We are accepting internal Water Mission applicants only at this time.
Who is Water Mission?
Water Mission is a nonprofit Christian engineering organization that designs, builds, and implements safe water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) solutions for people in developing countries and disaster areas. Guided by love, excellence, and integrity, we are driven to share clean, safe water and God’s love with all. To date, we have served more than 7 million people in 57 countries. Working at Water Mission is as much a calling as it is a career, and we are searching for people with the courage, passion, and drive to help us change the world. Read more about our Statement of Faith and Christian Mission.
What is the opportunity?
The Vision Trip Specialist will manage all aspects of the Vision Trip program to create best-in-class international experiences for current and prospective partners. Experiences will educate attendees about the global water crisis and connect them with opportunities to make an impact. Working with Water Mission’s Partnerships and Communications Division leadership and country program staff, this role will handle trip details from start to finish. This trip oversight includes, but is not limited to, trip strategy, execution, and evaluation. The Vision Trip Specialist will ensure all travelers receive appropriate orientation and complete required travel and legal forms. The person will equip trip leaders and work with in-country staff to manage all in-country logistics for each trip. This full-time role reports to the Manager of Operations and Logistics and can be based remotely or at Water Mission’s headquarters in Charleston, SC.
A Successful Vision Trip Specialist will:
General Duties
- Maintain a strong Christian witness to colleagues, vendors, donors, volunteers, those we serve, and the general public.
- Maintain high-level knowledge of Water Mission’s organizational objectives, programmatic strategies, projects, and activities. Stay informed of local, regional, national, and global news and issues to support the Events & Engagement (E&E) team effectively.
- Effectively communicate about the global water crisis and Water Mission’s mission, vision, values, and solutions to various audiences.
- Manage and grow the Vision Trip program.
- Debrief and evaluate each trip after its conclusion, using the information gathered from attendees and staff to establish best practices for future trips.
- Educate and equip U.S.-based staff, in-country staff, trip leaders, and travel agency representatives to implement activities and ensure goals are met.
- Set up and maintain dashboard reports for the division leaders that reflect each vision trip’s ongoing activities, expenses, and outcomes.
Travel Program Management
- Work with Manager of Operations and Logistics and Water Mission’s senior leadership to develop a strategy and overall vision to create opportunities for constituents and partners to visit the communities we serve around the world.
- Work cross-departmentally to craft, schedule, and execute international trips, coordinating with Programs Department and key in-country staff.
- Build a standardized, scalable trip framework that incorporates continuous improvement driven by qualitative and quantitative data.
- Develop SOPs to ensure coordinated trip processes.
- Create a training program and supporting materials to educate and equip trip leaders and future leaders and provide feedback after each trip.
- Assist in trip leaders’ certification process.
- Use Smartsheet and other E&E tools to manage and report on all trips.
- Enforce trip guidelines and equip others to do the same to help ensure safe, meaningful experiences.
- Develop trip resources for staff and participants.
- Work cross-departmentally to develop a virtual vision trip that allows audiences to see Water Mission’s work through a comprehensive, immersive virtual experience.
Trip Coordination
- Plan and execute all aspects of each trip, including budgets, partner communication, itineraries, flights, visas, participant pre-trip packets, debrief surveys, and more.
- Arrange and coordinate all in-country logistics, including visits to completed project sites or communities needing safe water, transportation, translation, meals, security, and more.
- Monitor travel advisories and evaluate the potential impact on travel, providing counsel to P&C leadership as needed.
- Track involvement and payments for trips within the database (Raiser’s Edge).
- When assigned, act as a trip leader during travel to and within the country, coordinating with the country programs team to ensure a positive experience for participants.
Additional Duties
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Represent Water Mission at events as assigned.
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Support Water Mission events as requested, including pre-event communication, day-of logistics, and post-event activities.
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Assist Manager of Operations and Logistics in managing inventory and mailroom logistics.
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Additional duties as assigned.
What is required?
- Personal and growing relationship with Jesus Christ.
- Alignment with Water Mission’s Statement of Faith and core values of Love, Excellence, and Integrity.
- Dignity, maturity, and initiative to represent Water Mission successfully at the highest level.
- Bachelor’s Degree required.
- Two to four years of experience in project or trips/event management.
- Self-motivated, diplomatic, articulate, approachable, and concerned about long-term effectiveness.
- Creative, effective problem-solver.
- Ability to thrive in a highly fluid environment and respond to changing requests.
- Superior level of organization and attention to detail required.
- Ability to maintain a high quality of work in a faced paced environment.
- Experience with Smartsheet or other project management software preferred.
- Proficiency with Raiser’s Edge or other CRM/database preferred.
- Comprehensive computer skills, including proficiency in Microsoft Office software: Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
- Legal authorization to work in the United States without sponsorship.
- Ability to travel to Water Mission headquarters in N. Charleston, SC a minimum of two times per year.
- Flexibility to work periodic nights and weekends as required for ministry operations and to travel up to twice a year on assigned trips.
- Home internet bandwidth strong enough to support video conferencing and other job-related responsibilities required.
- Commitment to the values and mission of the organization and ending the global water crisis.