Senior Program Officer, Academic & Professional Exchange Program

Job Description

Job Description

Who We Are 

IREX is a global solutions provider that partners with communities and institutions in the United States and around the world to cultivate leaders, expand access to education, and create economic opportunity. With deep expertise, a forward-looking vision, and world-class practices in AI for Education, Future-Ready Workforce, Higher Education Solutions, Leadership Development, and Online Safety, IREX delivers innovative and proven solutions that help people, institutions, and communities thrive in a rapidly changing world. 

IREX seeks a Senior Program Officer I to lead day-to-day implementation of the academic year program of an international professional exchange for mid-career professionals from around the world. 

Job Summary 

The Senior Program Officer will play a central leadership role in delivering a consistent, high-quality Fellowship experience across U.S. host institutions. Reporting to the Project Director, this position will lead implementation of the Academic Year Program; oversee Fellow advising and support; serve as an IREX Host Advisor to participating universities; coordinate closely with campus coordinators; and guide professional enrichment activities, including impact workshops and a virtual U.S. speaker series. 

The successful candidate will combine strong program management judgment with experience supporting international participants and U.S. higher education partners. They will coordinate interdependent workstreams, guide team members, manage risks and deliverables, and help ensure that Fellows receive responsive support and a consistently strong academic, professional, and cultural experience across host campuses. 

What You’ll Do 

• Program Startup & Transition: Support the transition and startup of a U.S. Department of State flagship international exchange program, including development of work plans, operating procedures, guidance, templates, systems, and partner-facing resources. Coordinate the transfer and validation of relevant program information and help translate established program requirements into clear, efficient IREX workflows. 

• Academic Year Program Leadership: Lead day-to-day implementation of all components of the Academic Year Fellowship, ensuring that each Fellow’s experience is responsive to individual professional development goals and guided by an individualized program plan. Develop and manage work plans, timelines, deliverables, calendars, reports, presentations, and other program products. Provide direction and oversight across Fellow support, host institution engagement, professional affiliations, professional enrichment, events, monitoring and evaluation, recruitment, selection, and placement activities to keep work aligned and on schedule. Ensure implementation remains aligned with Department of State guidance, program requirements, approved fields of study, and relevant U.S. foreign-policy priorities. 

• Fellow Advising, Support & Monitoring: Oversee responsive, participant-centered advising and support for Fellows after arrival and throughout the U.S.-based program. Guide staff and host institutions in addressing academic, professional, cultural adjustment, health, safety, and other participant matters; elevate significant risks and sensitive cases promptly; and support consistent, high-quality monitoring across campuses. 

• Host Institution Partnership Management: Serve as an IREX Host Advisor and primary relationship manager for assigned U.S. host institutions. Build productive partnerships with campus coordinators, academic advisors, and other university stakeholders; clarify expectations; facilitate regular check-ins and learning exchanges; monitor progress; and help ensure a consistently high-quality Fellow experience while supporting each institution in tailoring academic, professional, and cultural programming to individual Fellow goals and the needs of its broader cohort. 

• Professional Affiliation Coordination: Oversee Academic Year Program support for Fellows’ professional affiliations, working with Fellows, campus coordinators, and program colleagues to align opportunities with individual professional development goals. Monitor affiliation planning and progress, provide guidance to host institutions, identify gaps or difficult placements, and coordinate with the Program Manager and other IREX colleagues when specialized outreach or additional networks are needed. 

• Professional Enrichment & Events: Coordinate high-quality professional enrichment activities, including impact workshops, virtual U.S. speaker programming, orientations, campus coordinator engagement, and other academic and professional development activities. Work with colleagues and partners to connect Fellows with U.S. institutions, professionals, and communities in ways that advance program goals and strengthen enduring relationships with the United States. 

• Program Operations, Compliance & Financial Stewardship: Oversee assigned budgets, forecasts, financial processes, partner documentation, and deliverables. Coordinate procurement, consultant or vendor support, host institution agreements or subawards, participant support, travel, and required records. Ensure work complies with IREX, donor, and applicable U.S. Government requirements, including financial, safeguarding, records, branding, and reporting obligations. 

