About Us

The Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) is a non-profit, membership-based organization which fosters a global coffee community and supports activity to make specialty coffee a thriving, equitable, and sustainable activity for the entire value system. The SCA’s work currently centers on four key strategic goals: to drive the organization’s sustainable coffee agenda of equitable value distribution through research, education, partnerships, and activities; to create opportunities for coffee professionals’ development, engagement, and growth; to expand our global network by supporting and leveraging local communities to create locally-relevant experiences; and to enable our organization’s ability to deliver outstanding service. As a neutral unifying force within the specialty coffee industry, the SCA works to make coffee better by generating actionable knowledge, advocating for more sustainable business behaviors, and establishing collaborative and progressive standards.  

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About You

You are a dynamic and results-driven professional with a passion for driving innovation and advancing scientific discovery within the specialty coffee industry. With a strong background in project management and the coffee industry, you possess the skills necessary to lead research initiatives that help bring value to the specialty coffee industry.

Your exceptional communication skills allow you to effectively engage with stakeholders at all levels, from researchers and scientists to funders and policymakers. You understand the importance of fostering open communication and collaboration to drive research success.

With a keen eye for detail and a commitment to excellence, you are dedicated to ensuring that research programs are executed with the highest standards of quality, integrity, and ethical conduct. You are proactive in identifying opportunities for improvement, implementing best practices, and mitigating risks to ensure the successful execution of research projects from inception to completion.

If you are looking for a dynamic and challenging role where you can leverage your expertise to drive positive change and shape the future of coffee research, we invite you to join our team as a Research Program Manager.

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About the Role

As a part of its research and knowledge development mission, the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) and Coffee Science Foundation (CSF) execute a variety of research programs, create and organize informational resources, and communicate these resources to the specialty coffee community. The Research Programs Manager is responsible for managing these projects from inception to successful completion and ensures their timely execution. A strong eye for detail and great project management skills are key to success in this role.

Essential Functions: 

• Create and maintain systems, processes, procedures, and facilitation of briefs and proposals

• Lead the coordination and prioritization of various research activities

• Prepare, maintain, and archive agreements with external funders and researchers

• Manage and coordinate the steps of data collaboration to ensure smooth and timely processing

• Provide frequent project status to management and other key stakeholders

• Assist with preparation and submission of grants, invoices from external researchers, and ensure deliverables to funders are achieved

• Maintain and expand a network of external researchers (i.e. academic institutions, commercial research institutions, other trade associations)

• Provide publications staff with research outputs

• Maintain and archive governance records for the Coffee Science Foundation (board minutes, reports, etc.)

• Oversee information-gathering surveys, including communicating results

• Manage standards administration system, including meeting schedule and document control.  

• Serve as liaison with internal departments and external entities

• As needed, travel to Company events to support with research lectures and seminars

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Desired Education and Experience

• Project management experience and passion is essential

• Proven project management skills 

• Organized, detail-oriented, self-managing and collaborative

• Experience in an academic research setting a plus

• Strong English language skills, bilingual in Spanish, Korean, or German a plus

• Ability to build and maintain project management systems

• Some travel for events, meetings and conferences possible, not to exceed 10% of time

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Other Duties:

• Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

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Salary

$60,000 - $72,000

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Location

USA (remote)

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Additional Information

We are committed to maintaining compliance with all relevant regulations, including those set forth by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). As such, we are seeking candidates who share our dedication to upholding EEOC guidelines in hiring practices and GDPR requirements in data handling and protection. Join us in our commitment to promoting fairness, equality, and data privacy in the workplace.

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