Job Description
Interim Program Manager, US Programs, Office of the President
Seattle, WA
This is an interim backfill role to cover for an employee who will be out on parental leave. The duration of the assignment is targeted for 12-15 months starting in November. However, the start and end dates may change.
Role Title: Program Manager (12-15 Month LTE)
Division: US Program
Group: Office of the President
Location: Seattle
Travel Requirements: Minimal
Application Deadline: Please note, this will only be posted until Monday 10/12
Division Summary
The vision of the foundation’s U.S. Program (USP) works to ensure that everyone in the US has access to life-changing opportunities. That’s why our primary focus in education is ensuring that all students – especially Black, Latinx, and low-income students – have an opportunity to earn a degree or certificate that prepares them for a successful career and life. But often, education isn’t enough. Factors outside of schools and the classroom have an enormous impact on a student’s success. That’s why we’re also supporting efforts by public officials and community groups to better understand and advance economic mobility, leading to permanent ladders out of poverty for families and communities, such that race, ethnicity, and income are no longer predictors of outcomes.
We hope to help break the intergenerational cycle of poverty that prevents families and communities from opportunities to reach their full potential by making sure our work helps more students get on track to obtain a postsecondary credential with labor market value such that race, ethnicity, and income are no longer predictors of outcomes.
Office of the President Summary
The USP Office of the President (OOP) aims to amplify US programs’ impact by aligning and delivering cross-team strategic and operational resources and insights while fostering a high integrity culture.
Our mission is to:
Ensure optimal impact of division programs and operations, and high standards of stewardship through performance management and the strategic allocation of resources.
Deliver division-wide supports to program teams to bolster capacity and drive the implementation and associated change management of programmatic and operational initiatives.
Partner with program teams to ensure alignment of strategic priorities (programmatic and operational) and actively establish understanding of USP progress and learning across USP and foundation leadership.
We do this by:
Orchestrating change and learning with agility and rigor for collective success
Lead special initiatives driven by the president
Manage cross-foundational efforts and relationships
Enable Co-chair and leadership learning
Support strategic use of leadership time and voice to most effectively drive achievement of division goals
Create enabling ecosystem for division-wide or cross-PST collaboration
Strengthening strategic thinking and planning
Develop and implement strong, efficient strategy and operational systems and processes
Improve strategy, planning, and resource allocation through performance management, MLE, and thought partnership
Develop processes and provide insights to support portfolio management and investment making
Fostering a high integrity culture
Cultivate an environment of inclusivity in which our people can do their best work
Model high integrity in a fair, consistent and transparent manner
Utilize continuous improvement and regular feedback loops to develop our division, teams and people
Steward our culture within our org and across USP
Job Description Summary
The Program Manager in the U.S. Program (USP) Office of the President will serve to facilitate and support cross-cutting programmatic and/or operational initiatives. This role will contribute to the improved alignment and execution of the division’s strategies in education and economic opportunity and its core business processes.
The Program Manager will serve as both a project manager and facilitator of integrative work spanning across program strategies that could include early learning, K-12 education, higher education and economic mobility; as well as key business processes. This role will provide process & project management, strategic thought partnership and analytic capability to support the scoping, management and definition of cross-cutting work across the division. The Program Manager will support and work in partnership with program staff to improve the coordination and integration of related program efforts and facilitate the development and alignment of work across multiple program teams.
Core Responsibilities
Works in collaboration with programmatic and/or operations staff to develop and define initiative objectives and parameters of the effort;
Responsible for coordinating program efforts related to program definition; supports the management of cross-cutting teams; provides integrated project management, and resource planning;
Gathers and synthesizes relevant information (both internal and external), provides analytic contributions and surfaces key strategic questions, develops processes and procedures for soliciting feedback and input to advance the alignment of interests across multiple partners; and produces key findings and recommendations in consultation with senior staff.
Core Knowledge and Skills
Creative, analytical, self-starter (ambitious with only high-level direction), highly collaborative, strong writing/ presentation skills;
Exemplary written and verbal communication skills; ability to effectively facilitate, manage and summarize divergent points of view to advance the thinking of the group, synthesize and extract meaning from complex bodies of work and effectively communicate key takeaways for diverse audiences;
Strong facility in visually presenting information (e.g., comfort and familiarity with PowerPoint or other presentation software) and producing clear & cogent presentation materials & deliverables;
Demonstrated program management skills and a successful track record of leading multiple projects at a time. Provides thought partnership on project definition, planning / scoping the work, organizing and designing appropriate solutions.
Excellence in using informal influence and non-positional leadership to accomplish work, ability to build trust, is a team leader and player who motivates and educates other team members and understands the value of interpersonal relationship building.
Quick study, ability to delve into new subject matter and come up to speed in a relatively brief period; comfortable working in support role to subject matter experts;
Strong leadership skills, initiative, persistence, tact, pragmatism, and flexibility.
Excellent management skills, consistent strategic and tactical focus, and initiative.
Ability to reconcile multiple diverse viewpoints and often to negotiate across internal partners.
Education and Experience
BA/ BS required
Advanced degree with 5+ years of experience, or equivalent experience.
Preferred backgrounds in education or related field; not required
The employee transfer policy applies to internal backfill positions. An employee may apply for an open position after at least 12 months in their current position. If you meet this requirement and wish to pursue a backfill opportunity, you are required to have a conversation with your manager to confirm their support before you apply. In rare cases, the requirement of a minimum of 12 months in a position may be waived if a transfer is critical to the foundation’s goals and is approved by the current manager and their HR Consultant (HR Business Partner or Generalist).
All backfill positions are posted as LTE roles. With current manager support, if selected for the role, FTEs will retain their FTE status during the backfill assignment. Managers will have the option of backfilling for the individual moving to the interim position for a similar duration via the same hiring channels and options as this position. However, current managers may be unwilling or unable to hold headcount for the duration of an interim assignment and may deny the employee’s request. In such cases, the employee may apply for the open LTE position, but if selected, would effectively be resigning as an FTE and would be hired as an LTE for the duration of the interim assignment. As an LTE, employment with the foundation is expected to end at the end of the assignment, and the employee would not be eligible for severance.