Senior Program Officer, Academic & Professional Exchange Program

IREX•Washington, DC

1d•Hybrid

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 serving mid-career professionals from around the world. The role provides leadership across the Fellowship experience at U.S. host institutions, including Fellow advising and support, host institution partnerships, professional affiliations, enrichment activities, and program operations. The position reports to the Project Director and works closely with campus coordinators and IREX colleagues across program, finance, communications, monitoring and evaluation, information technology, and operations functions. The Senior Program Officer will coordinate interdependent workstreams, guide staff, manage risks and deliverables, and help ensure a responsive and consistently high-quality academic, professional, and cultural experience for Fellows. The role also supports the startup and transition of a U.S. Department of State flagship exchange program; ensures compliance with IREX, donor, and applicable U.S. Government requirements; and contributes to learning, reporting, partnership development, program design, and proposal development. The position is based at IREX headquarters in Washington, DC. In-person work is required 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. The position is not eligible for immigration sponsorship.

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 handling sensitive matters and coordinating timely support with partner institutions.
Experience developing and maintaining productive relationships with U.S. colleges and universities and their stakeholders.
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, and 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.
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 program transition and startup by developing work plans, procedures, guidance, templates, systems, and partner-facing resources, and by coordinating the transfer and validation of program information.
Lead day-to-day implementation of the Academic Year Fellowship and ensure Fellow experiences align with individual professional development goals and individualized program plans.
Develop and manage work plans, timelines, deliverables, calendars, reports, presentations, and other program products.
Oversee Fellow support, host institution engagement, professional affiliations, enrichment, 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 participant-centered advising and support before arrival and throughout the U.S.-based program, including coordination on academic, professional, cultural adjustment, health, and safety matters.
Guide staff and host institutions in addressing participant matters, promptly elevate significant risks and sensitive cases, and support consistent monitoring across campuses.
Serve as an IREX Host Advisor and primary relationship manager for assigned U.S. host institutions; build partnerships, clarify expectations, facilitate check-ins and learning exchanges, and monitor progress.
Oversee support for Fellows’ professional affiliations, monitor planning and progress, guide host institutions, identify gaps or difficult placements, and coordinate specialized outreach as needed.
Coordinate professional enrichment activities, including impact workshops, virtual U.S. speaker programming, orientations, campus coordinator engagement, and other academic and professional development activities.
Oversee assigned budgets, forecasts, financial processes, partner documentation, and deliverables; coordinate procurement, consultant or vendor support, agreements or subawards, participant support, and travel.
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; collaborate with internal cross-functional colleagues.
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 other materials that support decisions and program improvement.
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.