Program Officer, US Exchange Alumni Program

IREX•Washington, DC

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

IREX seeks a Program Officer to support the U.S. Exchange Alumni Network and Capacity Building Program. The role leads assigned workstreams across professional development opportunities for U.S. citizen exchange alumni, including Career Connections seminars, the Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund Program, and the U.S. Exchange Alumni Fellowship. The Program Officer also contributes to program-wide monitoring, evaluation, and learning; reporting; finance and procurement; and award compliance. The position manages work products and timelines, coordinates participants and partners, resolves routine implementation challenges, and guides junior team members. The role is based at IREX headquarters in Washington, DC and requires in-person work consistent with IREX’s Flexible Work Policy: currently at least two days (16 hours) per week in the office, with one of those days being Wednesday. The position may require occasional evening or weekend program activities and domestic travel.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree.
At least 3 years of relevant professional experience supporting international exchange, leadership development, workforce or economic development, education, fellowship, or other donor-funded or participant-centered programs.
Ability to independently manage multiple program workstreams, prioritize competing deadlines, solve routine problems, and deliver high-quality results with limited supervision.
Excellent written, oral, and relationship-management skills, including drafting and editing professional materials, facilitating meetings and trainings, and building productive stakeholder relationships across cultural, professional, and geographic contexts.
Demonstrated judgment, discretion, and responsiveness when supporting participants and stakeholders and handling confidential, sensitive, or time-critical information.
Experience implementing international exchange, leadership development, workforce or economic development, education, fellowship, or other donor-funded or participant-centered programs.
Experience planning and implementing virtual and in-person events, trainings, workshops, orientations, and professional learning activities.
Experience providing guidance, coaching, or work direction to junior staff, interns, consultants, volunteers, or external partners.
Proficiency with Microsoft 365 applications, including Copilot, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, and SharePoint, and ability to learn and manage program, survey, learning, and financial systems.
Ability to support occasional evening or weekend program activities and travel domestically as required.
Unrestricted authorization to work in the United States.

Nice To Haves

Experience with U.S. Government-funded exchange programs.
Familiarity with applicable compliance, procurement, financial management, documentation, and reporting requirements.

Responsibilities

Lead assigned program workstreams from planning through closeout, ensuring timely, accurate, and thoughtful delivery.
Develop and maintain work plans, timelines, risk and issue logs, standard operating procedures, systems, records, and donor deliverables.
Monitor dependencies and quality across program components, resolve routine implementation issues, recommend practical adjustments, and escalate unusual, sensitive, or high-risk matters to program leadership.
Serve as a primary point of contact for assigned applicants, participants, program partners, vendors, consultants, speakers, and other stakeholders.
Draft and send correspondence and manage program email inboxes.
Develop and monitor budgets for assigned workstreams, events, participant support, travel, and procurements.
Prepare and review payments, travel documents, vendor and consultant records, reconciliations, forecasts, and other financial transactions for accuracy, allowability, completeness, and approval.
Lead assigned procurement and contracting processes, maintain audit-ready documentation, monitor vendor deliverables and payments, and address documentation gaps or discrepancies.
Coordinate and communicate within the program team and across IREX functional teams to ensure completion of deliverables.
Guide and coach junior staff, including delegating work and ensuring the quality of their deliverables.
Support cross-team efforts related to event implementation.
Contribute to proposal development and partner engagement as needed, including maintaining external stakeholder and partner institution relationships, gathering data and supporting materials, and drafting or reviewing text.
Contribute to program-wide monitoring, evaluation, and learning, reporting, finance and procurement processes, and award compliance.