Senior Program Officer, Academic & Professional Exchange Program

IREX•Washington, DC

1d•$65,600 - $82,000•Onsite

About The Position

IREX seeks a Senior Program Officer to lead day-to-day implementation of the Academic Year Program for an international professional exchange program serving mid-career professionals from around the world. Reporting to the Project Director, the role leads program implementation, oversees Fellow advising and support, serves as an IREX Host Advisor to participating U.S. universities, coordinates with campus coordinators, and guides professional enrichment activities such as impact workshops and a virtual U.S. speaker series. The Senior Program Officer coordinates interdependent workstreams, guides team members, manages risks and deliverables, and supports a consistent, high-quality academic, professional, and cultural experience across host campuses. The position oversees program planning and operations, host institution and professional affiliation partnerships, participant support and monitoring, events, compliance, financial stewardship, reporting, and continuous improvement. It also represents IREX with partners and contributes to program design, proposals, and partnership development. The position is based at IREX headquarters in Washington, DC. It requires in-person work under IREX’s Flexible Work Policy, currently at least two days (16 hours) per week in the office, including Wednesday. Domestic and international travel may be required as needed.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree.
At least 5 years of progressive experience supporting or managing complex programs, projects, or initiatives, including implementation planning, deliverables, budgets, compliance, reporting, and stakeholder engagement.
Progressive experience managing complex international education, professional exchange, fellowship, higher education, or other donor-funded programs.
Ability to lead multiple interdependent workstreams, set priorities and deadlines, anticipate and resolve implementation challenges, and deliver high-quality results with sound judgment and appropriate independence.
Experience advising or supporting international participants, students, Fellows, or professionals, including sensitive participant matters and timely coordination with partner institutions.
Experience developing productive relationships with U.S. colleges and universities and their stakeholders, including campus coordinators, academic advisors, faculty, and student services.
Experience supervising, directing, or guiding others, including delegation, coaching, feedback, quality review, and staff development.
Strong financial and operational management skills, including budget monitoring, forecasting, procurement, partner agreements or subawards, participant support, travel, and documentation.
Ability to understand donor policy priorities and translate them into practical guidance, programming, host engagement, and participant support.
Experience designing or delivering orientations, workshops, professional development activities, virtual programming, convenings, or other participant-centered learning experiences.
Excellent written and oral communication skills, including preparing and reviewing work plans, reports, briefings, presentations, guidance, and external correspondence.
Strong cross-cultural communication, facilitation, collaboration, organization, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to build trust across institutions, cultures, and professional roles.
Ability to use data, participant and partner feedback, and learning to monitor progress, improve program quality, and support evidence-informed decisions.
Experience using program-management, participant-management, learning-management, application, CRM, survey, or data-visualization platforms to coordinate implementation and support timely, accurate reporting.
Ability to travel domestically and internationally as needed.

Nice To Haves

Experience with U.S. Government-funded grants or cooperative agreements, particularly U.S. Department of State or Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs exchange programs.
Experience supporting recruitment, selection, placement, host institution competitions, or professional-affiliation development.
Experience with J-1 exchange visitor programs, SEVIS, international student or scholar advising, participant health and safety, or crisis response.
Experience supporting the startup, transition, redesign, or closeout of a complex donor-funded program.

Responsibilities

Support the startup and transition of the international exchange program by developing work plans, operating procedures, guidance, templates, systems, and partner-facing resources, and by transferring and validating program information.
Lead day-to-day implementation of all Academic Year Fellowship components and ensure each Fellow’s experience reflects individual professional development goals and an individualized program plan.
Develop and manage work plans, timelines, deliverables, calendars, reports, presentations, and other program products.
Oversee Fellow support, host institution engagement, professional affiliations, enrichment activities, events, monitoring and evaluation, recruitment, selection, and placement activities.
Ensure implementation aligns with Department of State guidance, program requirements, approved fields of study, and relevant U.S. foreign-policy priorities.
Oversee responsive advising and participant support before arrival and throughout the U.S.-based program, including academic, professional, cultural adjustment, health, and safety matters.
Guide staff and host institutions in addressing participant matters, elevate significant risks and sensitive cases, and support consistent monitoring across campuses.
Serve as IREX Host Advisor and primary relationship manager for assigned U.S. host institutions; build partnerships, clarify expectations, facilitate check-ins and learning exchanges, monitor progress, and support tailored programming.
Oversee support for Fellows’ professional affiliations, align opportunities with individual goals, monitor planning and progress, identify gaps or difficult placements, and coordinate specialized outreach when needed.
Coordinate professional enrichment activities, including impact workshops, virtual U.S. speaker programming, orientations, campus coordinator engagement, and other development activities.
Oversee assigned budgets, forecasts, financial processes, partner documentation, and deliverables.
Coordinate procurement, consultant or vendor support, host institution agreements or subawards, participant support, travel, and required records.
Ensure compliance with IREX, donor, and applicable U.S. Government requirements, including financial, safeguarding, records, branding, and reporting obligations.
Direct and guide program staff through delegation, coaching, quality review, and clear accountability for results.
Collaborate with the Project Director and colleagues in program leadership, communications, monitoring and evaluation, finance, information technology, and operations.
Use Fellow and host feedback, monitoring data, reports, and lessons learned to identify risks and improve program implementation and quality.
Contribute to donor reporting, briefings, dashboards, and materials that support decisions and program improvements.
Represent IREX in meetings with the U.S. Department of State, host institutions, Fellows, alumni, and other partners as assigned.
Contribute to partnership development, program design, proposal development, and other growth activities.