About the Milken Institute
The Milken Institute is a globally minded, publicly supported, non-partisan, and nonprofit think tank headquartered in Santa Monica, with offices in Washington, DC, New York, London, Abu Dhabi, and Singapore. For the past three decades, the Milken Institute has served as a catalyst for practical, scalable solutions to global challenges by connecting human, financial, and educational resources to those who need them. Guided by a conviction that the best ideas, under-resourced, cannot succeed, we conduct research and analysis and convene top experts, innovators, and influencers from different backgrounds and competing viewpoints. We leverage this expertise and insight to construct programs and policy initiatives. These activities are designed to help people build meaningful lives, in which they can experience health and well-being, pursue effective education and gainful employment, and access the resources required to create ever-expanding opportunities for themselves and their broader communities.
The Milken Institute’s events and programmatic activities, involve the exchange of ideas with leaders from around the world. The Institute hosts more than 200 events each year, with our annual flagship event, Global Conference, bringing together 4,500+ participants from around the world, featuring more than 900+ speakers throughout 200+ sessions over the course of the event.
About the Position
The Milken Institute is seeking an Associate, Business and Program Development in the Santa Monica office to support the development, planning, and execution of finance and business programming across the Institute’s global events.
In this role, the candidate would be focused on auditing and maintaining business development-lead panels within our bespoke grid database, which is maintained in Salesforce. This role combines program tracking, speaker coordination, event production, database management, and business development support. The Associate will work closely with the Business and Program Development team, and collaborate across Global Programming, Speaker Relations, Events and other internal teams.
The ideal candidate is highly organized, detail-oriented, digitally fluent, and comfortable managing multiple workstreams in a fast-paced environment. This role requires strong communication skills, sound judgment, intellectual curiosity, and the ability to work independently while maintaining consistent follow-through.
The candidate will report to the Director, Business and Program Development.
Responsibilities
- Audit and maintain internal CRM and program databases, including Salesforce, to ensure data accuracy, completeness, and consistency.
- Create, maintain, and update program grids and master schedules for Milken Institute conferences and international summits.
- Track speaker availability, requests, invitations, confirmations, and scheduling.
- Maintain accurate panel information, including titles, descriptions, speakers, moderators, timing, locations, and other program details.
- Take detailed notes during team meetings, speaker discussions, and conference calls to ensure clarity, accountability, and alignment.
- Facilitate screen sharing, conference-call logistics, and other virtual meeting requirements.
- Support day-to-day programming operations, event logistics, registration workflows, and speaker coordination.
- Maintain clear records of program changes and ensure updates are reflected consistently across internal systems.
- Draft and facilitate communications to Business Development, Programming, Speaker Relations, and other internal stakeholders regarding program developments and processes.
- Collaborate across departments to ensure timely execution of program milestones and deliverables.
- Duties as assigned.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree required.
- Minimum of three years of relevant experience in business development, programming, events, database management, or a related field.
- Exceptional organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple projects, deadlines, and large volumes of information simultaneously.
- Excellent oral and written communication skills.
- Self-starter who demonstrates initiative, productivity, good judgment, and consistent follow-through.
- Team-oriented and willing to support colleagues as priorities shift and deadlines approach.
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office, particularly Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint; experience with Salesforce, CRM systems, event-management platforms, or project-management tools preferred.
- Strong digital literacy, including the ability to quickly learn and effectively use CRM platforms, collaboration tools, data-management systems, AI-enabled productivity tools, and emerging technologies to improve workflow efficiency, research, communication, and program execution.
- Comfortable using and actively experimenting with AI tools (e.g., Claude, Copilot, Agentforce) to support data entry, quality control, and document drafting — with an eagerness to keep learning and applying new implementations to improve efficiency and accuracy.
- Intellectual curiosity and an interest in global finance, markets, business, technology, and current events.
- Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, collaborative, and globally focused environment.
Working Conditions & Travel Requirements
This position will work in a professional office environment on a hybrid schedule consisting of three (3) days per week reporting in-person to the Santa Monica office location (Tuesday – Thursday), with the remaining two (2) days working remotely. Please understand, this schedule is subject to change at the Institute’s sole discretion.
This person will also be required to travel occasionally to other offices and/or venues to assist with events as needed, requiring occasional work outside of traditional hours. Additionally, this position requires interacting virtually on a regular basis with Milken Institute staff based in other locations in the United States and around the world.
Note
The statements herein are intended to describe the overall nature and level of work being performed by employees and are not to be construed as an exhaustive list of responsibilities, duties, and skills required of personnel so classified. Furthermore, they do not establish a contract for employment and are subject to change at the discretion of the employer.
We are interested in qualified candidates who are eligible to work in the United States. Please note, we are not sponsoring visas at this time, being authorized to work in the U.S. is a precondition of employment.
Please submit resume and cover letter illustrating how your experience and skills will contribute to the department and any unique qualities you bring to the position. If applying via Indeed, please upload your resume and any supporting documentation as one attachment. Any application that does not include both a resume and cover letter will be rejected. If you are unable to complete this application due to a disability, contact our Human Resources department to ask for an accommodation or an alternative application process.
Our Culture
The Milken Institute is proud to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, age, disability or status as a veteran.
Every person at the Milken Institute is treated with respect, supported with resources and training, and exposed to a broad range of experiences. We foster a space for growth with opportunities to share knowledge and passion with both clients and colleagues. We are committed to building a diverse workforce and creating an inclusive environment where everyone can thrive. Our leadership is actively involved in our commitment to diversity and inclusion, and fostering a culture that creates opportunities for everyone.
Benefits
- Health Care Plan (Medical, Dental & Vision)
- Retirement Plan - 403b (5% match)
- Life Insurance (Basic, Voluntary & AD&D)
- Paid Time Off (Personal, Vacation, Sick & Public Holidays)
- Family Leave (Maternity & Paternity)
- Fertility Support
- Short-Term & Long-Term Disability
- Flexible Spending Account (FSAs)
- Pet Insurance Discount
- Training & Development:
- LinkedIn Learning – over 15,000 self-guided classes offered
- Annual Mentor Program
- Wellness Resources:
- Employee Assistance Program
- CALM app membership
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