Careers

Through its grants, the Foundation seeks to build just communities enriched by meaning and guided by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive. The Foundation makes grants in four core grantmaking areas, Higher Learning, Public Knowledge, Arts and Culture, and Humanities in Place, and through signature Presidential Initiatives. The Foundation is an equal opportunity employer that offers a competitive salary and excellent benefits and working conditions.

The Mellon Foundation is committed to access and inclusion for our applicants. If you have accessibility requests to support your participation in the hiring process, please let us know at your earliest convenience.

The Foundation’s benefits program is intended to offer employees multiple choices in high-quality benefit plans, comprehensive core benefits, and the flexibility to choose optional benefits. We seek to provide employees with the benefits that best fit their needs and the needs of their families. Current benefits include:

Reporting to the Senior Program Associate and working with the full team, the Program Apprentice will support the Monuments Project initiative within the Office of the President. The Apprentice will provide a wide range of administrative, organizational, and research support. This apprentice is ideal for a student or early career professional seeking an opportunity to gain exposure to and experience with transforming the way our country’s histories are told in public spaces and ensuring that future generations inherit a commemorative landscape that venerates and reflects the vast, rich complexity of the American story. The Apprentice will also have the opportunity to learn about foundation operations generally and within a cohort of interns and apprentices across a variety of the Foundation’s departments. The one-year apprenticeship begins in June 2026 and runs full-time (37.5 hours per week) through August 2026. It transitions into a part-time position (at minimum 22.5 hours per week) from September through May 2027.

This position, reporting to the Media Relations Senior Associate with oversight from the Director of Media & Public Relations, will support a wide range of media relations efforts within the Foundation’s New York-based Communications department. Responsibilities include administrative and organizational duties, research support, media monitoring, drafting materials, and outreach.

This is a 12-month, full-time position with a start date of early June 2026.

The Operations Project Manager will be a member of the COO’s team, and assist with the shaping, resource and time-tracking, and timely implementation of ongoing and new Operations Team projects and initiatives that aim to improve organizational efficiency. This position reports to the Director of Operations (“Director”).

The Finance Intern will support the Finance team with budgeting, financial analysis, reporting, and operational projects. This internship provides hands-on exposure to real-world financial management and an opportunity to learn how finance supports organizational strategy and decision-making. The intern will work closely with finance professionals and gain practical experience in a collaborative, mission-driven environment.

Reporting to the Program Director and working with the full team, the Program Apprentice will provide a wide range of administrative, organizational, and research support. This role is ideal for a graduate student seeking an opportunity to gain exposure to and experience with place-based cultural heritage, the built environment, and humanities projects and initiatives, as well as foundation operations, generally. The one-year apprenticeship begins in June 2026 and runs full-time (37.5 hours per week) through August 2026. It transitions into a part-time position (22.5 hours per week) from September through May 2027.

Reporting to the Program Associate, the Program Intern will participate in a hybrid (in-person and remote) role supporting the Public Knowledge program. The intern will get the opportunity to contribute to project development related to community memory and public libraries and gain experience in program documentation, qualitative analysis and the development of calls for proposals. This internship is ideal for a graduate student seeking an opportunity to gain exposure to philanthropy and a deeper understanding of the funding landscape for public libraries. Please note that the role is focused on grantmaking, program learning, and philanthropic strategy in support of libraries, rather than on practicing librarianship or providing direct library services.

The internship has a start date in late May or early June 2026 and is available as a 10-week, full-time position.

The Mellon Foundation is looking for two Legal Interns to join the Legal Team for a full-time, 10-week summer program starting in June 2026. The Legal Interns will support a range of projects throughout their time at the Foundation and will gain exposure to the wide spectrum of work that makes up in-house practice. Work will likely span numerous areas of law including exempt organization law (including applicable federal tax law and state nonprofit law), corporate law, and intellectual property law. The Legal Interns will have an opportunity to work and interact with staff across the Foundation such as program staff, finance, communications, investments, and HR. Additionally, the interns will participate in activities including networking opportunities with peers in the Mellon Summer Intern cohort and legal professionals in the nonprofit sector.

Reporting to the Program Director for Humanities in Place, the Senior Program Assistant will provide programmatic, logistical, and research support to programmatic work in Humanities in Place. The successful candidate will be thoughtful, highly motivated, energetic, collaborative, and congenial, with well-developed communication and organizational skills.

This position includes independent work on on-going grantmaking activities (such as serving as a liaison to grantees, corresponding with grantees about proposals; managing program-related information in the Foundation’s grant portal (Fluxx) and other information systems like Monday.com and PowerBI; tracking grant files, data, and budgets, reviewing and preparing proposals and reports; and assisting with preparing dockets and other materials for trustee meetings); episodic or long-term research projects; collaborative work with colleagues across program areas, the President’s Office, and the Foundation (for example on compliance, legal, program planning, and program-related event coordination); and administrative work in support of the Program Director and grantmaking out of the Humanities in Place program.