Strategic Operations Coordinator – Center for Water, Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Energy Solutions

RTI International

Strategic Operations Coordinator focused on improving operations in environmental projects across a diverse portfolio. Collaborating with experts to mitigate bottlenecks and ensure organizational efficiency.

Posted 7/8/2026full-timeRemote • North Carolina • 🇺🇸 United StatesSeniorLead💰 $105,000 - $128,000 per yearWebsite

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Support strategic and operational management across a broad team (70+ staff) and wide-ranging environment portfolio (50+ active projects) in coordination with various RTI staff.
Serve the sub-domain business strategies by supporting teams to translate ideas into actionable roadmaps, establishing deadlines and KPIs, fostering cross-team synergies and neutralizing bottlenecks to accelerate progress.
Facilitate achievement of staff DPR targets by proactively managing the long-term labor allocation and working with Project Managers to match labor availability with project needs.
Serve as the primary lead for "emergent" opportunities, as requested and/or provide surge support for existing projects or proposal opportunities, with a focus on rapid-response tasks on either projects or proposals that would otherwise distract technical focal leads.
Assist in organizing Leadership Team meetings and other high profile activities, including agenda setting, preparing decision support materials and tracking high priority actions items to ensure organizational accountability and momentum.
Act as a "connective tissue" across the various technical teams within WARES to prevent silos and maximize efficiencies; facilitating lateral communication, ensuring consistent application of new growth goals, and maintaining cultural alignment for staff who may move to new reporting lines.
Cultivate and leverage strategic partnerships across RTI business partners (e.g., Finance, HR, Client Technologies , Marketing and Growth) to streamline workflows, expedite business processes, and help ensure that WARES’ priorities are understood.
Partner with the technical teams to track the Center’s overarching business development pipeline; ensuring that resources are aligned with the highest-probability "wins" and that growth targets are monitored across the full WARES portfolio.
Work with growth leads to facilitate "Synthesis Sessions" between the WARES teams to deliberately engineer integrated, high-value client solutions and identify strategic cross-selling opportunities on a semi-regular basis.
Serve as surge support for any project or proposal-related task.
Perform other duties as assigned.

Requirements

What you’ll need

Bachelor's degree and at least 8 years of relevant experience; or a Master's degree and at least 6 years of relevant experience; or a PhD.
At least five years of technical experience in water, agriculture, natural resources or energy.
Demonstrated experience managing complex portfolios with at least 30+ active projects, preferably within an international development, environmental, or research-intensive organization.
Proven track record of translating high-level organizational visions into actionable roadmaps, including the definition of KPIs and the management of multi-year strategies.
Demonstrated proficiency in managing complex labor allocation systems (e.g., utilization targets) and the ability to balance staff capacity with fluctuating project demands in a matrixed environment.
Experience managing interdisciplinary projects or teams, ensuring that disparate technical workstreams are aligned with overarching business strategies and client requirements.
Experience tracking and managing large-scale business development pipelines, with a focus on aligning technical resources toward high-probability captures and identifying cross-selling opportunities.
Exceptional interpersonal skills with a proven ability to navigate large corporate bureaucracies and cultivate strategic partnerships with functional units like Finance, HR, and IT.
Ability to thrive in high-pressure, rapid-response environments, taking the lead on emergent opportunities or project crises without losing sight of long-term strategic goals.
Ability to work in a fast-paced environment and meet deadlines under pressure, being a self-starter who works both independently and as a collaborative team player.
To qualify, applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States and should not require, now or in the future, sponsorship for employment visa status (e.g., H-1B visa status, etc.).

Benefits

Comp & perks

Health insurance
401(k) matching
Paid parental leave for all parents
Financial assistance with adoption expenses or infertility treatments
Financial reimbursement for education and developmental opportunities
Employee assistance program
Generous paid time off policy
Merit based annual increases
Bonus opportunities
Robust recognition program

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills & Tools

Project ManagementKPI DefinitionUtilization TargetsMulti-Year Strategy ManagementComplex Portfolio ManagementCross-Selling Opportunities IdentificationEmergent Opportunity LeadershipRapid-Response Task ManagementActionable Roadmap DevelopmentInterdisciplinary Team Management

Soft Skills

Exceptional Interpersonal SkillsCollaborative Team PlayerSelf-StarterAbility to Thrive Under PressureEffective Communication