Program Manager, Field Engagement

ABOUT US

The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization whose purpose is to ignite human potential to build understanding and create new possibilities for a better world. Founded in 1949, the Institute drives change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve society’s greatest challenges. It is headquartered in Washington, DC and has a campus in Aspen, CO, as well as an international network of partners. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org.

COLLEGE EXCELLENCE PROGRAM

The Aspen Institute College Excellence Program (CEP) aims to strengthen higher education leadership and practice to improve student outcomes—with the ultimate goal of advancing economic mobility and developing talent for the good of each individual and society as a whole. We support this mission through multiple programs, including the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, the American Talent Initiative, the Aspen Presidents and Rising Presidents Fellowships, Unlocking Opportunity, and a range of transfer initiatives designed to improve bachelor’s attainment for students who start in community college. Each year, our work engages hundreds of college leaders at universities and community colleges that educate millions of students nationwide. For more information, visit highered.aspeninstitute.org or find us on LinkedIn.

ABOUT THIS ROLE

The College Excellence Program seeks a program manager to support our Leadership and Field Engagement (LFE) division. In this role, you will oversee the day-to-day management of major projects and workstreams, with a focus on CEP’s Unlocking Opportunity network. Unlocking Opportunity intensively engages community college leaders and teams over multiple years to develop and enact bold reforms aimed at increasing the number of students entering and completing high-value community college programs. The project's central goal is to ensure that more students complete programs that lead directly to jobs that pay a sustaining wage or to transfer and completion of a bachelor’s degree. Fifty-five community colleges recently joined to expand the Unlocking Opportunity network, bringing the total number of network colleges to 65 with an aggregate objective of impacting at least 100,000 students within the next three years.

Our ideal candidate is passionate about impacting lives through higher education. Our ideal candidate can also demonstrate – through examples from previous employment – an approach to work that is strategic, thoughtful, resourceful, and characterized by a proactive mindset and consistent follow-through to achieve results. Qualified candidates will have at least five years of experience as a project or program manager, preferably in the nonprofit sector working with leaders and senior teams in higher education. Experience must show an ability to drive complex project assignments such as (1) working closely with your supervisor and other colleagues to develop and deliver high-quality project materials in a timely manner; (2) collaborating with team members to draft and execute project plans for in-person and virtual events; (3) working with hotels and vendors to plan and deliver in-person events; (4) managing communications for internal and external audiences; and (5) supporting the evaluation of project workstreams.

This position is based in the Aspen Institute’s Washington, DC office with a minimum of 40% in-person work (two days per week), up to four weeks of travel per year, and a target salary range of $85,000 - $100,000. This position will report to CEP’s Assistant Director for LFE.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

Manage multiple workstreams within major CEP projects

• Develop a plan for managing all aspects of the project work, with an appropriately detailed project schedule and a realistic project budget.
  • Project alignment: Support the maintenance of a project alignment memo outlining the outcomes, approach, and deliverables to satisfy project goals and stakeholder expectations.
  • Project planning: Create a management plan with approaches for stakeholder engagement and communications; team, staff, and resource management; project evaluation; procurements and vendor management; risk and issue management; and quality management.
  • Project scheduling: Develop and maintain a project schedule (using enterprise tools such as Asana) that defines milestones, activities, dependencies, and staff assignments. Deconflict the project schedule against other CEP commitments.
  • Project b