Senior Specialist

By joining the National Student Clearinghouse, you can be sure that the work you do now will help shape the future of education and the workforce in the U.S. As the trusted source for higher education data since 1993, the Clearinghouse is the leading provider of transcript and data exchange services, automated enrollment and degree verifications, learner insights and research, and compliance solutions for schools, businesses, and learners nationwide. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the Clearinghouse works with nearly 3,600 postsecondary institutions to meet their compliance needs and with thousands of high schools and districts to provide continuing collegiate enrollment, progression, and completion statistics about their alumni. In addition, the Research Center publications inform policymakers and business leaders about student educational pathways. Using our unique combination of data, analytics, and software to drive our mission, security and privacy is paramount. Join us as we continue to invest in our talent and new advanced technologies to unlock the power of data on behalf of all learners. About the Role: The Senior Specialist, Research & Philanthropic Initiatives and Engagement serves as a strategic advisor and trusted partner to the Vice President, Philanthropy Strategy & Research, supporting the advancement of the National Student Clearinghouse's research and philanthropic initiatives, and organizational thought leadership priorities. This role helps translate organizational strategy into action by synthesizing insights across research, product, philanthropy, and external trends to inform executive decision-making, strategic initiatives, and stakeholder engagement. Working closely with the Vice President and cross-functional leaders, the Senior Specialist develops executive communications, thought leadership content, and engagement strategies that elevate the Clearinghouse's mission, data, and impact across the education and workforce ecosystem. As a senior individual contributor, the position operates with a high degree of influence, driving alignment, accountability, and execution across complex initiatives. The role serves as an extension of the Vice President by anticipating needs, connecting priorities across teams, managing strategic projects, and ensuring the organization's external presence and engagement activities are aligned with enterprise objectives. Currently, this is a remote-first position, and this position may be required to periodically work on-site at our office and the frequency would depend on the department/division's requirements. Therefore, candidates must either reside within a reasonable distance to commute to our office or be willing to travel to our office in Herndon, when required. How You Contribute: Demonstrate the Clearinghouse's core competencies: Customer Focus, Optimizes Work Processes, Collaborates, Communicates Effectively, and Be Open and Authentic. Serve as a strategic advisor and thought partner to the Vice President, Philanthropy Strategy & Research, helping assess opportunities, prioritize initiatives, and advance departmental and organizational objectives. Synthesize insights from research, philanthropy, product, policy, and organizational activities to inform executive decision-making, thought leadership priorities, and external engagement strategies. Manage special projects and strategic initiatives on behalf of the Vice President, coordinating stakeholders and facilitating progress toward desired outcomes. Represent and advance the Vice President's priorities across cross-functional teams, fostering alignment, collaboration, and accountability. Translate complex research, data, and organizational priorities into clear, compelling narratives, presentations, briefing materials, and other executive-level communications. Partner with the Vice President to identify emerging trends and key topics that strengthen the National Student Clearinghouse's position as a trusted source of data, insights, and thought leadership. Partnering with leaders across the organization to develop messaging, engagement approaches, and thought leadership strategies that reflect department priorities and perspectives. Support the development and advancement of strategic engagement opportunities with philanthropic, educational, governmental, and other mission-aligned partners. Prepare executive briefings and strategic recommendations to support high-impact meetings, presentations, and external engagements. Support the Vice President to plan and execute Research Community Advisory Board (RCAB) activities, developing agendas, meeting materials, strategic insights, and recommendations that drive productive discussions and inform organizational strategy. Drive cross-functional coordination of strategic initiatives, ensuring alignment of priorities, messaging, timelines, and deliverables across teams. Establish and maintain processes, tools, and operating rhythms that support visibility, accountability, effective communication, and execution of key initiatives. Monitor progress against strategic priorities, track commitments and deliverables, and ensure continuity and follow-through from concept through implementation. Perform other duties and special projects as assigned. Position may be required to perform other duties as required. These essential functions are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the job. Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these essential functions. What You Bring to the Table: Bachelors degree in communications, business, marketing, or any related field. A combination of education and experience including military service will also be considered. 6 years of direct and relevant experience supporting strategic initiatives within a mission-driven or nonprofit environment, including strategic planning, stakeholder engagement, partnership development, executive support, influencing without formal authority, and leading cross-functional efforts to advance organizational priorities. Knowledge of strategic communications, thought leadership, and external engagement practices within mission-driven, research-focused, or nonprofit organizations. Ability to translate complex research, data, policy, and organizational insights into clear, compelling, audience-appropriate messaging for both internal and external stakeholders. Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including experience developing executive-level presentations, briefing materials, speeches, reports, and thought leadership content for diverse audiences. Strong analytical, synthesis, problem-solving, and strategic thinking skills, with the ability to identify patterns, connect insights across diverse domains, assess complex internal and external dynamics, develop solutions to emerging challenges, and articulate implications for organizational strategy and priorities. Demonstrated ability to serve as a trusted strategic advisor to leadership, anticipating needs, framing key issues, influencing outcomes, and supporting decision-making without formal authority. Strong project management and organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities, develop operational plans, ensure execution, and maintain exceptional attention to detail in a fast-paced environment. Effective stakeholder management and collaboration skills, with a proven ability to build relationships, engage cross-functional teams, foster alignment, and support cohesive organizational narratives and priorities. Ability to develop positioning and messaging strategies for external engagement opportunities, ensuring consistency with organizational goals, research