Jobs at Vittana
Vittana is a registered nonprofit located in Seattle committed to developing and scaling student loan
products for ambitious students in developing nations. We believe that higher education is the best tool an
individual can have to pull themselves and their family out of poverty. With this understanding our mission is
to graduate a generation beyond poverty. We are a small team that values hard work, candor, hardheaded
idealism, and a sense of humor. When we’re not working hard at our desks, we enjoy ping pong, playing
with our office dog, and tacos from the bar next door.
Education Fund Director
About us
Vittana is a nonprofit organization with a mission to graduate a generation beyond poverty. We combine the massive reach of microfinance with the transformative power of education by building the world’s first student microloan programs in developing countries. For tens of thousands of hard-working youth across the globe, we are conquering the root cause of poverty: the lack of an education that will get them a good job. We make it possible for poor students to get the education they need to forever leave behind the life that poverty imposed upon them. We will unlock the potential of an entire generation, and generations to come.
About you
You’ve got intellectual horsepower, speak the language of financiers, and command the attention of C-suite executives. You’re a builder and a closer, and though you could work on Wall Street (and maybe have), you’re a heard-headed idealist who is passionate about making a positive impact in the world. You’re entrepreneurial and embrace risk, and have a track record of successful capital fundraising and investor management. Keep reading if we’ve piqued your interest.
The fund
Our dream is to fund the education of 100,000 students a year, and we are entering a stage of aggressive growth to turn that into a reality. In 2012, we piloted a small ($500K) debt fund as proof-of-concept in the field, and seek the right leadership to co-architect and scale the first fund ($5-$10M) and pave the way to our $100M fund goal. This is a new initiative, and we seek a key member its “founding team,” but you’re standing on the shoulders of giants. Our proven model in microfinance and student lending is bolstered by our board, advisors, donors, and investment committee… but needs your talent and dedication to launch.
The Role
Responsibilities:- Manage a fast-growing flow of debt capital from both private and institutional impact investors to fund our student microloan programs in the field.
- Source and raise the funds (primarily in the US), and deploy the fund through qualified programs in developing countries.
- Identify, solicit and close transactions for this and subsequent debt offerings.
- Travel as necessary for in-person meetings with key stakeholders and investors.
- Co-architect fund structure (legal entity, investment committee, advisory board).
- Package debt product working in conjunction with legal advisors, board members, management team, MFI partners, external advisors, major donors, and early investors.
- Develop marketing materials for the Vittana Fund, including metrics and market research from pilot fund and best practices in the field; continuously iterate and fine-tune based on investor feedback.
- Coordinate preparation of legal and other documents related to the fund (audit, tax).
- Ensure legal compliance / reporting to investors and tax authorities.
- Forge partnerships to ensure cost-efficient operations (business development: MCE, Triodos, other banks’ platforms).
- Liaise with our MFI partners for timely payments.
Particulars:
- 5-10 years of professional experience in capital financing or debt management.
- Micro-finance expertise a plus but not necessary (training to be provided as needed).
- Location is open. Vittana is head-quartered in Seattle, but the position is results-driven. The successful candidate will work well with the team regardless of geography.
- Report to the Fund Investment Committee.
Getting in touch
Email your interest to: rebecca@vittana.orgWeb Developer Intern
Rails, Frontend, or Backend
The web developer intern will work closely with Vittana’s web team to help craft a polished web product. You will get handson experience working with a variety of technologies in whichever part of that stack you are most interested in be it frontend, backend, or database. Help us create something great!
Qualifications (experience or interested in one or more of the following):
- Frontend development (CSS, HTML, Javascript)
- Backend development (Ruby, Rails, PHP)
- Database development (MySQL, MSSQL, PostgreSQL
Time & Location
Hours: 10 to 20 hrs/week
Location: Seattle, Wa
Global Program Research Intern
The Global Program Research intern will work closely with the Global Program Associate to research and develop a database of resources related to education, microfinance and job skills that will enhance the technical assistance offered to our partners. Your tasks will include online research, data cleaning, and creating summary content for use in program and web marketing material. We are looking for a curious mind excited about data driven decision making!
Time & Location
Hours: 20 to 35 hrs/week
Location: Seattle office or remotely
Development Intern
Vittana is looking for a bright, highlyorganized, and selfdirected Fundraising Intern to work with our VP of Development. You’ll join a worldcaliber, passionate team working to bring student loans to developing countries for the first time. We’re growing at an incredible rate, and we need someone like you to help achieve our expanding fundraising needs. While this position may involve some traditional administrative duties, you’ll also get to see our daytoday operations firsthand, potentially working with several members of our team (and we’re such a fun, happy, genuine bunch that you’ll want to be involved!).
Your Mission: to help expand and scale our fundraising program
Research & Writing- Research new foundations to apply for funding
- Conduct external research on key program priorities to use in writing proposals
- Help with copy editing of proposals and reports
- Help in writing minor proposals and reports
Donor Database
- Update and maintain our donor database
- Help in researching potential donors
- Provide support in sending mailings, invitations and other communications
- Help provide current donors and members with information requests
Marketing & Story Telling
- Develop content and apply to donor marketing materials
- Create communications that inspire others
- Project manage campaigns and deliverables
- Manage details, outside resources and internal coordination
- Track impact and results of donor promotions
Your Skills & Interests:
This role requires someone who is highly motivated, selfdirected and takes initiative. You are the one who asks questions when needs direction, is proactive at work. You are a strong writer and can easily communicate with a diverse community. Others comment that you are a good communicator, organized, flexible, creative and confident. Your knowledgable & comfortable using a Mac, Internet searches, other social media tools and hopefully exposure to CRM systems, like salesforce.com. You have a passion for building relationships, persuading others, and attention to details. Grantwriting experience is preferred. Belief in our mission; we have a big audacious goal, and there’s a certain amount of passion that we all bring to work to make that happen. An ability to bring fun and energy to work.
Time & Location
Hours: 2030 hours/ week
Location: Seattle, Wa
Student Processing Volunteer
The student processing volunteer will work to prepare students to be published to our live site from our backstage database. Volunteers will edit, check, and write student stories based on questionnaires. Volunteers should be selfstarters comfortable working on their own timelines with access to google docs. Spanish composition skills are preferred but not required.
Time & Location
Hours: On going, Flexible
Location: Remotely
Quality Assurance Volunteer
The quality assurance intern will work closely with the web team at Vittana to ensure that our web product meets our quality standards. Your tasks will include general site testing, copy proofing, feature testing, crossplatform testing, and other webbased tasks. We are looking for applicants with an eye for perfection who are comfortable working independently and have experience in copy editing, user interface design, performance tuning, and/or automated testing.
Example responsibilities for a QA Intern:
- Explore our website looking for broken features, odd behavior, grammar errors, and unintuitive user workflows
- Analyze our website's effectiveness in various mobile browsers
- Use New Relic or other performance tracking tools to uncover problem areas
- Suggest or write automated tests to increase the long term stability of our website
Time & Location
Hours: 20 hours/week
Location: In office or remotely
Social Media Intern
The social media intern at Vittana will be instrumental in increasing our social media presence and getting visibility for our brand. The intern will also assist in client social media projects.
Responsibilities include the following (there will be 2 interns working on these tasks):
Qualifications
Time & Location
Hours: 20 to 30 hrs/week
Location: Seattle, WA