Technical Assistance Coordinator

Alliance for Higher Education in Prison

10h•Remote

About The Position

The Technical Assistance Coordinator is the Alliance’s primary representative and project lead on a five-year, $10.3M technical assistance partnership with the American Institutes for Research (AIR), funded by Ascendium and running from 2025 through 2030. Higher education in prison (HEP) is college-level education for currently incarcerated students; technical assistance is the expert help that builds the capacity of the organizations, practitioners, and intermediaries serving this field. This role is the hinge of the Alliance/AIR partnership. The TA Coordinator carries the Alliance’s voice into project decisions, leads the Alliance’s share of the work across the grant’s four workstreams, receives monthly intensive coaching from AIR, and builds the durable systems and know-how that will allow the Alliance to sustain field-wide technical assistance — and steward the Resource Community for Higher Education in Prison (RCHEP) website — after the grant concludes. Responsibilities grow over the five years: from active learning and supporting in Years 1–2 to leading and owning key functions by Years 4–5, including assuming management of RCHEP. The TA Coordinator reports to the Executive Director and works closely with the Programs Director and other Alliance team members to ensure the partnership advances the Alliance’s mission, strategic priorities, and field-facing commitments.

Requirements

3+ years of relevant professional experience in higher education in prison, postsecondary access, reentry, workforce development, technical assistance, capacity building, network coordination, or a closely related field
Demonstrated experience leading projects or programs with multiple constituents, deadlines, and moving parts
Demonstrated experience documenting complex work and building durable systems or processes that others can use (e.g., playbooks, standard operating procedures, content workflows)
Strong facilitation, convening, and relationship-building skills, with experience supporting professional learning, capacity-building, or cohort-based work across diverse constituent groups
Excellent written and verbal communication, with the ability to translate research, policy, and TA frameworks into practical tools, briefings, and guidance for varied audiences — practitioners, intermediaries, researchers, funders, and board members
Technological fluency, including high-level proficiency in Microsoft Office and Google Workspace and the ability to quickly learn project-management tools (e.g., Airtable, SharePoint, OneNote) and content management systems (e.g., Webflow)
Sensitivity to ethical storytelling, tone, clarity, and audience, particularly when representing the work and voices of currently and formerly incarcerated people
Familiarity with the federal policy and funding context relevant to HEP, including Pell Grant reinstatement for incarcerated students, Second Chance Pell, and emerging Workforce Pell rules
Availability for occasional evenings, weekends, and travel for convenings, conferences, and project events

Nice To Haves

Lived experience with the criminal legal system
Direct experience working inside HEP programs, intermediary organizations, or adjacent reentry/workforce systems
Familiarity with technical assistance, capacity-building, or continuous-improvement frameworks (e.g., adult learning theory, implementation science, communities of practice, peer review, network coordination)
Experience facilitating or coordinating a community of practice, learning cohort, or multi-organization network
Experience contributing to a public-facing website or digital resource hub
Any experience within a university setting, whether as a student, faculty member, or administrative staff

Responsibilities

Serve as the Alliance’s primary point of contact and presence in AIR’s internal and external project team meetings across the assigned workstreams
Brief the Executive Director, Programs Director, and Alliance leadership on decisions, milestones, risks, and opportunities, and convey the Alliance’s positions back into the project
Maintain accurate, accessible records of meetings, decisions, and assignments in the project’s shared tools (e.g., Airtable, SharePoint, OneNote), ensuring relevant Alliance team members have visibility into the work
Co-develop and facilitate learning communities and convenings with key partners, including co-planning meetings; managing agendas, materials, and notes; and supporting membership review and topical working groups
Strengthen and draw on the Alliance’s relationships across HEP programs, intermediaries, consortia, funders, and adjacent reentry and workforce partners to convene practitioners, facilitate constituent engagement, and support field alignment
Support cross-project convenings and contribute to Alliance signature events as needed, including the National Conference on Higher Education in Prison (NCHEP) and the Incarcerated Scholars Conference (ISC)
Contribute to the design and delivery of the AIR–Alliance TA Training Academy, including participant recruitment, field-informed curriculum input, and support for pilot facilitation
Contribute content and feedback to RCHEP’s redesign through needs sensing, wireframe review, and content development
Support the HEP Program Peer Review process, including convening logistics, contributions to peer-review protocols and the HEP Program Framework/Self-Assessment, and documentation of insights for use across the field
Identify, recruit, and coordinate practitioners and field experts who bring lived expertise, content knowledge, and program experience to TA activities
Participate fully in monthly intensive coaching sessions with AIR, translating coaching and project learning into permanent Alliance assets: documented procedures, templates, tools, and a growing internal capacity library
Build the internal systems and shared resources that allow the Alliance to sustain the Community of Practice, the Academy, peer review, and RCHEP independently after the grant
Collaborate with the Programs Director, Operations and Development Director, and Communications Director to align the partnership’s deliverables with Alliance-wide systems and brand standards
Co-develop with AIR a written maintenance and operations plan for RCHEP — workflows, knowledge, skills, and projected costs — and contribute to fundraising and sustainability planning to support the Alliance’s eventual ownership
Assume management of RCHEP — adding, organizing, and maintaining content; running update procedures; and coordinating with vendors and partners — as AIR transitions to subject-matter and then light-touch support