensure they have the proper resources for a healthy exit.
• Lead exit interviews to gather feedback.
• Deactivating access rights and passwords.

People Operations Support (10% of their time)

The Talent & Finance Manager supports People Operations efforts within Watson Institute. These duties include but are not limited to:

• Lead the visa/green card process for non-US-citizen employees.
• Maintain a database of expiration/renewal dates for employee visas.
• Be informed and keep up to date with United States immigration laws.
• Lead communication with contracted immigration attorneys.
• Updating and distributing our Annual Employee Handbook.
• Supporting the Director of Operations, ensuring that all employee Performance Reviews are implemented org-wide annually.
• Supporting and improving our recognition culture that helps team members feel appreciated for their efforts.

Financial Systems and Budgets (25% of their role)

The Talent & Finance Manager is responsible for implementing effective financial tracking systems and designing Program budgets. These duties include but are not limited to:

• Managing budgets for existing and new programs running at Watson Institute. This includes managing the budget for Watson Institute’s #SuperSearch Team.
• Creating a new tracking system for program budgets and tagging system for program and search specific expenses.
• Work alongside the Programs and Search Managers to ensure a successful implementation of each budget.
• Ensure that each Program and Search Manager receives a finalized budget prior to recruitment and design process (this is prior to the program implementation).
• Review budget vs. actual for each program and act on any discrepancies.
• Lead communications with Watson Institute’s accountants.
• Outreach to employees for missing credit card receipts.
• Managing expense management software, Expensify.
• Creating Expensify line items to match program budgets.
• Updating Expensify line items to match org-wide budget.
• Oversee the transfer of stipends to global Fellows.
• Ordering credit cards for the Team.
• Research effective platforms for distributing funds globally.

New responsibilities may develop as the Talent & Finance Manager position evolves.*

Requirements

Cultural Add

To thrive as a Talent & Finance Manager at Watson Institute, a candidate must:

• Eager to join a team with high standards for quality and excellence.
• An exceptional eye for detail. You enjoy spending time with words, style, and formatting in order to make the most compelling product possible.
• Detail Oriented: You are meticulous and have excellent organizational skills. You are especially attuned to spotting mistakes or inconsistencies in writing and external communications. You take pride in completing your work accurately and on schedule. You have a knack for project management and a love for work plans and checklists. You cringe at missed steps and you are the first to identify a typo or formatting error.
• Intentional: Your working style is about creating order and planning ahead. You think systematically and excel at establishing elegant processes.
• Results-Driven: You bring an eagerness to grow and to roll up your sleeves and contribute. You have a go-getter attitude and a drive to solve all sorts of problems, no matter the size or shape. When something is your responsibility, you find a way to see it through to the end.
• High Integrity: You will be asked to make sensitive and critical judgment calls, and as such, you are known for your integrity and you take that reputation seriously. You always choose to make the right decision versus the easy decision. You know what information is sensitive, and you will protect it accordingly. You are comfortable escalating issues and holding your ground when you think it’s the right thing to do for the organization and mission.
• Systems-minded: Demonstrated experience in building and implementing systems. You are comfortable designing, testing, improving, and smoothly running systems and processes. This could be any system that involved inputs from or served multiple people and required consistent and accurate functioning.
• Communication Style: Based on a story from Watson Institute’s early days, ‘Come to the Window’ represents the principles of our communication including:
  • Obligation to Dissent: If someone on our team disagrees with a decision or our direction as an organization, our team encourages disagreement and brings attention to challenges because true leaders believe dissent is an obligation.
  • Disagree and Commit: To complement Obligation to Dissent, there are times when we need to Disagree and Commit. Once all concerns and criticisms are shared, the course of action must be committed to by all involved.
  • No Drama: We prioritize purpose and don’t involve ourselves in the drama created by backroom chatter, hearsay, and unnecessary focus on issues that do not place impact first.
  • Go to the Source: Our culture is defined by direct, honest, and frequent communication. We expect team members to ‘go to the source’ of concerns by speaking up, communicating frequently, and taking issues directly to the individuals involved.

Candidate Profile

Top candidates should demonstrate:

• A deep-seated passion for building community and Watson Institute’s mission to develop innovators, leaders, and entrepreneurs to solve the toughest challenges facing the world.
• A natural inclination to build relationships and partnerships in the local community in order to strengthen Watson Institute’s presence.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Strong analytical skills.
• Mandatory skills: Excel mastery, email wizardry, rapid follow-up, and data analysis.
• Exceptional interpersonal skills and ethical mindset.
• Experience in sourcing and interviewing top talent.
• 2-5 years of finance and/or people operations experience.

Benefits

Benefits

• Competitive compensation according to experience: $60,000.00-$80,000.00.
• Annual Happiness Fund that increases with time and seniority.
• Unlimited vacations (3 weeks required vacation time per year).
• Monthly health insurance stipend.
• Automatic 3% contribution to your retirement account.

The Vitals

• The Talent & Finance Manager is a full-time position and reports to the Director of Operations.
• The Talent & Finance Manager position can work remotely, but should be based in the Boulder/Denver, CO, South Florida, or Pennsylvania areas.
• The start date for this position is July 3, 2023 (with a goal for the start to begin as soon as possible).