About the WIn Fellowship

The WIn (Women Innovators) Fellowship was launched in 2022 in Saudi Arabia by the Atlantic Council empowerME Initiative in partnership with Georgetown University. The WIn Fellowship supports over thirty women entrepreneurs, enabling them to build leadership and executive capacity to scale their startups to new heights. As part of the program, the Atlantic Council also produces publications with insights, case studies, and policy recommendations to help improve women’s economic participation and equality. The unique collaboration between the Atlantic Council and Georgetown University delivers mentoring and networking opportunities with leading US and MENA experts and business executives, a custom executive education program by Georgetown University, and workshops with leading experts. The program includes a fully sponsored trip to the United States for the top participants for leadership training at Georgetown and meetings with US business and government leaders. The WIn Fellowship will expand to Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates in 2023 in addition to a second cohort in Saudi Arabia.

About the empowerME Initiative
The empowerME Initiative at the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East is shaping solutions to empower entrepreneurs, women, and the private sector and building influential coalitions to drive regional economic integration, prosperity, and job creation.

Overview of the Role
The Atlantic Council seeks a talented, motivated, and creative Assistant Director to support the work of the empowerME Initiative. The ideal candidate will have an interest in international business/entrepreneurship and women’s economic empowerment as well as experience coordinating and supporting fellowships, educational/professional exchanges, or similar programs. The Assistant Director will work closely with the Chairman and Associate Director of the empowerME Initiative on all aspects of day-to-day program management. Previous experience working on Middle East policy in government, a think tank, or other NGO is highly desired.

The ideal candidate will be well-organized and detail-oriented and will have demonstrable administrative and communication experience. The Assistant Director will also be involved in the substantive development of regional and thematic projects for three WIn Fellowship. An excellent organizer and communicator, the Assistant Director will support the coordination and management of WIn Fellowship events and meetings, support the recruitment of fellows, help with tracking budgets, draft narrative and financial reports to donors, draft social media content, draft and edit internal and external communications, update the empowerME Initiative webpage, manage publications, and contribute to managing donor relations, among other responsibilities. The candidate will also be encouraged to engage in their own research and publishing.

A successful candidate will have an entrepreneurial spirit and enjoy a deadline-driven work environment. The position requires a superior ability to multitask with a record of coordinating multiple projects and events, excellent administrative skills, exceptional writing ability, attention to detail, and a positive attitude. Experience living in the region is a plus, as is proficiency in a Middle Eastern language.

This position is based in our Washington, DC headquarters on a hybrid schedule.

Responsibilities:

• Support the development and execution of several WIn Fellowships across a number of countries in the MENA.
• Oversee multiple projects (events, research, podcast, and publications) related to the WIn Fellowship.
• Coordinate roundtables, webinars, and meetings related to the WIn Fellowship and the entrepreneurship track of the empowerME Initiative.
• Draft social media copy to promote articles, events, podcast, and projects.
• Work with the comms team to promote all WIn fellowship projects and entrepreneurship related events and publications.
• Schedule WIn Fellowship team meetings.
• Support the planning and execution of the annual WIn Fellowship “roadshow” trip to the US.
• Serve as a liaison for internal and external offices including high-level US and foreign government officials, diplomats, business executives, board members, and internal Council employees and management.
• Prepare briefing materials and background memos for senior members of the organization as needed.
• Draft weekly reports of the Fellowship activities, as well as regular communication to donors and stakeholders.
• Support other Middle East Program activities as appropriate.

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field, such as Middle East affairs, international affairs, or economics/business (work experience will also be considered in lieu of a degree or advanced degree); Master’s degree is a plus.
• Approximately 3-5 years of relevant work experience.
• Excellent organizational, logistical, and administrative skills.
• Strong attention to detail.
• Superior writing, communication, and analytic skills.
• Ability to represent the Atlantic Council to external constituencies, such as senior officials, board members, donors, and individual and corporate members.
• HTML and web skills are an advantage.
• Demonstrable interest in the MENA region.
• Experience living, studying or working in the MENA region is highly desired, as is proficiency in a Middle Eastern language.