Departmental Overview

CEGA is a hub for research on global development, headquartered at the University of California, Berkeley. CEGA’s large, interdisciplinary network—including a growing number of scholars from low and middle-income countries (LMICs)—identifies and tests innovations designed to reduce poverty and promote development. CEGA researchers use rigorous evaluations, tools from data science, and new measurement technologies to assess the impacts of large-scale social and economic development programs. Through careful matchmaking, competitive grant-making, and integrated research dissemination and policy engagement activities, CEGA ensures that the scientific evidence we produce improves the lives of people living in poverty.

The generalist operations team maintains essential functions at CEGA providing critical support to our staff in an effort to boost overall organizational productivity. Reporting to the Director of Operations, the Associate executes and advises others on procurements, vendoring, and customer service relationships and helps to cultivate a culture of workplace safety, camaraderie, and fun. You will lead general office management activities including coordinating space use/planning, ergonomics, IT, software, and equipment maintenance. The Associate will also support and implement CEGA’s talent management strategy, including support for recruitment, diversity, student services, and onboarding. You will work closely with campus People and Culture (HR) to ensure CEGA’s adherence to campus policies and processes and will develop internal process improvements, guidelines and information resources; support organizational learning; and promote staff productivity. We think this role might be a great fit for someone interested in gaining a big-picture view of the operations work required to run an effective organization.

Note on location: We are headquartered at the University of California, Berkeley. This position requires regular in-person presence and is expected to work under a hybrid remote/on-site model.

Key Responsibilities

Operations and Office Management

The Associate is CEGA’s office manager and contributes to overall center operations through implementation of long/short-term space planning, IT and equipment coordination, budgeting, payments, and procurement.

• Implement and oversee center-wide supply/equipment procurement and maintenance, including development of guidance and process improvements for purchasing by other staff.
• Serve as a center-wide resource on vendoring, procurements, payments, customer service, and related administrative activities, and provide guidance materials for and mentoring to all staff.
• Liaise with campus IT and ergonomic services to ensure that all staff have secure, operational, modern equipment.
• Evaluate space use and propose short/long-term space use strategies and improvements, including activities and investments to promote workplace safety and productivity.
• Lead center-wide scheduling and calendar management (e.g. weekly staff meetings, team meetings, conference room bookings, interviews, etc.).
• Contribute to CEGA-wide activities, including internal working groups, process documentation and repository maintenance, and major events.

People and Culture

The Associate serves as the Center’s internal coordinator and advocate for human resources:

• Serve as primary liaison to Berkeley People and Culture (HR) and ensure timely, effective, high-quality services/operations between CEGA and central campus to enable organizational efficiency, growth, and development.
• Facilitate sensitive and/or confidential department HR requests, including recruitments, hires/reappointments, and performance reviews.
• Develop systems/tools to improve processes and outcomes; collect and distribute professional development and management resources; innovate new and lead existing recruitment and onboarding activities; and monitor and report on trends to ensure that the center is recruiting for excellence/diversity and living our values.
• Organize periodic performance reviews and introduce process improvements as needed.
• Serve as HR liaison for Visiting Scholars, student interns, and center-wide internship programs.
• Design new processes and provide support to ensure a healthy workplace culture, including planning and implementing safety improvements, promotion of diversity, ergonomic assessments, prevention of harassment and other activities that strengthen CEGA’s people and culture function.
• Support event planning and staff engagement (e.g. roundtables where staff share updates on their work, team lunches and happy hours, team-wide retreats).

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree and/or equivalent years experience and/or training.

Preferred Qualifications

• 2+ years of relevant professional experience.
• Well-organized, strong administrative skills, outstanding attention to detail and ability to multitask to meet deadlines.
• Self-directed, intrinsically motivated; proven capacity to manage work independently.
• Strong skills in short-term planning, analysis, problem-anticipation and -solving, and customer service; ability to independently investigate solutions to administrative challenges and anticipate leadership needs.
• Knowledge of a variety of administrative operations, such as budget creation, calendars/scheduling, and events, hiring graduate and undergraduate students.
• Cultural sensitivity, positive can-do attitude, a sense of humor, and demonstrated ability to work diplomatically with diverse constituencies.
• Solid communication and interpersonal skills to communicate effectively with all levels of staff, both verbally and in writing.
• Ability to present complex operational policies and practices to diverse audiences.
• Ability to use discretion and maintain confidentiality, as well as sound judgment in responding to issues and concerns, including those related to space/facilities, workplace safety, and personnel disputes.
• Ability to remain flexible and able to adapt to change; ability to remain calm in the face of uncertainty.
• Strong competency with MS Office and Google applications.
• Working knowledge of common campus-specific and other computer application programs.
• Experience with campus policies, procedures, processes related to human resources, procurement, vendoring, and reimbursements/payments.

Salary and Benefits

Salary is commensurate with experience; the approximate annual range for this position is $59,000 – $72,000.

For information on the comprehensive benefits package offered by the University visit:

How to Apply