King Philanthropies

Senior Portfolio Manager, Food Security and Nutrition

About King Philanthropies

King Philanthropies is a private foundation based in Menlo Park, California. Our mission is to make a meaningful difference in the lives of the world’s poorest people by multiplying the impact of high-performing leaders and organizations. We do so through grants (that are typically large, multi-year, and unrestricted in nature) and social impact investments in several programmatic areas critical to those in extreme poverty: fighting climate change and supporting adaptation, combating food insecurity and malnutrition, developing future leaders through scholarships; and fostering entrepreneurship that will create jobs.

King Philanthropies is guided by the personal values of Bob and Dottie King. Following a successful investment career, Bob and Dottie shifted their focus to philanthropy in 1995. King Philanthropies was established in 2016; its work flows directly from the inspiration of its founders who care deeply about combating extreme poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.

For more information on King Philanthropies, please visit: https://kingphilanthropies.org.

About the Position

Food Security and Nutrition is an increasing area of focus for King Philanthropies. After steadily declining for a decade, world hunger is again on the rise, affecting 10% of the global population. In sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia, malnutrition causes 45% of deaths of children under the age of 5 and leaves 1 in 4 children physically and cognitively stunted. Furthermore, climate change is pushing more people into extreme poverty, bringing new famines, and worsening malnutrition. In the face of these grim numbers, malnutrition remains a highly neglected problem by donors. King Philanthropies’ new Food Security and Nutrition initiative recognizes that malnutrition, extreme poverty, and climate change are inextricably linked, and focuses on interventions at the intersection of these issues. We recently announced a new commitment to build a portfolio of grants and investments that seek to address the critical need, and to deliver impact in nutrition and food security outcomes. 

Senior Portfolio Manager, Food Security and Nutrition

This Senior Portfolio Manager is a new position at King Philanthropies. Reporting to the Director of Special Initiatives, the Senior Portfolio Manager will play an integral role in building and executing a global strategy for the new Food Security and Nutrition initiative.  In the role as Senior Portfolio Manager, this individual will help define the program strategy, identify priority investment categories, and source, support and manage a cohort of high-performing portfolio organizations.

For example, our early areas of exploration include shifts towards nutritious, lower carbon-emitting diets (edible insects, regenerative aquaculture, better fisheries management), optimizing land use and improving agricultural practices (regenerative agriculture, soil health, indigenous practices) and highly scalable, cost-effective solutions with high relevance to those living in poverty (food fortification, multiple micronutrient supplements). The Senior Portfolio Manager will work with colleagues to advance analysis and opportunity identification in these areas, as well as initiate research into further priority investment categories that fit our core criteria and strategic plan. In addition, the Senior Portfolio Manager will play a valuable role across the organization as a “team of teams” player by providing targeted research and analysis spanning different functions, such as the CEO’s office, Strategy, Communications, and other program initiatives.

The ideal candidate will be a highly motivated, analytical, and thoughtful team player with a track record of success in nutrition, food systems and international development.  They will demonstrate sophisticated judgement, a grantee-centric perspective, and the ability to think and operate both at a high level, while also being detail-oriented.

The broad goals and objectives for the Senior Portfolio Manager are as follows:

• Develop and implement the Food Security and Nutrition strategy, priorities, and plans, in partnership with team members.
• Source, evaluate, and present high-impact grant and investment opportunities by conducting desk research, talking to peer funders, interviewing experts, and analyzing opportunities against key criteria including impact evidence, scale potential, and capacity to deliver results
• Independently conduct sector-wide research and analysis to craft and evaluate priority investment categories and funding approaches for the Food Security and Nutrition program.
• Regularly evaluate data on our grantee portfolio, including reviewing reports and tracking progress against key metrics.
• Build and manage relationships with a cohort of portfolio organizations, serve as an effective partner, and create opportunities to deepen impact.
• Contribute to developing and promoting high-quality materials to share King Philanthropies’ work within the food security and nutrition space, and to advance the sector.
• Write articles and blog posts to raise awareness for high-impact interventions and priority investment categories and to codify best practices of our grantees and investees.
• Travel internationally for site visits, primarily to Sub-Saharan Africa and South or Southeast Asia, to meet with existing and prospective grant and investment recipients as needed.

Professional and Personal Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree with significant professional work experience; a master’s degree is strongly preferred.
• Significant academic and work experience in the fields of food systems, nutrition, and/or international development.
• Proven ability to efficiently research, analyze and synthesize large volumes of information from diverse sources to identify emerging trends and opportunities.
• Exceptional verbal and written communications skills, with talent for conveying complex ideas in a clear and compelling manner for different audiences.
• Excellent listening and interpersonal skills, and the ability to influence effectively.
• Highly committed self-starter with strong sense of accountability to drive results.
• Curiosity, creativity, humility, flexibility and a sense of humor are greatly valued.
• Demonstrated passion for and the commitment to King Philanthropies’ mission.
• Authorized to work and reside in the United States.
• Ability to comply with the King Philanthropies policy regarding working from the office as it exists from time to time. Currently, the policy requires employees to work in person with other employees a minimum of 25% of the time each month, averaged over a three month time span. At least some of that time will be in the Menlo Park office. Some of that time might be elsewhere, such as at site visits, conferences or other offsite convenings. Some months the in-person time might be more than 25%, some months less. 

How to Apply

Interested candidates should email a cover letter which provides specific examples of how your experience aligns with the requirements of this position and a resume to Daniel Sherman, President, Explore Company at resumes@explorecompany.com.  Refer to KP/SPMFSN in the subject line.  No phone inquiries please.

King Philanthropies is an equal opportunity employer and seeks a diverse pool of candidates in this search. Diversity is an asset essential to accomplishing their work. They value differences in age, color, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, and other characteristics that make employees unique. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply. 

All correspondence will remain confidential.