Position Overview: Director of Operations Maine Environmental Education Association (MEEA)

The Director of Operations (DO) is a full-time (on average 36 hours per week) salaried non-exempt position. The DO works closely with the Executive Director to implement strategic goals and oversee daily organizational functions. They are responsible for maintaining organizational systems, including financial tracking, grant spending, donor management, and inter-platform communications. The DO also shares responsibility with the Executive Director and applicable staff members for drafting and editing grant applications. They are responsible for managing grant funds, and ensuring grant reporting requirements are fulfilled.

Commitment

MEEA is a diverse, inclusive, and equitable organization where we strive to ensure all employees, volunteers, and members — whatever their gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, age, sexual orientation or identity, education or disability — feel valued and respected. We are committed to a nondiscriminatory approach and provide equal employment and advancement opportunities in all of our programs. We respect and value diverse life experiences and perspectives and work to ensure that all voices are valued and heard.

MEEA utilizes a modular pay equity approach that factors in a base wage (based upon an assessed living wage for southern Maine), the position’s responsibilities, and an individual’s lived and professional experience. The pay equity calculator will be shared with applicants during the interview process.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

• Financial Management and Budgeting - Using Quickbooks and Airtable to maintain accurate and up-to-date financial records for the organization and programmatic areas.  Meet with MEEA’s bookkeeper and Executive Director to reconcile financial records. Work with the Executive Director and Board Treasurer to deliver reports to the board of directors and develop organizational and programmatic budgets.
• Internal Organizational Development - Collaborating with MEEA staff and board to develop equitable policies and procedures using integrative consent-based processes. Creating documentation of data flows and organizational procedures to improve retention, organizational memory, and staff comprehension.
• HR and Hiring - Facilitating hiring processes and working directly with hiring managers to carry out transparent, equitable, and compliant hiring processes. This position shares decision-making with the ED regarding staff budgeting and working with MEEA staff to conduct annual reviews. Assisting in onboarding new staff and in the hiring of contractors for programmatic needs.  Mediating and assisting in conflict transformation alongside the Executive Director.  Working with MEEA staff and board to continue building practices that create a human-centered, equitable, and inclusive organization. Management of employee benefits, including health insurance enrollment and retirement.
• Tax and Legal Compliance - Working with the Executive Director to file state and federal reports, coordinating with payroll providers to resolve tax issues if they occur, ensuring compliance with labor and 501(c)3 regulations, and working with MEEA’s accountant to file annual tax reports.
• Organizational Culture - Coordinating and planning staff culture-building events like staff retreats and staff meetings, and offering support to the MEEA board on planning and facilitating board retreats.
• Development & Donor Management- Assessing and creating revenue avenues through donor relations with the Executive Director; and tracking and tending to donor engagement.
• Grant Writing and Management - Researching and applying for grants with other members of the MEEA staff, tracking grant application and award progress including grant research, application drafting and editing, filing agreements, allocating expenses to grant awards, and ensuring submission of grant reporting materials.
• Programmatic Collaboration - Co-coordinate with the Executive Director and other staff for the ongoing development of a regional collaborative for environmental education with partners in the North American Association for Environmental Education and through the Northeast region.
• Event Support - Provide on-the-ground operational support during MEEA events, managing supplies and coordinating with other staff members.

Decision-Making

MEEA is on an evolving journey of shared leadership and integrative consent-based decision-making. This position will be part of the ongoing development of equitable leadership structures. This position exercises a high level of independent judgment and decision-making. The position often makes organizational-level decisions in collaboration with MEEA Staff and Board.

Supervision

This position reports to the Executive Director and requires collaboration and reporting to other staff members based on project management. This position does not exercise any supervision responsibilities.

Benefits

• MEEA offers paid annual leave of 20 days per year and up to 12 days of sick and temporary disability leave. MEEA also provides an additional two weeks each year for all employees when the office is closed. These rest weeks are between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day and the first week of July.
• MEEA offers 100% health care coverage for the employee through our health insurance with Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield.
• MEEA offers a $50 per month cash benefit to offset the cost of home wifi and technology for a remote work setting.
• MEEA makes quarterly contributions of $350/quarter ($1,400 annually) to employee retirement accounts through a Simple IRA account starting 12 months after their date of hire.
• Employee Development - MEEA allocates a minimum of $500 per employee per year to support employee professional development through workshops, conferences, and other learning opportunities.

Qualifications & Skills

• 2-3 years of professional experience in an operational, HR, or administrative role OR a bachelor's degree in environmental studies/science, computer sciences, business, or accounting.
• Strong data management skills, preferably Airtable (or similar spreadsheet-based applications) and process automation (using tools like Zapier).
• Data management and data infrastructure design, including automations and software linking.
• Financial management experience in Quickbooks
• Relationship and conflict management skills for supervision and employee culture
• Willingness and enthusiasm for developing and utilizing equitable decision-making structures
• A strong understanding and/or willingness to learn and continue the dialogue around the history of race and racism in America and how that history has led to the racial disparities experienced by Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC community members) in the environmental movement.
• Demonstrated commitment to understanding, communicating with, and effectively interacting with people across cultures.
• Robust equity lens - The candidate has been actively working to advance equity in their community and past organizations.
• Highly organized, able to work virtually in teams reliably, and has a track record of project management experience.

Some of these skills can be learned and acquired during initial job training. MEEA can train these skills if the candidate is a strong fit.

Optional or Preferred Experience:

• Proficiency in R
• UX Design Experience
• HTML and CSS to support as-needed Squarespace website updates
• Data Automation
• Accounting Experience
• Organizational Development Experience
• Facilitation and Education for DEIJ Topics
• Grant and Philanthropic Donations Management Experience

Special Demands

• Monthly travel required to locations within Maine for staff and organizational events. Infrequent travel is required for conferences regionally and nationally (approximately once a year). MEEA provides mileage reimbursement at the current federal reimbursement rate for work-related travel.
• Some weekend availability is required for organizational events. Staff typically take time off during the week following to compensate for hours worked on the weekend.
• An ideal candidate should be comfortable working virtually, as most of MEEA’s work is conducted virtually. All MEEA staff have access to a shared office in downtown Portland. The candidate must be in-person in the office in Portland, Maine, approximately one day a week.
• This position deals with confidential documentation and information, particularly regarding financial information, personal employee information, and hiring processes.
• The Director of Operations can sometimes serve as an on-call resource for software and technical support or urgent scheduling issues.
• The Director of Operations has access to all financial platforms, including bank information, Quickbooks, HR files, and organizational filings.

Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. MEEA is an equal-opportunity employer and is committed to ensuring an equitable and inclusive work environment. If you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. People of color, LGBTQIA+ individuals, people with disabilities, and people with other marginalized identities are strongly encouraged to apply.