Senior Program Specialist, Healthy Aging

National Council on Aging•Arlington, VA

2d•$80,000 - $90,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Program Specialist, Healthy Aging leads and supports the day-to-day activities, operations, documentation, resource development, and logistics of multiple health promotion projects, with a focus on fall prevention, clinical-community linkages, and evidence-based programs. The role leads project activities such as funded partner onboarding, individual and group technical assistance, webinars, office hours, meeting coordination, resource development, relationship building, and connections across the aging network. Working closely with NCOA’s Research & Evaluation team, the specialist coordinates data collection and evaluation activities with funded agencies, supports evaluation trainings, documents implementation challenges and trends, contributes to quarterly analyses and performance reporting, and helps ensure findings inform technical assistance and continuous quality improvement. The specialist also leads project communications, reporting, and dissemination in collaboration with project staff, the Communications team, cross-functional teams, and external partners. This position requires advanced knowledge and experience, strong project management capabilities, independent judgment within the scope of work, and minimal oversight. The role is primarily office-based in Arlington, Virginia, with a hybrid schedule and occasional travel. Positions at this level typically report to a director or senior director.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in public health, gerontology, social science, health administration, communications, research, evaluation, or a related field, with 3–5 years of relevant work experience; an equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered for positions at this level.
Experience supporting projects or programs involving multiple activities, deliverables, internal teams, and external partners.
Experience providing or supporting technical assistance, webinars, trainings, learning communities, communities of practice, or other capacity-building activities.
Experience supporting data collection, program monitoring, evaluation, performance measurement, or continuous quality improvement.
Ability to coordinate data collection, monitor information needs, follow up on reporting requirements, and support evaluation activities.
Self-initiative and a solution-focused approach to learning technical skills, resolving problems, and seeking help when needed.
Excellent organizational, administrative, and analytical skills.
Strong organizational skills and attention to detail, including the ability to multitask, prioritize, follow timelines, and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
Demonstrated technical skills with Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, and webinar platforms.
Strong writing, editing, and document-formatting skills.
Initiative, resourcefulness, and problem-solving skills, including the ability to independently address routine issues and appropriately elevate complex matters.
Ability to synthesize information from meetings, technical assistance, evaluation, and project implementation into clear summaries, action items, and documentation.
Ability to work independently and collaboratively and coordinate across program, Research & Evaluation, Communications, and other teams and partner organizations.
Ability to interface with a variety of stakeholders and contribute positively to a team.
Willingness and ability to travel in-state and out-of-state, including overnight travel, as requested (10–15%).

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree preferred.
Experience supporting grant administration, including maintaining documentation, tracking submissions and deliverables, and communicating with grantees.
Familiarity with community-based organizations serving older adults and interest in NCOA’s mission.
Customer relationship management experience; experience with community-based organizations, health care organizations, aging services organizations, or other external partners preferred.
Familiarity with grants management.
Familiarity with Asana or similar project management tools, and Zengine, Salesforce, or other grants management and database systems.

Responsibilities

Participate in implementing strategies that advance NCOA’s mission and goal of helping create 100 million happier, healthier birthdays by 2040.
Facilitate clinical-community linkages to increase access and referrals to evidence-based fall prevention screenings and interventions.
Develop standard operating procedures, guides, templates, and other project resources.
Manage assigned projects and initiatives, including timelines, activities, milestones, and deliverables.
Work with the Center for Healthy Aging and other staff to expand the reach and sustainability of healthy aging programs and services.
Provide technical assistance, guidance, and subject-matter support to funded partners.
Facilitate opportunities for NCOA staff and funded agencies to share implementation experiences, challenges, promising practices, and lessons learned.
Support data collection and evaluation trainings for funded agencies, including logistics, materials, requirements, and follow-up in collaboration with the Research & Evaluation team.
Coordinate evaluation and data collection activities with funded agencies and support timely and complete participation.
Maintain the project resource hub, organizing and posting tools, resources, training materials, webinar recordings, and other relevant content.
Develop project reports, presentations, summaries, and other deliverables.
Coordinate with the Communications team to disseminate project information, findings, resources, and promising practices through the website, webinars, presentations, conferences, and other channels.
Maintain accurate and organized project files and information using Asana, Zengine, Microsoft Teams, and other project systems.
Distill complex information into clear, compelling messages.
Contribute to routine reports, including issue briefs, community partner surveys, and ACL semi-annual grant progress reports.
Support healthy aging pilot projects and initiatives and meet deadlines.
Participate in occasional speaking engagements and conference presentations.
Help plan, promote, facilitate, and coordinate the Falls Impact Forum and NCOA’s annual Age+Action conference.
Perform other responsibilities as assigned.