Associate - 18 Coffees

18 Coffees is currently seeking an Associate to help support our management consulting engagements with a few of our firm’s top clients.

The 18 Coffees Associate will work closely with our partners and consultants and be a part of our client-facing team. They are a project management leader who owns and manages our most important projects and timelines. Our client work spans multiple sectors, across a variety of industries and topics, with this role focused on our consulting client projects that deliver on business strategy, marketing, organizational development, and change management.

This position is full-time with a flexible hybrid model of work from home and 1x/week in-person collaboration days in our Chicago office (located in the Ravenswood neighborhood). Salary is dependent upon experience, $60,000/year.

What will you be doing, and what kind of impact will you be making?

Within 1 month, you’ll:

• Learn about 18 Coffees consulting work, understanding our firm’s differentiated value offerings for consulting clients and familiarizing yourself with our strategic approach
• Dive into 2-3 of 18 Coffees’ client projects with your team to understand current project progress, most immediate priorities/deliverables, and the client scope of work
• Be introduced to client teams and partners, and begin asserting yourself as an 18 Coffees project management leader in person (virtually), and in writing
• Interact with clients and consultant project team to plan and develop project work, gaining a deep insight into a variety of companies and sectors, and understanding senior executive-level problems very quickly
• Review and edit all client communication documents, including development of weekly client agendas and meeting recaps
• Coordinate meeting follow ups with client team members, helping to keep the project milestones on track
• Conduct research and data analysis to support client projects
• Be a Slack pro, communicating and collaborating seamlessly with the 18 Coffees team in a remote atmosphere, including the firm’s Managing Partners, other Engagement Managers, Consultants, Associates, or independent contractor team members
• Engage meaningfully in internal team meetings and brainstorms

Within 3 months, you’ll:

• Support project management of key deliverables on client work streams, which may include developing slides, conducting research, producing and maintaining project work plans, and managing timelines
• Collaborate with team members to develop and implement strategic recommendations for client solutions and presenting findings to senior staff and/or clients
• Provide training to clients on project deliverables when needed and support the team's client training facilitations and workshops via Zoom. This may include helping to train college interns on social media advocacy campaigns to supporting change management trainings to an HR client team.
• Contribute meaningfully to client strategies around business transformation in virtual meetings, and in email
• Establish a day-to-day correspondence with our team's direct client contacts
• Make decisions to proactively ensure project progression against timelines, managing up to engagement managers and partners as necessary

Within 6 months, you’ll:

• Lead weekly client meetings, proactively providing status reports and recommended action items on strategic deliverables
• Be able to conceptualize and develop work plans from scratch based on client problems and project parameters
• Cement yourself as a go-to, trusted advisor for day-to-day client stakeholders on assigned project engagements
• Support RFP responses for new business opportunities, including deck development
• Present and facilitate remote or in person workshop modules and group exercises for client teams

Within 12 months, you’ll:

• Manage client discovery process by collecting information about the client’s business through a variety of methods (interviews, surveys, reading reports etc)
• Analyze and interpret client data to unearth weaknesses, problems and causes
• Draft recommendations and solutions for consulting team, forming concise reports
• Assist the client in implementing updated business plans or tools and resolve any occasional discrepancies
• Maintain client relationships through proactive outreach
• Be a regular contributor to company thought leadership both internally and externally
• Create and deliver presentations and reports to clients and stakeholders

Requirements

• 2-3 years of experience as a client-facing project manager or account manager. We need someone who is confident and comfortable with the demands this role will require from the very start, and who can bring their project management experience to bear from day-one
• Excellent communication and time-management skills. Associates must be able to clearly communicate progress on deliverables. Facilitation and training skills, a plus
• Passionate learner who’s motivated to take on new challenges with a bias-to-action. This position will require the ability to wear many different hats and provide support in multiple areas, including project management and content development.
• Familiarity with Keynote, PowerPoint, Google Suite, Slack, other related project management and common communications tools, as well as knowledge of digital industry trends preferred
• Comfort in juggling different initiatives and managing deadlines
• Analytical mind with excellent data collection and analysis skills
• Aptitude in creative problem-solving

Benefits

• Unlimited Paid Time Off
• Hybrid position of remote and in office (Chicago)
• Health Care Plan (Blue Cross Blue Shield medical; dental; vision)
• $75 / month work from home stipend
• Health Savings Account

Why 18 Coffees

18 Coffees is an innovation and change management firm that helps mission-driven companies get a foothold in the future. We’re out to change how the world works.

We believe that a company that wants to solve 21st century problems should be built to be flexible and adaptive like the digital world demands. Our company is a mix of full-time strategic thinkers and project managers, and a distributed network of practitioners and subject-matter experts that we can bring to bear on a project basis.

We only work for clients we believe in. That’s not some empty promise about “purpose”—being a part of our team means actively trying to change the world every day, and working with some amazing, mission-driven people.

We are actively seeking a passionate candidate to be additive to our overall team by bringing their own experiences, insights and background, and strongly encourage candidates from all underrepresented groups to apply. We prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, veteran status, or marital status.