Senior Program Manager, Leadership Programs

The Constructive Dialogue Institute (CDI) is a non-partisan, non-profit dedicated to equipping the next generation of Americans with the skills to communicate and collaborate across lines of difference. CDI seeks an experienced, highly organized Senior Program Manager to serve as the operational backbone of the Leadership Institute (LI), CDI's program to equip senior higher education leaders with the strategy, tools, and peer network to advance cultures of inquiry and dialogue on their campuses. This full-time, remote role works closely with the Vice President of Leadership Programs to run LI's full-year arc: the fall Summit, monthly institutional coaching, quarterly Peer Learning Communities, and each cohort's measurement and reporting cycle.

Responsibilities

Own the schedule and tracking systems for the full LI cohort's year-long arc, including summit prep with the institution teams, monthly coaching, and quarterly Peer Learning Community sessions; Keep the Vice President and broader team ahead of deadlines across all concurrent workstreams, within and across cohort years; Track each institution's strategic priorities throughout the year and escalate stalled progress or risks; Identify and design improvements to LI's operating systems and templates (discovery process, communications cadence, reporting formats) in partnership with the VP; Serve as the primary point of contact for institutional teams on scheduling, onboarding, pre-work, and follow-up across the full year; Field routine questions and troubleshoot logistics directly; Spot opportunities raised by campus partners and elevate them to the VP; Manage meeting cadence and information flow among the VP, consulting, partnerships, and impact teams; Maintain and organize program materials, including discovery reports, session decks, PLC, and coaching resources; Model clear, professional communication in every touchpoint with institutional partners; Track Pillar-specific progress and coaching-call reflections across the cohort; Synthesize cohort-wide data into formats leaders can act on, including progress dashboards, insights reports, and summaries

Requirements

5+ years of program or project management experience, ideally spanning cross-functional or partner-facing work in education, consulting, or nonprofit settings; Comfort managing a complex, multi-institution portfolio and tracking multiple workstreams at once; Track record of independently identifying and proposing improvements, not just executing what's handed to you; Comfort liaising directly with external partners on defined pieces of work, with good judgment about what to resolve independently versus escalate; Ability to pull information from multiple sources (surveys, interviews, documents) into a clear, decision-ready narrative; Excellent written and verbal communication, calibrated for both internal teams and senior higher-ed leadership; Enthusiasm for CDI's mission and comfort operating in an environment of continuous improvement as the LI program evolves year to year

Nice to have

Comfort with project management systems and CRMs (e.g., Asana, HubSpot)

Benefits

A Mission-Driven Culture — our work culture genuinely reflects our mission, characterized by intellectual humility, continuous improvement, and open-mindedness; Remote-First — CDI was founded as a remote-first organization, and we work hard to maintain a strong team culture across vast distances; Unlimited PTO — as well as 13 company holidays; Remote Work Support — up to $500 reimbursed for home office equipment (like desks, chairs, or webcams) and up to $50/month reimbursed for home internet or cell phone expenses; Employer-supported health, vision and dental plans; subsidized parental leave; 3% 401k match; short- and long-term disability insurance; life and AD&D insurance; $1,000 annual professional development budget