Are you a seasoned operations professional who takes pride in clear communication, smooth coordination, and keeping systems running with calm precision? Join Appleseed and enable lasting social and environmental impact in communities across the globe.
🌍 This is a remote position. You may be based anywhere.
Role Structure
Job Type: Core team; part-time (average 15 hours/week, fluctuating with needs)
Location: Fully remote; requires overlap with Europe and Asia time zones
Start: As soon as possible
Compensation & Benefits: $22,000-$26,000 per year, depending on experience. Benefits include flexible remote (work from anywhere and no strict daily/weekly schedule - we take Thursdays off!) and purposeful work that improves lives around the world without the burnout or politics of traditional organizations.
About Appleseed
🌍 Appleseed is a small (6-person core team) behavioral agency for global development. We are obsessed with one big problem across the sector: important solutions failing to stick.
We serve 6-10 client teams per year who are fighting to end poverty or protect the planet. When they struggle to engage people or drive uptake of a service, product, or idea, they and/or their funders put us on the case. Appleseed consultants dive deep—taking an ethnographic approach to investigate challenges and uncover human insights. Then we help our clients design accordingly and bring about changes required for impact.
We envision a world where all impact organizations design based on people’s needs and realities. We partner only with nonprofits and funders who seek to preserve human dignity as they foster change. See how we have enabled:
smallholder farmers in Senegal to space crops for higher yields 👩🏾🌾
schoolchildren in Kenya to stop drinking contaminated water 🚱
farmers in Guatemala to plant a fortified maize to combat malnutrition 🌽
Here you’ll find:
A small, candid, curious team with high standards and low ego
A flexible, learning-rich culture that prizes rigor and honesty
Want to learn more? Meet us at appleseedimpact.org/team
Purpose of the Role
To ensure Appleseed runs smoothly by providing reliable, detail-driven support across client projects, business development, recruiting, and admin. This role keeps our small, high-performing team focused on the creative, strategic, and client-facing work they do best.
One way is by maintaining our internal systems and routines that enable clarity, accuracy, and follow-through. You’ll also be a steady, trusted presence who communicates externally with clients, funders, partners, and freelancers around contracts, invoices, scheduling, travel, and other operational needs.
You will play a key role in maintaining and smoothing our internal systems. Our COO leads system design and major improvements; your focus will be on reliable execution, surfacing issues early, and implementing small, practical refinements.
What Success in This Role Looks Like
Team members feel organized, supported, and less bogged down by admin work.
Client and recruiting candidate communications happen smoothly, warmly, and on time.
Tracking systems and documentation stay clean, current, and 100% accurate.
Budgets are updated and contracts and invoices are processed without errors or delays.
Leadership can see where systems are working well and where small adjustments might help.
The Role: What You'd Do
As an Operations & Admin Specialist, you’d be responsible for:
1. Team & Workflow Support
Keep Asana and shared project systems current—tagging, updating, and ensuring clear ownership.
Monitor tasks and gently prompt progress before things slip.
Use existing templates to update tracking spreadsheets (budgets, deliverables, and KRs).
Support OKR reflection cycles by preparing summaries and ensuring the right information is on hand.
Coordinate team huddles, 1:1s, and internal sessions by scheduling, preparing materials, and capturing notes.
Help us catch issues early by observing patterns or bottlenecks and surfacing small improvements to existing workflows—not designing new systems.
2. Client, Partner & Financial Coordination
Prepare, send, and follow up on contracts and invoices (Xero, PandaDoc, Google Docs).
Track payments, reimbursements, and budget allocations.
Support client and partner scheduling, send materials, and ensure meetings run smoothly.
Write clear, warm, professional external communications using templates and situational judgment.
3. Recruiting & People Operations
Manage all logistics: posting roles, scheduling interviews, updating tracking systems, and candidate communication.
Ensure hiring leads have what they need and that next steps are actioned promptly.
Keep recruiting documentation current and flag pain points in the process.
4. Travel & Project Logistics
Handle travel planning for research trips and events—booking flights, hotels, ground transport.
Coordinate stakeholder interviews and client meetings.
Manage itineraries, confirmations, documentation, and post-trip expense reconciliation.
5. Systems & Process Management
Maintain consistency and accuracy across Asana, Notion, Xero, Clockify, and Google Workspace.
Flag issues or inconsistencies clearly to leadership, and proactively identify potential process improvements and new technologies we could leverage.
Help keep internal documentation clear and current.
you’ll love this role if... ✅
You’ve had roles where people depended on your steadiness, judgment, and follow-through.
You’re mid- or late-career and enjoy meaningful, flexible part-time work that leverages your organizational strengths and follow-through.
You love finding the easiest ways to get things done, for yourself and your team.
You love AI and new technologies and leveraging them to improve team performance.
You find satisfaction in bringing order to chaos and keeping things running smoothly.
You’re a clear communicator who is warm, direct, and reliable with diverse groups.
You’re detail-oriented by nature and loyal to the bone.
You enjoy being behind the scenes making everything work.
You thrive in small tight-knit, remote teams working asynchronously with few meetings.
You like learning and would be excited to join Appleseed’s book club.
this role will not be a fit if… 🚩
You need to be in the spotlight or where the action is to feel good about your work.
You see this job as a stepping stone toward consulting, strategy, behavioral science, or leadership (we need a stable presence in this role for years to come).
You hesitate when it’s time to send an email or pick up the phone and call someone.
You can’t stand spending time in spreadsheets or find data-entry an unbearable chore.
You need in-person teamwork to stay motivated.
You require close supervision or highly detailed instructions.
You struggle with detailed, repetitive, or systems-driven work.
You avoid feedback or find candid conversation uncomfortable.
This section rubs you the wrong way.
Our Process
We run a transparent hiring process designed to ensure mutual fit and show you what it’s like to work with us:
Application: understanding your experience and working style
Interview: exploring fit and mutual interest
Simulations: hands-on exercises that reflect the work
References & conversations: ensuring great fit and alignment
We know this process takes time, and we appreciate your investment. Appleseed is building an inner circle of trusted collaborators—needed for challenging work with smart clients that impacts real lives. If successful, you may expect this one-time exploration of fit to translate into years of fruitful collaboration! Thank you in advance.