insights, and strategic priorities. Demonstrated sound judgment, discretion, professionalism, and resourcefulness, including the ability to remain calm and effective under pressure while handling sensitive or high-visibility matters. Demonstrates the Clearinghouse's core competencies: customer focus, optimizes work processes, communicates effectively, collaborates, and is open and authentic. Must live within a commutable distance to Herndon, VA or in one of the Clearinghouse's approved States for hiring purposes. Refer to our HR Policies Page, located on our Careers site at for more details. Must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis. We do not intend to sponsor external applicants for work visas, and may consider sponsorship only if no qualified candidates can be found who are authorized to work without sponsorship. Must be at least 18 years old. Additional Desired Qualifications Advanced degree Direct experience with strategic consulting with non-profit organizations. Demonstrated experience supporting or contributing to thought leadership initiatives, executive communications, and strategic external engagement efforts within mission-driven, nonprofit, research, or policy-oriented organizations. Experience partnering with senior leaders to support externally facing engagements, including convenings, speaking opportunities, stakeholder briefings, or philanthropic discussions. Proven experience working in environments that require translation of complex research, policy, or data insights into externally relevant narratives and engagement opportunities. Familiarity with the higher education, workforce, credentialing, philanthropic, or policy landscape, including awareness of key stakeholders, trends, and ecosystem dynamics. Experience operating in highly collaborative, cross-functional environments, supporting initiatives that span research, product, strategy, and external engagement teams. Experience supporting or contributing to initiatives with multiple stakeholders and competing priorities, ideally in a fast-paced or evolving organizational context. Physical Demands: Use of a computer for 8 or more hours a day. Use of a telephone and/or copy machine. Frequently required to sit for 7 or more hours per day. Occasionally required to use hands and fingers to operate, handle, and reach. Vision abilities include close vision and the ability to adjust focus. Ability to travel on a limited basis (approximately 10-15%) for occasional in-office meetings, team events, or business needs. Benefits and Related Information The National Student Clearinghouse provides a robust benefit program designed to help meet the needs of each employee and their family, both now and in the future. We offer comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance, as well as life and disability insurance benefits, for employees and their qualified dependents. Health care, dependent care, and limited purpose flexible spending accounts, as well as a health savings account with annual employer contributions of $300 for employees and $600 for employees who are enrolled with their spouse and/or dependents, voluntary supplemental health plans for Accident and Hospital Indemnity coverage, and infertility coverage are options available for employees to set aside pre-taxed dollars for certain qualifying expenses. We offer a very generous 401k matching contribution program with the opportunity to defer pre-tax and Roth contributions, as well as catch-up contributions for those who are eligible! We are proud to offer a competitive paid leave program consisting of vacation, sick, and personal time, as well as paid holidays, up to 3 weeks of paid parental leave during a 12-month period , and up to 5 days of paid military leave per calendar year . Vacation time will accrue based on length of service, and new full-time hires can accrue up to 13 days of vacation and up to 10 days of sick time per year. On an annual basis, new employees may use up to 32 hours of accrued sick time as personal time. Additionally, the Clearinghouse observes at least 15 paid holidays per year, including company year-end close between Christmas and New Years Holidays. Another perk is that employees have the option to get reimbursed for basic wholesale company and roadside assistance memberships (e.g., Costco and AAA) and to request a buy back on portions of unused accrued vacation based on tenure and certain other qualifications. Employees can further their education and professional development by using our Employee Education Assistance Program, which establishes reimbursement for qualified education expenses upon successful completion of the program, and leveraging the enterprise-wide LinkedIn Learning subscription. There are additional employee benefits too, including but not limited to, mental health with up to eight free therapy sessions for employees and their family members and well-being reward benefits. With the Clearinghouse being an eligible 501(3)(c) nonprofit organization, employees are eligible for service credit towards the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program (PSLF). To find out more, please request a copy of our Benefits at a Glance! Additionally, we reasonably believe that the salary range for this position is between $98,880 and $130,000. The pay range listed above represents a good faith estimate and is not a guarantee of compensation or salary. The National Student Clearinghouse considers multiple factors when determining base pay for offers, including but not limited to the responsibilities and scope of the role, as well as a candidate's experience, education, knowledge, skills, abilities, internal equity, and alignment with market data. Internal Candidates: If you feel you meet the qualifications for the role, we strongly encourage you to apply and focus on preparing for the application process. Finalist internal candidates will receive a compensation review prior to any offer being made. In accordance with the Clearinghouse's compensation and promotion guidelines, internal compensation practices will be applied first, which may result in pay that differs from the posted salary range. This job announcement was posted to the National Student Clearinghouse's Careers site at on 8/25/2026 and the online application period will be open for at least 3 days from this posting date. A completed online application is required to be considered for this opportunity. Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities: The National Student Clearinghouse is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to actual or perceived race, creed, color, religion, alienage or national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, disability or handicap, sex, marital status, veteran status (or known to have a spousal, family, business, social or other relationship or association with a protected veteran), sexual orientation, genetic information, arrest record, natural hairstyle, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws. Our management team is dedicated to this policy with respect to recruitment, hiring, placement, promotion, transfer, training, compensation, benefits, employee activities and general treatment during employment. Pay Transparency Notice: The National Student Clearinghouse is a federal contractor that abides by all applicable equal opportunity laws and regulations. Under these laws, companies doing business with the federal government must provide applicants and employees with certain policies, including the following information. The contractor will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor's legal duty to furnish information. 41 CFR 60-1.35(c) #J-18808-Ljbffr