write a cover letter in response to this job posting:  Associate Consultant / Client Engagement Specialist

Wayfinding Partners is seeking a motivated, justice-driven associate consultant to join our growing team. This role is integral to the success of our client engagements and racial justice programs.

We’re seeking individuals who have strong project management skills, growing ease with facilitation, the ability to solve complex problems, and a knack for relationship-building.

This person must also have familiarity with the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors and has a nuanced understanding of how oppression operates at varying levels.

The ideal candidate has also demonstrated a commitment to and aptitude for each of the Wayfinding values: justice in action, empathy and connection, community and self care, emergence and magic, and the fractal nature of existence and change.

WORKING WITH WAYFINDING PARTNERS
The mission of Wayfinding Partners is to guide people, organizations, and communities on a journey of self-discovery, and build their capacity to design and thrive in change.

We partner with folks to learn from and reckon with history, heal in the present, and create a just, equitable, joy-filled future. Our philosophy is that by undoing the systems, structures and mindsets that perpetuate inequities, we make space for justice and liberation.

Wayfinding Partners is a completely remote team. We travel for team retreats and client engagements.

THE ROLE
The Associate Consultant reports to a Senior Consultant, and serves as a key support in the delivery of Wayfinding Partner’s consulting engagements and community initiatives. This Associate Consultant role works directly with organizations in the nonprofit, philanthropic, and public sectors, conducting organizational needs assessments, designing and implementing strategic interventions, and guiding organizational culture change. Associate Consultants also support, and in some cases facilitate, community programs.

We meet our clients where they are and customize our work according to their growth opportunities, readiness for change, and desired outcomes. As such, each client engagement looks slightly different. However, there are core opportunities and responsibilities unique to the Associate Consultant role.

RESPONSIBILITIES
Strategic Advising

Assist Senior Consultants in coordinating fieldwork by contributing to the development of project plans, scheduling and preparing for workshops and interviews, gathering documentation, and liaising with client staff
Survey and understand the external landscape or “ecosystem” in which clients conduct their work to identify opportunities and challenges
Assist Senior Consultants in assessing clients’ capacity—structures, culture, funding, racial equity lens—and guide clients’ approach to improve and strengthen their organizational systems and leadership
Actively partner with Senior Consultants to identify and articulate potential pathways for clients to consider to help maximize their impact and achieve their goals
Analysis and Storytelling

Review and analyze quantitative and qualitative data, including research reports, stakeholder interview notes, and background materials
Lead and actively participate in team meetings to discuss and develop findings and recommendations
Develop written reports and presentations summarizing analysis and recommendations
Design, Facilitation, and Holding Space

Work with Senior Consultants to design meetings, retreats, and events, including preparing internal and external agendas
Facilitate portions of client meetings, retreats, and small group sessions
Facilitate community events, including elements of signature workshops and cohort programs
Project Management

Work closely with Senior Consultants to maintain and update each project’s schedule of events, communicating any changes to the full consulting team and client throughout engagement
Build meaningful client relationships, through all interactions, and ensure they remain engaged in the project
Coordinate with consulting teams and the client to create and send calendar invites for engagements
Attend client meetings to take notes and assist in any facilitations
Ensure all documentation pertaining to each client is uploaded to the client folder on the shared drive
Create and maintain documents per client to track all engagement deliverables, ensuring activities and coaching hours align with client contract.
Support Senior Consultants in ensuring deliverables are completed in a timely manner, communicating any changes to the client.
Wayfinding Culture Curation and Care-Taking

Model Wayfinding values in action, paying particular attention to self- and community-care.
Uplift opportunities for the Wayfinding team to be in community with each other
Continuously brainstorm and make recommendations for how to make Wayfinding a liberated workplace
QUALIFICATIONS
We recognize that one candidate may not possess every desired qualification listed below. We also know that this list is not exhaustive of all the wonderful qualities that could make you successful in this role—we hope you share those with us in your cover letter. As we search for our next teammate, we are looking for the following:

Minimum of three (3) years of relevant full time professional experience in the nonprofit or philanthropic sectors. Experience in organization development, education, and/or nonprofit management is preferred.
Clear point of view on racial equity, social justice, liberation—and eagerness for ongoing growth, dialogue, and learning
Comfort, tenacity, and grace in developing relationships across culture, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ability, political affiliation, and other forms of difference
Comfort in giving and receiving positive and constructive feedback to colleagues and clients
Capacity to handle multiple tasks, remain flexible, prioritize appropriately, and manage workflow for oneself and others
Highly motivated self-starter with demonstrated comfort taking initiative, learning quickly, and working in virtual environments
Excitement in the recognition that we are learning all the time, and eagerness to use challenges as opportunities to gain new knowledge
Energy Transfer (i.e. Compensation)
In recognition and appreciation of team members’ partnership with Wayfinding and our clients, we offer salaries commensurate with experience and benefits that emphasize health, family, and wellness.

The salary range for the Associate Consultant position is $65,000 - $75,000. Our benefits package includes paid time off, wellness days, paid holidays, 401(k) retirement plans, health care reimbursement, long-term disability plans, along with other fun sprinkled throughout the year. Wayfinding Partners also closes for one week in summer and the last two weeks of the calendar year.