Senior Program Officer - Connect Strategy

Are you a strategic systems thinker with a range of experiences in state, regional, and educational settings? Do you understand policy and have a passion for creating scaled change in education and workforce? Are you an exceptional communicator who can build relationships with and provide guidance for leaders and changemakers?

We're seeking an experienced Senior Program Officer to serve as a lead strategy execution officer within one of Ascendium's three core philanthropic strategy teams.

• Expand Opportunity: Create more options for learners to engage in postsecondary education or workforce training that provides a path to living-wage employment in high-growth, high-demand fields.
• Support Learner Success: Strengthen systems of academic and non-academic support and redesign structures to help learners navigate and succeed in postsecondary education and workforce training.
• Connect and Align Systems: Connect and align systems to ensure all learning counts towards credentials with labor market value and that learners do not experience dead ends.

This position will serve on the Connect and Align Systems strategy team. The Connect and Align Systems strategy focuses on state, regional, and multisystem investments that do the following.

• Support increasingly cohesive visions and systems of higher education and workforce development across the nation.
• Support the creation of conditions necessary to enable connection and alignment within the learn and work ecosystem.
• Create seamless paths from K-12 education to and through postsecondary education to family-sustaining participation in the workforce.
• Promote a learning and working environment in which credit mobility, seamless transfer, and credit for prior learning are the default setting and in which all learning counts.
• Enhance opportunities for learners to have and make informed navigational choices within the postsecondary education and workforce ecosystem.
• Improve data systems to track student outcomes and inform decisions about education/training opportunities.
• Increase the efficacy of public higher educational funding models.

Reporting to a Deputy Director, the Senior Program Officer works in partnership with their strategy team to advance grantmaking goals through the careful design, management, and review of one or more strategic portfolios. Senior Program Officers are expected to implement sophisticated philanthropic practices, including rigorous analysis of grant concepts and proposals and assembling coherent sets of grants that collectively advance a strong theory of change aimed at, and contributing new knowledge about, what it takes to scale promising reforms to benefit learners from low-income backgrounds. Senior Program Officers are expected to develop and execute proactive initiatives aligned to strategic goals, including leading the design of creative and impactful grantmaking activities (e.g., RFPs, communities of practice).

The Senior Program Officer works in collaboration with the Senior Learning and Impact Officer to identify strategic learning needs, develop and monitor learning agendas connected to strategic portfolios, distill insights from grant investments, and further refine the grantmaking strategy and its effectiveness. In addition to managing active grants and initiatives, the Senior Program Officer builds their own expertise in the subject areas relevant to their grantmaking. The Senior Program Officer also provides field leadership, including providing significant thought partnership; facilitating connections among grantees, partner organizations, and peer funders; hosting/facilitating conference sessions and strategic convenings; engaging in aligned funder networks and professional associations; and writing thought pieces to share Ascendium's learning and perspective with key audiences.

The salary range for this position is $115,000 to $130,000.

Job Responsibilities

On a day-to-day basis, you may do the following.

• Work with the Deputy Director and colleagues on the Connect and Align Systems strategy team to ensure grantmaking activity is effective and aligns with Ascendium's strategy and approach.
• Lead the design, execution, and annual review of one or more portfolios that align with the objectives and priorities of the Connect and Align Systems strategy.
• Play a significant role in the development of responsive grantmaking priorities, ensuring that key learning questions are articulated that help further refine and focus the strategy.
• Work across the lifecycle of grant funding, including developing portfolio objectives, sourcing ideas and partners, assessing strategic alignment in response to ideas that emerge from the field, shepherding applicants through the grant proposal process, developing appropriate reporting and payment structures, and drafting succinct, clear and analytic new funding proposals for board of directors' review.
• Collaborate with other Senior Program Officers, Program Officers and/or Associate Program Officers to meet grantmaking goals within strategic portfolios and responsive priorities.
• In partnership with the Senior Learning and Impact Officer, further develop and execute Ascendium's approach to learning from our responsive grantmaking and strategic grantmaking portfolios with well-articulated theories of change and explicit learning agendas.
• Serve as a mentor to program officers and associate program officers as assigned by the Deputy Director.
• Provide support to grantees by facilitating connections with peer organizations and other funders and help to elevate and amplify project outcomes through Ascendium's strategic communications channels.
• Provide strategic support to grantees through thought-partnership, sharing best practices, and connecting grantees to other resources necessary to help them succeed.
• Lead planning and execution of Ascendium-led convenings and other events in support of strategic goals.
• Coordinate as appropriate with Ascendium Strategic Communications around strategic portfolio and responsive priorities messaging.
• Collaborate with the Deputy Director to establish priorities for administrative budget planning.
• Develop relationships and partnerships with national and regional funders that support the successful execution of the strategy (e.g., co-funding efforts with peers).
• Represent Ascendium through presentations at national and regional conferences, engaging in networks, field working groups and committees.
• Other related duties as assigned.

