Location: Austin, TX
Job Id: 305
# of Openings: 1
The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation ( 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 $2.3 billion to global children’s issues and community initiatives to accelerate opportunity for families. The foundation will soon be expanding its work into Israel.
The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation currently has a new Portfolio Director (on the Management Committee) position open, reporting to the Senior Director, U.S. Programs. This role requires that the person is based in Austin, TX. We are seeking an individual with a strong business mindset who can see opportunity and work collaboratively with non-profit and private agencies, businesses, social entrepreneurs, government entities, and other implementation partners to design, lead and sustain projects and programs that achieve results for disadvantaged children, youth, and families.
What will you do?
- Portfolio Development & Strategy: Define portfolio investment and giving strategy to drive outsized impact in the Foundation’s work. Proactively lead projects with existing and new grantees, as well as mission-aligned entities and related stakeholders to continue to ensure the success of MSDF grants and investments. Make recommendations to the relevant portfolio peers and leadership about the design, development, and scale of new models and practices that deepen impact and create opportunities to ensure more effective allocation of public and private resources. Act as a decision-making member of the U.S. Management Committee in determining national funding strategy, setting aggressive impact targets, and getting projects ready for board review and approval.
- Actively Manage Programs and Program Outcomes: Lead project management activities that deliver measurable (and sustainable) positive impact on children, youth, and families through various interventions, work closely with investees and grantees to unlock value and support the growth of these organizations in key operational areas, and facilitate the overall program implementation with a fanatical eye for detail.
- Strategic Partnership Management: Lead idea generation and collaboration with partners to develop new innovations that further the Foundation’s strategies. Manage relationships with grantees and partners to ensure timely and regular engagement by setting rigorous agendas for partner meetings, documenting progress and lessons learned, and providing analytical assessments to elevate opportunities for adaptive management and course correction.
- Portfolio Assessment and Knowledge Management: Lead rigorous appraisals of foundation-supported projects, driving active projects for maximum success and make hard choices to move away from ineffective initiatives, as appropriate. Make active use of funded project results and external third-party evaluation data to drive internal decision-making. Synthesize key findings and drive adoption of lessons learned within the Foundation and beyond.
- Communications & People Management: Communicate with leadership and peers regarding project development, connect with the internal Communications team on opportunities to elevate partners’ work, and represent the Foundation on working groups, committees, and external events or conferences. Manage Program Officers and Program Managers (both those directly managed and those whose work is overseen) to cultivate their skills in actively managing foundation investments, cultivating impactful relationships with our partners, and honing leadership skills to advance in the organization.
Education / Experience you will need to be successful in this role:
A mission aligned individual with a Bachelor’s degree, minimum of 10 years of experience leading/managing complex, integrated projects with clear, demonstrated outcomes & impact measures. Master’s degree preferred. Management experience required.
Must have experience in strategy, management consulting, investment management, operations management, or project management. An ideal candidate will bring a track record of delivering measurable outcomes in ambiguous and challenging contexts.
The ability to think strategically and conceptually using strong analytical skills to identify and implement solutions to address complex business or societal problems, and then to effectively influence a wide cross-section of people. A willingness to do whatever it takes to get the job done and be impact focused. Highly developed organizational and prioritization skills will underline the ability to work in a fast-paced environment.
The successful candidate will possess the following skills and traits:
- A true curiosity and commitment to finding more effective ways to offer underserved children and families pathways out of poverty; a willingness and desire to engage fully in the challenges of this work and to communicate its lessons, successes, and conclusions.
- Exceptional leadership/management (team building) skills, including experience as an effective people manager.
- Strong business mindset and rigorous approach to work. Drive to create/initiate new initiatives.
- Strong “end-product” orientation and results orientation.
- Outstanding mastery of the details of projects and initiatives.
- Ability to conceptualize and put our mission into practice via an analytical, fact-based approach to problem solving and implementation.
- Learn quickly and connect learning to ongoing program and portfolio conversations.
- Skilled in using data and technology applications to improve outcomes for children and families.
- A degree of personal organization and results-orientation that would allow success in a quantitative, outcomes-oriented environment and a proven ability to exercise sound judgment and work independently on complex initiatives.
- Ability to project manage external partners and vendors, as well as foster internal and external stakeholder relationships.
- Ability to demonstrate inclusiveness, collaboration, and respect across organizational interests.
- An ability to dive into the details of a project when needed yet synthesize learnings to shape the overall strategy of our work.
- A demonstrated ability to influence from the outside and achieve results regardless of whether you are the direct leader of the work.
- Excellent oral and written communication skills with an emphasis on netting out complex situations to meet the understanding of a wide range of stakeholders, especially Foundation’s senior leadership.
- Embody the highest levels of stewardship and ethical leadership in administering the foundation’s resources.
- Agile and thoughtful while adapting to shifting priorities potentially at a rapid pace – comfortable dealing with the ambiguity inherent in the work.
- Humility and an ability to empathize with partners and stakeholders.
- Mastery of Microsoft Office suite, including the ability to perform advanced analytics in Excel and create articulate presentations in PowerPoint.
Travel requirements: 30% domestic travel.
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.
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