Iowa STRONG Consortium Director

Hawkeye Community College•Hawkeye Community College Main Campus, IA

3d•Onsite

About The Position

Hawkeye Community College is hiring a full-time, grant funded Iowa STRONG Consortium Director to join our team. This is a rare chance to lead a genuinely statewide initiative by coordinating an effort that spans all 15 Iowa community colleges and touches over 370,000 students annually, rather than a single-campus program. You'll help shape how Iowans access Workforce Pell-eligible credentials in high-demand fields like advanced manufacturing, healthcare, and skilled trades, working at the center of a high-functioning network of college presidents, state agency leaders, and 44 employer partners. Our role offers a front-row seat to tangible, measurable impact from curriculum development to credential attainment to employment outcomes. You will build transferable experience in federal grant administration, multi-institutional coordination, and workforce systems, making it a strong platform for advancement in higher education or workforce development leadership.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree and 3 years of experience in education, public administration, workforce development, or related field.
Demonstrated experience working across multiple institutions, campuses, or sites to align strategy and implementation.
Demonstrated success building and sustaining relationships with employer partners or industry advisory groups.
Demonstrated experience with change management or program sustainability planning beyond a grant period.
Demonstrated ability to work with a wide array of students, faculty, staff, and the general public.
Ability to demonstrate strong interpersonal communication.
Skilled in Microsoft Office Suite, Google applications, and video conferencing technology.
Demonstrated ability to execute organization and department policies and procedures.
Demonstrated ability to handle confidential/sensitive information with discretion.

Nice To Haves

Demonstrated experience administering or coordinating federal grants, including compliance and reporting cycles.
Familiarity with Workforce Pell, WIOA, or other workforce-education federal policy and funding streams.
Demonstrated experience working with state education or workforce agencies.
Demonstrated experience overseeing or coordinating third-party program evaluations.
Supervisory or cross-functional team leadership experience.
Demonstrated experience in program management, workforce development, or education administration.

Responsibilities

Oversees day-to-day implementation of the Iowa STRONG work plan across all consortium colleges.
Coordinates and facilitates communication among consortium colleges, state partners (including but not limited to: Iowa Department of Education and Iowa Workforce Development), Community Colleges for Iowa, and employer partners.
Monitors progress toward grant milestones and deliverables; flag risks and course-correct with partners as needed.
Develops and maintains a statewide employer engagement framework, outreach toolkit, and centralized employer partner inventory.
Disseminates promising practices in employer-responsive curriculum design and work-based learning to consortium partners.
Partners with the Data Specialist to ensure timely, accurate data collection and reporting via the centralized Salesforce system.
Facilitates peer learning sessions and manages a formal process for identifying implementation barriers and technical assistance needs.
Supports quarterly data validation and performance reviews with consortium partners.
Coordinates with the required third-party evaluator and Department of Labor (DOL) national evaluators.
Manages consortium Open Educational Resources (OER) activities, including OER Plan and submission of materials to SkillsCommons in accordance with DOL requirements.
Coordinates the consortium’s Linked Open Data credential transparency plan with the Iowa Department of Education and Iowa Workforce Development.
Represents Iowa STRONG in statewide meetings, steering committee sessions, and with state officials.
Supports sustainability planning to ensure program continuity beyond the 48-month grant period.
Participates in campus committees as assigned.
Performs other duties as assigned.