Knowledge and Skill Requirements

A highly qualified candidate will possess the following.

• Knowledge equivalent to a master's degree in education, philanthropy, social sciences, social work, public policy, community development, economics, business, or a related field.
• Seven or more years of experience in postsecondary education; workforce training or workforce development; philanthropy; nonprofit organizations; or local, state, or federal government.
• Experience working in a postsecondary education system office, a state office of postsecondary education or workforce, or an intermediary organization focused on education or workforce policy is preferred.
• Familiarity and/or experience with state/federal higher education and workforce governance and contexts.
• Advanced knowledge and awareness of current higher education and workforce innovation/reform conversations, trends, and research.
• Demonstrated commitment to Ascendium's mission of increasing opportunities for learners from low-income backgrounds.
• A track record of leading initiatives, strategic projects, or complex programs with multiple stakeholders.
• Ability to work cooperatively and inclusively with others to achieve shared goals.
• Effective interpersonal skills exemplified by initiative, authenticity, courtesy, diplomacy, positive attitude, and professionalism.
• Ability to develop and maintain strong working relationships with and among a diverse group of stakeholders.
• Curiosity and a desire to be a continuous learner, building individual and team capacity for deepening Ascendium's impact as a funder.
• Comfort with ambiguity and the ability to adapt to a fast-paced, continually evolving work environment.
• Strong project management skills with demonstrated ability to execute and follow through to achieve intended results by honoring commitments, prioritizing work, and managing time and resources well.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

About Ascendium

Ascendium is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that has helped millions of learners pursue postsecondary education since 1967, when we were formed to help fulfill the promise of the landmark Higher Education Act of 1965. Over the years, we've grown to become the nation's largest federal student loan guarantor, providing information, tools, and counseling to help millions of borrowers nationwide avoid default and keep the door to reenrollment open. Using our years of experience in the student loan industry, we've developed a suite of products and services that support academic achievement, financial wellness, and student loan repayment success.

We use the net proceeds from our business operations to fund our education philanthropy. Our strategic grantmaking provides funding to organizations that increase the number of low-income learners who succeed in postsecondary education and workforce training as critical pathway to upward mobility, regardless of economic background, race, rurality, or history of incarceration, or other factors. Through grantmaking and related investments in evidence-building and strategic field engagement, we seek to identify emerging innovations and reforms, validate their effectiveness, and expand proven strategies to promote large-scale, systemic change.

Location

This position will initially be posted as requiring residence in or relocation to Madison, Wisconsin, where Ascendium Education Group is headquartered. Madison-based employees have a hybrid schedule, working three days in the office and two days remotely, which provides the opportunity for valuable in-person collaboration. However, a remote hire may be considered if no qualified Madison-based candidates can be identified. Approximately half of the Education Philanthropy team works remotely from locations across the U.S. Not all locations are eligible for remote hire; eligibility depends on local and state tax and employment laws. Qualified candidates who are not based in Madison or able to relocate may apply and indicate as such but should be aware that preference will be given to Madison residency.

Travel

This position should anticipate traveling six to ten times per year to professional conferences, grantee events, site visits, home weeks to Madison, Wisconsin, and other mission-aligned convenings.

Benefits

Ascendium offers an outstanding benefits package designed to provide employees and their families with a high degree of security. These benefits include, but are not limited to:

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• Student loan repayment assistance and tuition reimbursement.
• Ongoing training and professional development opportunities.
• Flexible, hybrid schedule.

Ascendium provides equal employment opportunity to all individuals regardless of their race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, creed, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by state or federal law.

H-1B sponsorship (initiation or transfer) is not available for this position.

If you would like assistance with the application process, please email Ascendium Human Resources. We invite all applicants to complete the Voluntary Affirmative Action questions when submitting application materials. The questions are found at the end of the online application process. To learn more about our commitment to Equal Employment Opportunity, please visit the Ascendium Careers webpage.