Senior Director, Strategy Alignment

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation • Princeton, NJ

6d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Director, Strategy Alignment reports to the Executive Vice President, Programs. The role advances strategic alignment across the Program unit, identifies and addresses strategic risks, and supports decisions about program priorities and resource allocation. It leads high-priority internal strategic initiatives from start to finish, translating institutional vision into operational frameworks, cross-department workplans, and goal stewardship models. The position oversees internal integration, change management, and progress tracking across decentralized program units, applying racial equity and systems-change perspectives to management practices.

The Senior Director works with Program leadership, the President’s Office, Equity and Culture, Research Evaluation-Learning, and other internal partners to align strategy and execution, assess portfolios and resource choices, strengthen governance, and integrate learning and evidence into operations. The role prepares executive and Board materials and supports decision-making by the Foundation’s leadership and Board of Trustees. It also facilitates community feedback and assesses broader field conditions and grantee-network needs.

The position is assigned to the Princeton, New Jersey office under RWJF’s Hybrid: Flexible Purpose model. On-site participation depends on job responsibilities and organizational and team requirements, including mandatory gatherings; employees plan their on-site time and cover commuting expenses as needed. Travel may be required for internal meetings and for grantee meetings, conferences, site visits, and community events, up to 40%. The job is performed in a typical business office environment and requires operating basic office equipment and attending meetings in person or remotely.

Requirements

• Commitment to racial and health equity and to the Foundation’s vision, values, and Guiding Principles.
• Extensive background in internal operational management, strategy consulting, chief of staff roles, cross-functional program management, or institutional change management in a major nonprofit, philanthropic, corporate, or public-sector organization.
• Documented excellence in designing internal workflows and managing complex partner alignment.
• Mastery of cross-functional workflows, operational dashboards, interdepartmental governance mechanisms, and project roadmaps in highly matrixed structures.
• Proven ability to understand organization-wide needs, navigate ambiguity, align initiatives with broader goals, and turn abstract vision into concrete execution plans.
• Advanced ability to design executive-ready slide materials, policy briefs, and framing tools for Board-level decision-making.
• Excellent written, verbal, and visual communication skills, active listening, and partner-management capabilities.
• Demonstrated leadership in institutional change, resolving internal tensions and competing priorities, building trust, and fostering a high-performance culture.
• Deep operational understanding of structural racism and its effects on health equity, with the ability to audit management practices and remove administrative bias.
• Strong quantitative and qualitative data synthesis skills, including the ability to turn large program datasets into actionable operational improvements.
• Seven to 10+ years of relevant progressive professional experience.
• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field of study.
• Ability to travel to RWJF offices for internal meetings and in-person events, and as needed for grantee meetings, conferences, site visits, and community events, up to 40%.
• Must submit a resume and required letter of interest.

Nice To Haves

• Advanced degree; additional relevant experience may substitute for an advanced degree.
• Ten to fifteen years of experience related to the required qualifications may receive particular consideration for higher placement in the salary range.
• Fifteen years of experience, along with experience working in a foundation, government, or in a chief of staff role, may receive particular consideration for higher placement in the salary range.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate decentralized units and standardize cross-functional execution within the Office of the Executive Vice President.
• Align Program unit strategy, priorities, and activities with the Foundation’s strategic direction.
• Partner with Program leadership, the President’s Office, and Equity and Culture to identify strategic alignment, tensions, duplication, and emerging opportunities.
• Translate enterprise and programmatic direction into workflows, interdepartmental service agreements, and multiyear roadmaps.
• Establish milestones and governance frameworks for high-priority initiatives and keep cross-functional teams coordinated and on schedule.
• Maintain alignment between strategic objectives, program priorities, and implementation activities.
• Resolve competing internal priorities through diplomacy, systematic alignment, and transparent decision-making.
• Oversee Program unit strategic planning in partnership with the Executive Vice President, VP of Programs, and Program Leadership team.
• Structure complex, ambiguous, multidepartment problems into strategic options and practical implementation matrices.
• Analyze and recommend expansion, scaling, realignment, or sunsetting of Foundation portfolios.
• Assess strategic risks, opportunities, and tradeoffs involving program priorities, portfolio direction, and resource allocation.
• Review and pressure-test grantmaking approaches to advance racial equity and prevent administrative bias.
• Synthesize strategic progress for senior Foundation leadership and the Board of Trustees, and prepare analyses, recommendations, executive materials, and briefings.
• Ensure Board-level mandates are integrated into routine operational structures.
• Oversee operational risk matrices and internal compliance reviews.
• Co-lead organization-wide change management initiatives to improve institutional agility and process adoption.
• Build, launch, and monitor unified Program unit tracking systems, including KPIs and OKRs.
• Work with the Chief Human Resources Officer to design and deploy training toolkits and workflows for major institutional changes or restructurings.
• Advise on organizational alignment, operating model changes, and Program unit restructuring.
• Foster a collaborative, equitable, and performance-oriented culture within the OEVP and cross-functional teams.
• Partner with the Research Evaluation-Learning department to embed continuous learning in operations.
• Translate evaluation data and research insights into operational improvements and updated standard operating procedures.
• Establish dashboards connecting program operational inputs with longitudinal equity and societal impact targets.
• Monitor strategic alignment indicators and emerging risks, recommending adjustments to priorities, investments, and implementation.
• Organize targeted community engagement reviews to gather field feedback on the Foundation’s administrative and operational effectiveness.
• Conduct landscape assessments to identify operational bottlenecks, field shifts, and capacity gaps among grantee networks.

Benefits

• Comprehensive health and retirement benefits.
• Generous paid time off.
• Transition stipend for new hires to help with costs related to transitioning to a new job.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior