Senior Program Officer (Multiple Positions)

Ascendium Brand•Madison, WI

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

Ascendium is seeking to hire multiple Senior Program Officers to serve as lead strategy execution officers within Ascendium’s core philanthropic strategy teams: Expand Opportunity, Support Learner Success, and Connect and Align Systems. These roles are ideal for leaders with expertise in workforce reentry, community college transformation, state-level cross-sector systems alignment, policy, or external affairs. Senior Program Officers will collaborate with national partners, fund innovative solutions, and contribute to the generation of knowledge aimed at improving outcomes for learners from low-income backgrounds. Reporting to a Strategy Director, they will partner with their strategy team to achieve grantmaking goals by meticulously designing, managing, and reviewing strategic portfolios. This involves implementing sophisticated philanthropic practices, such as rigorous analysis of grant concepts and proposals, assembling cohesive grant sets that support a strong theory of change, and generating new knowledge on scaling effective reforms for low-income learners. Senior Program Officers are also expected to develop and execute proactive initiatives aligned with strategic goals, including leading the design of creative grantmaking activities like requests for proposals and communities of practice. In collaboration with the Senior Learning and Impact Officer, they will identify strategic learning needs, develop and monitor learning agendas, distill insights from grant investments, and refine grantmaking strategy and effectiveness. Beyond managing active grants, they will build subject-matter expertise relevant to their grantmaking. Field leadership will be provided through thought partnership, facilitating connections among grantees, partners, and funders, hosting convenings, engaging in aligned funder networks, and writing thought pieces to share Ascendium’s learning and perspective.

Requirements

Knowledge equivalent to a master’s degree in education, philanthropy, social sciences, social work, community development, economics, business, or a related field.
Seven or more years of experience in postsecondary education, workforce training or workforce development, philanthropy, nonprofit organizations, or local, state, or federal government.
Demonstrated commitment to advancing equitable opportunity.
A track record of leading initiatives, strategic projects, or complex programs with multiple stakeholders.
Ability to work cooperatively and inclusively with others to achieve shared goals.
Effective interpersonal skills exemplified by initiative, authenticity, courtesy, diplomacy, positive attitude, and professionalism.
Ability to develop and maintain strong working relationships with and among a diverse group of stakeholders.
Curiosity and a desire to be a continuous learner, building individual and team capacity for deepening Ascendium’s impact as a funder.
Comfort with ambiguity and the ability to adapt to a fast-paced, continually evolving work environment.
Strong project management skills with demonstrated ability to execute and follow through to achieve intended results by honoring commitments, prioritizing work, and managing time and resources well.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
Residence in or relocation to Madison, Wisconsin.

Nice To Haves

Expertise in workforce reentry, community college transformation, state-level cross-sector systems alignment, policy, or external affairs.
Expertise in reentry workforce ecosystem, including workforce training, reentry supports, and related local, regional, or national systems and organizations.
Expertise in community college transformation at the state/system level, including guided pathways, developmental education reform, and institution-wide student success redesign.
Expertise in state-level cross-sector systems alignment, including postsecondary, workforce training, and corrections; policy design and implementation; cross-sector data infrastructure; dual enrollment; and credit mobility.
Expertise in external affairs, including state and federal policy analysis, coalition-building, strategic communications, and field engagement.

Responsibilities

Work with a Strategy Director and colleagues to ensure grantmaking activity is effective and aligns with Ascendium’s strategy and approach.
Lead the design, execution, and annual review of one or more strategic portfolios that align with one of Ascendium’s three core philanthropic strategies (Expand Opportunity, Support Learner Success, or Connect and Align Systems).
Play a significant role in the development of responsive grantmaking priorities, ensuring that key learning questions are articulated that help further refine and focus the strategy.
Work across the lifecycle of grant funding, including developing portfolio objectives, sourcing ideas and partners, assessing strategic alignment in response to ideas that emerge from the field, shepherding applicants through the grant proposal process, developing appropriate reporting and payment structures, and drafting succinct, clear, and analytic New Funding Proposals for board of directors’ review.
Collaborate with other Senior Program Officers, Program Officers, and/or Associate Program Officers to meet grantmaking goals within strategic portfolios and responsive priorities.
In partnership with a Senior Learning and Impact Officer, further develop and execute Ascendium’s approach to learning from our responsive grantmaking and strategic grantmaking portfolios with well-articulated theories of change and explicit learning agendas.
Serve as a mentor to Program Officers and Associate Program Officers as assigned by a Strategy Director.
Provide support to grant partners by facilitating connections with peer organizations and other funders and helping to elevate and amplify project outcomes through Ascendium’s strategic communications channels.
Provide strategic support to grant partners through thought partnership, sharing best practices, and connecting them to other resources necessary to be successful.
Lead planning and execution of Ascendium-led convenings and other events in support of strategic goals.
Coordinate, as appropriate, with Ascendium’s Strategic Communications team around strategic portfolio and responsive priorities messaging.
Collaborate with a Strategy Director to establish priorities for administrative budget planning.
Develop relationships and partnerships with national and regional funders that support the successful execution of the strategy (e.g. co-funding efforts with peers).
Represent Ascendium through presentations at national and regional conferences, and engage in networks, field working groups, and committees.