Program Manager

Howard Hughes Medical Institute•Headquarters, KY

25d•$103,508 - $129,385•Hybrid

About The Position

HHMI is seeking a Program Manager to support its Community College Pilot. This role is ideal for someone who excels at systems thinking and can translate data into actionable insights about student progress. The Program Manager will be responsible for tracking activities across Pilot sites, assisting the team in responding to data-driven findings, and collaborating closely with the Senior Program Manager and Program Coordinator. This position involves more analytical work than typical program roles at this level, focusing on building and maintaining tracking infrastructure, coordinating data collection, and managing programmatic responsibilities related to student success and community college student experiences. The Community College Pilot aims to support promising science students at community colleges through their transfer and bachelor's degree completion. A key feature of the Pilot is its focus on individual student support, requiring meticulous tracking of student progress beyond institutional reporting. This role is crucial for maintaining program direction by ensuring data accuracy, fostering relationships with students and staff, and serving as the initial point of contact for site-specific issues, thereby influencing the team's overall effectiveness.

Requirements

Brings data discipline. Builds systems that hold up over time, thinks about data structure before output, and catches quality problems before they compound.
Offers community college fluency. Brings direct professional experience in or with community colleges and understands what transfer actually asks of students, not just what the paperwork says.
Makes data useful, not just accurate. Does not stop at correct numbers, and frames findings in ways that help a program team understand what to do next.
Stays organized under complexity. Tracks a wide set of institutional relationships and data streams simultaneously without losing threads.
Communicates across audiences. Writes a technical data summary for an internal team and a clear student-facing email in the same morning.
Is mission-connected. Cares specifically about science access and transfer equity, not just program management in the abstract.
A bachelor's degree is required.
A minimum of three to five years of professional experience in higher education, student success, institutional research, program evaluation, or a related field is required.

Nice To Haves

Background supporting transfer students or science student populations.
Experience with student information systems, survey tools, or data visualization platforms.
Experience with program assessment and longitudinal student tracking.
A graduate degree is preferred.

Responsibilities

Builds and runs the tracking systems. Develops and maintains systems for monitoring student participation, persistence, transfer, and graduation outcomes across Pilot sites. Owns data quality, consistency, and confidentiality.
Coordinates data collection. Works with institutional partners to gather program data, reconciles inconsistencies, and ensures reporting requirements are met. Serves as the person who knows where the gaps are.
Turns data into usable information. Analyzes quantitative and qualitative data to identify trends and challenges. Prepares summaries, dashboards, and reports for internal and external audiences.
Supports evaluation. Assists with evaluation framework development and dissemination of lessons learned and effective practices.
Leads student success work. Collaborates with partner institutions on student recruitment, engagement, and retention. Monitors participation in program offerings and flags students who may need additional support.
Serves as a community college resource. Brings knowledge of community college student experiences, transfer pathways, and institutional practices to the team's program design and decision-making.
Acts as the point of contact for site issues. Serves as the first point of contact when questions or issues arise across Pilot sites, coordinating with the broader team to resolve them rather than solving every problem independently.