Associate, Procurement Excellence Network

Location: Flexible within the U.S. but requires access to a major U.S. airport for travel.   

Position Type: Full-time  

About Us

At Partners for Public Good (PPG), we believe that when government works, communities thrive. Launched in March 2025, we are a fast-growing nonprofit dedicated to helping state and local governments harness core operational functions – procurement, staffing, digital infrastructure, and budgeting – to drive public impact.

Our journey began in 2011 at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Government Performance Lab, where we set out to transform public procurement. Since then, we’ve worked with hundreds of governments across the country to make their procurement systems more efficient, fair, results-driven, and strategic. For example, in 2022, we launched the Procurement Excellence Network, putting our tools and strategies in the hands of over two thousand public servants.

Today, our team of doers, coaches, and advisors partner with governments to create lasting, impactful change. Our vision is simple: every resident has a government they can count on, every day.

Role & Organizational Impact

The Procurement Excellence Network (PEN) is an online community of nearly 3,000 government leaders that aims to inspire and empower government professionals at all levels to be procurement innovators. PEN offers virtual trainings, tools, templates, and coaching to assist government leaders as they launch efforts to make procurement more strategic, fair, results-driven, and innovative.

Reporting to the Assistant Director of PEN, the PEN Associate will play a critical role in supporting PEN’s strategic goals through both strong project management and leveraging existing program data to inform internal decision making. The ideal candidate is highly organized, data-savvy, execution-oriented, and motivated by mission-driven work that improves public systems.

This position is responsible for driving program impact through uplifting insights from data, leveraging data to inform new member-engagement and product strategies, and supporting overall team success through strong project management.

Responsibilities

Technical Project Management & Special Initiatives

• Lead project management and implementation of special initiatives outlined in the 2026 PEN Program Roadmap (e.g., surveying of PEN members, developing new learning opportunities, designing innovative peer connection offerings, supporting website enhancements) and future strategic plans from concept through completion.
• Manage and coordinate PEN’s Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) process, so that goals are clearly defined, tracked, and delivered by PEN teams.
• Facilitate regular check-ins, updates, and retrospectives with PEN staff to support on-time execution and continuous improvement.
• Lead the project management and implementation of enterprise tool pilots conducted through PEN (e.g., CRM pilot), as well as support change management, training, and documentation related to new tools and systems.

Data-Driven Program Support

• Collaborate with PEN staff to design, maintain, streamline, and improve data collection processes, databases, trackers, and workflows across PEN activities.
• Build dashboards, visualizations, and analytical tools to support real-time, data-driven decision-making, as well as integrating data insights into PEN resources, trainings, and events.
• Translate complex data into clear insights for program staff, PPG leadership, funders, and external stakeholders.
• Identify methods to regularly assess the impact of PEN programming by collecting data via surveys, research interviews, focus groups, and translating findings into actionable insights.
• Support ad hoc data requests as needed.

Stakeholder Engagement & Thought Leadership

• Support efforts to engage and recruit new governments into the network in coordination with the PEN team.
• In collaboration with PEN team members, help to facilitate government training and workshops on procurement-related topics.
• Contribute to the development of public-facing tools, templates, and publications that share best practices and innovations in public sector operational excellence.
• Represent PPG at conferences and events, presenting insights from project work.

Organizational Growth & Strategy

• Provide input to internal operational improvement initiatives.
• Support efforts to expand and refine PPG’s offerings and impact.

Who You Are

We’re looking for candidates who are:

• Analytic solution builder. You can break down complex problems. You develop actionable, clear, creative, and high-impact solutions.
• Project manager at heart. You are a self-starter who can juggle multiple priorities, stay organized, and keep projects on track in a remote environment. You have a bias towards action and take pride in being an implementer.
• Strong communicator. You excel in verbal, written, and visual communication. You make technical or complex concepts accessible and engaging.
• Change catalyst. You recognize that true change requires culture shifts, capacity-building, and empowerment—in addition to better processes. You build trust and momentum and bring stakeholders along with you while moving with urgency, including via effective meeting facilitation and direct coaching.
• Adaptable. You thrive in a fast-paced, team-oriented environment where every project is unique and we dive in and learn new topics/environments quickly.
• Collaborative. You have a proven ability to guide group processes toward tangible results. You care for your colleagues and are quick to pitch in when someone needs help. You are comfortable giving and receiving direct feedback.
• Mission aligned. You are motivated by the opportunity to help state and local governments harness core operational functions so that every resident has a government they can count on, every day.

Additional Information

Deadline to Apply: PPG will review applications on a rolling basis. All applications received by the deadline of March 9, 2026 will be considered.

Compensation: The salary for this role is $100,000 plus benefits. 

Start date: The desired start date for this role is April or May 2026.

This position is grant-funded. Employment is contingent on continuation of funds and organizational needs, at PPG’s sole discretion.   

Physical Demands: This position requires sitting, talking, listening, reading, and writing for up to 8 hours per day. Certain situations may require lifting items up to 20 pounds. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential job duties.

Commitment to Equal Employment Opportunity

Partners for Public Good is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Partners for Public Good is committed to the inclusion of all qualified individuals in the hiring process, including but not limited to those with disabilities. If you require reasonable accommodation(s) to participate in the application or interview process, please contact info(at)partnersforpublicgood.org.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required. Equivalent years of professional experience and/or certifications will be considered in lieu of formal education.   
• Three or more years of related work experience in areas such as government operations, data analysis, program coordination, consulting, or a related role.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams) and comfort with other technology tools.
• Proficiency with project management tools (Asana, Microsoft Planner).
• Experience with data analysis and visualization tools (e.g., Google Analytics, Excel, Smartsheets, Tableau, Power BI, Looker, or similar).
• Familiarity with enterprise tools such as CRMs or data systems.
• Demonstrated knowledge and/or interest in public procurement processes, government operations, or regulatory environments at the state or local level.
• Demonstrated ability to translate data into clear insights for non-technical audiences.
• General comfort with Zoom, MailChimp, Miro and/or other outreach or virtual collaboration tools.
• Willingness and ability to travel as needed. May be up to 4 times per year.

We offer a comprehensive, people-first benefits package to support the well-being of our team and their families. We offer medical, dental, and vision insurance, with multiple plan options to fit individual needs as well as access to health and flexible savings accounts. Paid time off includes: 15 vacation days, 12 sick days, 3 personal days, 2 floating holidays, 12 paid holidays, and a winter recess. We also provide an employer match for retirement savings, paid parental leave, and access to backup care for caregiving needs. To support remote work, we offer work-from-home stipends or shared office space options.  

Apply at the link.