Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation (www.dell.org) is dedicated to transforming the lives of children living in urban poverty around the world. With offices in Austin, TX, New Delhi, India, and Cape Town, South Africa, the Dell Foundation funds programs that foster high-quality public education and childhood health and improve the economic stability of the families we serve. To date, the foundation has committed over $2.4 billion to global children’s issues and community initiatives to accelerate opportunity for families. The foundation is expanding its work into Israel.
Current Opportunity: Managing Director, U.S. – Austin, TX
Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, the Managing Director, U.S is responsible for bringing strategic leadership, operational execution, and management expertise to our U.S. programs team and its initiatives. This role requires that the person is based in Austin, TX. Key responsibilities include:
Develop and lead US strategy (25%)
- Define the foundation’s US investment and giving strategy across education, healthcare, and jobs to maximize economic impact and ROI
- Identify market-based solutions that have a viable path to scale impact without long term reliance on philanthropy; enabling greater leverage on our investments
- Continuously evaluate and evolve the strategy based on foundation learnings and market trends
- Effectively communicate the foundation’s US priorities to the organization, founders / board, partners, and grantees
Drive operational excellence (40%)
- Manage and optimize $100 million in annual US investments and giving; ensuring investments are aligned to programmatic priorities and maximize economic impact
- Optimize use of various financial instruments to enhance outcomes; e.g., grants, equity investments, concessionary loans, guarantees, etc.
- Define KPIs for priority sectors and create management tools & dashboards to evaluate progress
- Regularly measure and analyze partner initiatives’ efficacy to identify improvements and inform future initiatives and investments
- Enhance partner/ grantee management efforts to augment outcomes and impact
Team leadership and management
- Provide overall foundation leadership as a key member of the Senior Leadership Team; collaborating with other geographic and functional leaders to achieve foundation priorities
- Manage 40 person team including US programs, scholarships, and Ed-Fi Alliance team members; ensuring a strong, collaborative team culture
- Mentor, coach, and develop team members; elevate problem solving and business acumen
- Act as a key problem solving and thought partner for the US team, partners, and grantees; help identify solutions to address target demographic needs and have a viable path to scale
Qualifications:
- Education: A bachelor's degree in business, finance, or an otherwise applicable field is required, while a master's degree (e.g., MBA) is highly desirable.
- Experience: 15 years in strategic planning and leadership roles, with a track record of assessing markets/opportunities, developing, and executing successful strategic plans. Commercial experience desired. Operational/P&L experience desired. Specific experience in M&A or investing (from a strategic rather than financial perspective) is also helpful.
- Analytical Skills: Strong analytical and problem-solving skills to assess data and information for decision-making.
- Leadership Skills: Proven leadership and team management abilities. Cross-functional collaboration is critically important. Global experience in leading and collaborating needed.
- Communication: Exceptional verbal and written communication skills for effectively conveying complex strategic concepts and building alignment.
- Change Management: Expertise in guiding organizations through periods of change and transformation and otherwise inspiring ability to operate with imperfect information or other uncertainty.
- Innovative Thinking: A proactive and innovative mindset to identify opportunities for growth and improvement.
- Strategic Vision: The ability to think long-term, set ambitious goals, and guide the organization toward a clear and compelling vision.
The person in this role will bring a strong business mindset as well as execution discipline to philanthropy while fostering a collaborative approach across both functional leaders and program leaders. Furthering a data driven approach to our planning and decision-making processes will be critical for success. There is an expectation for both strategy development and hands-on execution/implementation work in all areas.
About the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
We are a diverse team with unique perspectives. We are united in our mission, our purpose, and our culture. We are driven by our ambition to identify, build, and enhance opportunities for the people we serve, and we are unwavering in our commitment to trust and uplift one another. The foundation is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. We are committed to building a team and workplace that is enhanced by the breadth, depth, diversity, and capabilities of our teammates.
The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation has adopted a hybrid working model combining in-office and virtual work.