Program Specialist

Program Specialist

The Program Specialist is responsible for coordinating, engaging in, and providing oversight of projects, budgets, processes, and the policies and procedures essential to the success of global and departmental programs.

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is where those with a passion for making a difference come to break new ground. Located in Memphis, Tennessee, St. Jude leads the way the world understands, treats, and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases through groundbreaking research and compassionate care.

The Office of Data Science (ODS) at St. Jude institutionalizes and expands data science capabilities to unlock the vast potential of St. Jude's biological data repositories. With a vision for St. Jude to become a global leader in applying data science to biological discovery, the ODS is creating a seamless ecosystem where experimental, clinical, and data scientists collaborate to accelerate discoveries, support scientific initiatives, and advance the understanding and treatment of pediatric catastrophic diseases.

The ODS is seeking a proactive, detail-oriented, and highly organized Program Specialist to support a wide variety of strategic initiatives that strengthen data-driven research across the institution, enhance organization-wide community engagement efforts, and demonstrate operational efficiency through structured project support and process optimization. This role is ideal for an early-career professional with strong project coordination and communication skills who is energized by using data to drive decisions, taking ownership, working on a variety of initiatives simultaneously, and who thrives in a highly collaborative research environment.

In this position, you will work closely with project managers, technical teams, administrative partners, and research and operations stakeholders across the organization to plan, track, and execute selected projects that advance St. Jude's mission. You will play a critical role in facilitating project progress, ensuring communication, and upholding high-quality project documentation and organization. Projects may involve community-building activities, process mapping, data integration efforts, governance programs, and research-support workflows.

Key Responsibilities

• Support coordination of key ODS initiatives, including community programs such as event management, Special Interest Groups, and other data science-focused collaborations that engage a variety of stakeholders across the institution.
• Assist with event planning and implementation while managing project delivery elements within timelines.
• Coordinate project activities across diverse teams within the Office of Data Science and with its partners across campus and beyond.
• Support the development of project charters, timelines, documentation, meeting agendas, and follow-up action items.
• Support project intake and implementation processes by gathering requirements and documenting scope.
• Identify project dependencies and risks, and assist in mitigation planning.

Project tracking, reporting & communication

• Maintain accurate project documentation and ensure timely updates to stakeholders.
• Track progress toward milestones, create and maintain documentation in platforms used by ODS, identify roadblocks, and escalate issues as needed.
• Prepare and deliver clear project status updates during ODS meetings and stakeholder check-ins.
• Facilitate clear communication between ODS and business partners to support stakeholder alignment and project progress.
• Identify inefficiencies or risks early and escalate issues appropriately to improve team operations and project outcomes.
• Assist with the development and maintenance of dashboards and reporting tools that support ODS leadership and operational oversight.
• Contribute to the preparation and completion of final project reports at project closeout.

Process optimization

• Document project and operational processes to support transparency, scalability, and institutional knowledge management.
• Assist in streamlining and optimizing standardized project management processes, tools, templates, workflows, and reporting mechanisms used in the ODS.

Partner & stakeholder support

• Work collaboratively to ensure accountability, timely delivery, and high-quality outcomes across selected projects.
• Serve as a central point of coordination between ODS teams and partners across research, clinical, and administrative areas.
• Engage internal and external stakeholders to clarify requirements, gather information, and help ensure stakeholders remain aligned and informed.
• Support meeting coordination, communication planning, and stakeholder engagement activities.

Ideal Candidate Profile

We are seeking someone who:

• Enjoys coordinating multiple workstreams and supporting interdisciplinary initiatives – especially in fast-paced or mission-critical environments.
• Demonstrates initiative, ownership, adaptability, and attention to detail while balancing multiple priorities.
• Has experience working with technical teams across system integration, application development, analytics, and data platforms.
• Is familiar with preparing project documentation, dashboards, and reports using tools such as Confluence, Smartsheet, Excel, ServiceNow (CWM), and Power BI.
• Communicates clearly, asks clarifying questions, and confidently presents updates to stakeholders or leadership.
• Is comfortable navigating ambiguity and shaping structure where process is emerging.
• Operates effectively with minimal supervision, proactively identifying next steps and driving work forward.
• Exhibits intellectual curiosity and a proactive approach to learning new skills, tools, and context to solve mission-driven challenges.
• Thrives in a collaborative environment – openly asks for support and readily assists teammates to advance shared goals.
• Builds strong cross-organizational relationships and consistently demonstrates professionalism, even under pressure.
• Values purpose-driven work and is motivated to contribute to a world-renowned healthcare and research institution.

Minimum Education and/or Training:

• Bachelor's degree required.

Minimum qualifications

• Bachelor's degree with 1+ years of experience in program coordination.
• Some experience/knowledge in working with project planning tools (e.g., Confluence, Smartsheet, Microsoft SharePoint, ServiceNow, MS Office) is a plus.

Preferred Qualifications

• Foundational experience in project coordination, project support, or academic/professional project management work.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to summarize information clearly and succinctly, and ask effective clarifying questions.
• Demonstrated critical thinking, adaptability, initiative, and attention to detail as outlined in St. Jude's functional competency expectations.
• Familiarity with project management tools such as Smartsheet, Jira, or similar platforms, and documentation platforms such as Confluence.
• Experience preparing dashboards, reports, or analytics supporting decision-making.
• Project Management Certification preferred.
• Experience working in research, healthcare, scientific environments, or multinational organizations.
• Ability to create presentations, documentation, or dashboards at an executive-ready level.

Compensation

In recognition of certain U.S. state and municipal pay transparency laws, St. Jude is including a reasonable estimate of the compensation range for this role. This is an estimate offered in good faith and a specific salary offer takes into account factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets, experience and training, licensure and certifications, and other business and organizational needs. It is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the salary range and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current salary range is $60,320 - $105,040 per year for the role of Program Specialist.

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St. Jude is an Equal Opportunity Employer

No Search Firms

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital does not accept unsolicited assistance from search firms for employment opportunities. Please do not call or email. All resumes submitted by search firms to any employee or other representative at St. Jude via email, the internet or in any form and/or method without a valid written search agreement in place and approved by HR will result in no fee being paid in the event the candidate is hired by St. Jude.