Who We Are
American Farmland Trust (AFT) is the only national organization that takes a holistic approach to agriculture, focusing on the land itself, the agricultural practices used on that land, and the farmers and ranchers who do the work. Since our founding in 1980, AFT has helped permanently protect over 6.5 million acres of agricultural lands, advanced environmentally-sound farming practices on millions of additional acres and helped thousands of farm families make a go of it (primarily through programs that increase farm viability and/or enhance farmland access). Long a pioneering leader, AFT is now riding a new wave of growth, driven by agriculture’s most pressing needs and opportunities.
We believe diversity drives innovation. We are inclusive. We embrace differences. We recognize and respect the fundamental value and dignity of all our employees. We celebrate the unique traditions, heritages, and experiences our employees bring to the workplace. We are committed to creating and sustaining an inclusive culture that promotes and values diversity, and where everyone feels empowered to bring their authentic selves to work every day. Please see AFT’s statement on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice.
Job purpose
AFT has experienced significant growth over the past five years in terms of volume of projects, number of awards and increased staff. AFT has prioritized the creation of a centralized Project Management Team (PMT) to support cross-functional staff, implement consistent project management methodologies, and ensure the successful achievement of current and future program objectives.
AFT currently has the exciting opportunity to hire a Portfolio Manager to work across our Climate and Soil Health National Initiative and Water National Initiative Programs. The successful candidate will have an interest in exploring the strategic alignment of project management best practices in relation to AFT’s efforts to catalyze a new conventional agriculture. Together, we will embrace regenerative systems to mitigate the climate change crisis, build healthy soils, improve operational resilience, equity, and farm viability.
Position summary
Reporting to the Project Management Director, the Portfolio Manager fosters synergy across AFT by facilitating budget/work plan development, spenddown analysis, streamlined workflows, utilization of systems and/or the cross dependencies of staff to support assigned Divisions overall execution of their annual work plan on time, within scope and budget. Portfolio Manager assignments will depend on the scale of Divisions portfolio but will encompass more cross-functional initiatives than a Project Manager due to the higher level of support.
Duties and responsibilities
Within assigned portfolios, the Portfolio Manager will:
- Advises Division Directors in scoping and evaluating impacts of new funding on existing timelines, staff workloads and other financial parameters to craft long term programmatic strategies.
- Serve as a trusted advisor to multiple assigned Divisions on managing their body of work including staff allocations, project/program timelines, and award budgets.
- Manage the development of annual work plans, partnering with Division Directors to establish fiscal year deadlines, staff hour allocations and committed outcomes in accordance with award agreement.
- Manage the development of annual budgets, partnering with Division Directors to establish fiscal year revenue projections, operating expenses, and associated labor costs in accordance with award agreement.
- Manage the allocation of staff hours, partnering with Division Directors to ensure appropriate monthly and annual allocations for each team member to complete work on time, within scope and budget.
- Facilitate staff hour allocations with Division Directors to ensure proper distribution of cross-functional expertise while evaluating annual and multi-year commitments within portfolio of projects.
- Facilitate Division work plan adjustments with associated Departments to accommodate new work, increase staff capacity and mitigate conflicting priorities.
- Support mid-year reforecast process with Finance by incorporating year-to-date actuals data in conjunction with the Divisions revised expenses and revenues for the remaining year; adjusting projections as needed to ensure financials accurately reflect budget, outcomes, and timeline constraints of agreement.
- Support internal/external data collection, validation and submission with Development and Finance staff for interval funder reports – i.e., state or federal agencies, foundations, and/or individual donors.
- Support Division with contract/subaward development, invoice processing, and spenddown tracking for external entities with Coordinator as appropriate.
- Lead monthly financial reviews to track YTD spenddown, identify coding discrepancies, and escalate >10% budget deviations to Finance.
- Co-Lead quarterly work plan and financial reviews to establish overall project status, deviations from budget, foreseeable delays and management actions required.
- Foster collaboration between Programs and affiliated Divisions to promote cross-functional efficiencies, synergistic outcomes, and operationalize priorities.
- Provide cross-functional team support to ensure that programmatic approaches are consistent, including working with Development, Communications, and other teams to improve understanding of operations within the Programs team.
- Support Information Technology staff with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system design, deployment, and continuous maintenance of information related to portfolios.
- Collaborate with Finance and Development to drive improvements in budget development, award management practices and reporting procedures.
- Design other comprehensive resources, as needed to aid in internal/external completion of Division work plan on time, within scope and budget.
Within the PMT, the Portfolio Manager will:
- Act as subject matter expert in project management field and provide related input on internal systems, tools, policies and procedures for managing AFT’s award lifecycle.
- Participate in weekly PMT meeting to discuss holistic award management approaches, upcoming deadlines, key constraints and/or shared initiatives.
- Participate in regularly scheduled meetings with Executive Leadership including AFT’s Chief of Staff, Chief Financial Officer, Vice Presidents of Programs, and others as identified to advise strategic planning across multiple levels of the organization.
- Initiate, develop, and improve project management methodologies and resources across the organization.
- Build cross-functional staff engagement and promote strategic collaboration to ensure consistent management practices of the award life cycle.
- Maintain an advanced level of proficiency with internal project and financial tracking systems, processes, and staff responsibilities.
- Support the Project Management Director with hiring and onboarding new PMT staff while fostering a high-performance culture.
- Embody a culture of AFT’s commitments to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice through project assignments and/or engaging with internal affinity groups.
- Lead the annual Work Planning and Budgeting process with Finance.
