Senior Assistant, Policy & Innovation

Location: San Francisco, CA Department: Community Impact Type: Regular, Full-Time, Non-Exempt, Min. Experience: Mid-level

The hourly compensation for this full-time position in FY26 is: $48.71/hr.

Organizational Result:

All people living in the San Francisco Bay Area are economically secure, rooted in vibrant communities and engaged in civic life.

We Value:

Anti-racism, Boldness, Equity, Racial Justice, and being Rooted in Community

The following sections are designed based on the Results Based Leadership for Racial Equity Framework that the Foundation uses to accomplish our work. As a learning organization, we expect staff to incorporate learning into their core work and the tasks related to the functional position. All staff should expect to devote time to learning activities related to our values and skillset development. People managers should expect to spend a significant amount of time coaching, developing, and managing people with the balance of the time for all staff spent on relationship building internally and externally and achievement of outcome goals of role and foundation.

Position Summary:

The Senior Assistant provides overall administrative, operational, process, and ad hoc support for the Policy and Innovation Division within the Foundation’s Community Impact Department. The Senior Assistant is responsible for assisting staff with semi-routine and complex administrative or functional activities, including: drafting correspondence, calendaring, project management, note taking, invoice processing, data management, budget management, organizing events and ensuring overall efficiency of departmental operations. The Senior Assistant will support the planning and details for external partner and team events.

Boundaries

The Senior Assistant provides overall administrative, operational, process, and ad hoc support for the Policy and Innovation Division of the foundation. The Policy & Innovation Division is focused on solving the Bay Area region’s housing affordability challenges, supporting partners to leverage tech solutions for social purpose, and advancing the foundation’s overall policy capacity. The Policy & Innovation Division supports the foundation’s mission by advocating for racial equity and socioeconomic inclusion policies through grantmaking, convening, and leadership.

Authority

The Senior Assistant oversees overall administrative, operational, process, and ad hoc support for the Policy & Innovation Division. The role regularly engages other teams within the Community Impact Department. The role also engages regualary with Marketing and Communications, Finance, and the Philanthropy and Gift Planning Departments.

Role

• Scheduling meetings and convenings for the Vice President of Policy and Innovation (VPPI), the Senior Director of Bay Area Housing, and the Director State Policy & Advocacy, and broader team with internal and external meetings, working group meetings, and team/division meetings
• Administrative support with payment and expense processing, note taking, technical support, sending acknowledgement letters, communications, etc.
• Supporting team’s grantmaking with scheduling, documentation, technical support, grants analysis, grantee support, planning and support for the P&I division’s events and convenings
• Ad hoc support at the direction of the VPPI, including strategic planning and implementation, impact planning, intern/fellow and project management, graphic design, etc.

Tasks

• Schedules meetings and convenings for the Vice President of Policy and Innovation and the Policy and Innovation team.
• Assists the Program Associate with planning meetings, convening, division retreats, etc., (planning, materials, note taking, food, and technical support).
• Processes team expenses, payments, and reimbursements.
• Processes and sends acknowledgement letters.
• Data management support (impact data) - Salesforce
• Sends communications at the direction of the VPPI.
• Assists VPPI and broader team’s grantmaking (scheduling, documentation, technical support, grants analysis, grantee support)
• Assists with projects on an ad hoc basis, including strategic planning and implementation, impact planning, intern/fellowships, project management, graphic design, etc.
• Works with Program Associate to manage information flows, and scheduling, internally at the foundation and with external partners/audiences.

Competencies & Qualifications

• 3+ years of relevant experience
• Strong communication skills – written, verbal and visual
• Detail oriented with strong follow through
• Tech savvy, ability to learn and navigate new technology, applications, platforms, and systems for communication, project management, grants management, budgeting, and customer relationship management amongst others.
• Ability to work independently, proactively, and in ambiguous situations.
• Ability to stay organized and manage multiple priorities and workstreams at a time.
• Strong interpersonal and relationship building skills and customer service mindset.
• Experience in community engagement or organizing preferred.
• Knowledge of basic finance and accounting
• Intermediate to advanced computer/software skills, including Microsoft 365 (Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, & Teams) and Zoom.
• Ability to learn, navigate and manage online platforms, including Fluxx, Qlik sense, grant making and CRM systems, Smartsheet, and Salesforce

We are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role, but your past experience doesn’t align exactly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Compensation: The San Francisco Foundation offers a very competitive total compensation package including base compensation in alignment with our organizational budget size and rich medical and fringe benefits offerings. This position pays $48.71/hr per hour. You may read more about our compensation philosophy and benefits on the career page.

Remote Work Policy: The Foundation has adopted a long-term hybrid in-person and remote work policy. Dedicated to its employee health and safety, The Foundation will continue to make decisions in accordance with San Francisco County and California mandates. Employees must reside or plan to relocate to California if hired.

Requesting Accommodations: The Foundation is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, The Foundation will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact hr@sff.org.

The San Francisco Foundation is an equal opportunity employer and encourages people of diverse backgrounds to apply.