• Team Leadership & Cross-Functional Coordination: Direct and guide the work of program staff supporting the Academic Year Program, including delegation, coaching, quality review, and clear accountability for results. Collaborate closely with the Project Director, other senior program staff, communications, monitoring and evaluation, finance, information technology, and operations colleagues. 

• Learning, Data & Continuous Improvement: Use Fellow and host feedback, monitoring data, program reports, and lessons learned to identify risks, improve implementation, and strengthen the consistency and quality of the Fellowship. Contribute to donor reporting, briefings, dashboards, and other materials that translate program information into useful decisions and improvements. 

• External Representation & Growth: Represent IREX in meetings with the U.S. Department of State, U.S. host institutions, Fellows, alumni, and other partners as assigned. Contribute to partnership development, program design, proposal development, and other growth activities that draw on the position’s technical and program-management expertise. 

Our Culture is Our People

At IREX, our culture is built on our people—and on how we work together to create meaningful impact every day. We look for colleagues who bring purpose, intellectual curiosity, collaborative problem solving, and a results driven, bias for action to help strengthen communities and advance our mission. Successful candidates build trust across differences, move ideas into action, seek new perspectives, embrace change , and represent IREX with authenticity and professionalism. We value people who bring strong expertise and a generous team spirit to work that advances our mission. 

Skills & Experience   

• Progressive experience managing complex international education, professional exchange, fellowship, higher education, or other donor-funded programs, including responsibility for implementation planning, deliverables, budgets, compliance, reporting, and stakeholder engagement.  

• Demonstrated ability to lead multiple, interdependent workstreams; set priorities and deadlines; anticipate and resolve implementation challenges; and deliver consistently high-quality results with sound judgment and appropriate independence.  

• Experience advising or supporting international participants, students, Fellows, or professionals, including handling sensitive participant matters and coordinating timely support with partner institutions.  

• Experience developing and maintaining productive relationships with U.S. colleges and universities, including campus coordinators, academic advisors, faculty, student services, and other institutional stakeholders.  

• Experience supervising, directing, or guiding the work of others, including delegation, coaching, feedback, quality review, and staff development.  

• Strong financial and operational management skills, including budget monitoring, forecasting, procurement, partner agreements or subawards, participant support, travel, and documentation.  

• Ability to understand donor policy priorities and translate them into practical guidance, programming, host engagement, and participant support.  

• Experience designing or delivering orientations, workshops, professional development activities, virtual programming, convenings, or other participant-centered learning experiences.  

• Excellent written and oral communication skills, including experience preparing and reviewing work plans, reports, briefings, presentations, guidance, and external correspondence.  

• Strong cross-cultural communication, facilitation, collaboration, organization, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to build trust across institutions, cultures, and professional roles.  

• Demonstrated ability to use data, participant and partner feedback, and learning to monitor progress, improve program quality, and support evidence-informed decisions.  

• Experience using program-management, participant-management, learning-management, application, CRM, survey, or data-visualization platforms to coordinate implementation and support timely, accurate reporting.  

• Ability to travel domestically and internationally as needed. 

• Experience with U.S. Government-funded grants or cooperative agreements, particularly U.S. Department of State or Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs exchange programs, strongly preferred.  

• Experience supporting recruitment, selection, placement, host institution competitions, or professional-affiliation development preferred.  

• Experience with J-1 exchange visitor programs, SEVIS, international student or scholar advising, participant health and safety, or crisis response preferred.  

• Experience supporting the startup, transition, redesign, or closeout of a complex donor-funded program preferred. 

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree. 

• At least 5 years progressive experience supporting or managing complex programs, projects, or initiatives, including implementation planning, deliverables, budgets, compliance, reporting, and stakeholder engagement. 

Salary Range: $65,600 - $82,000

Please note: While we aim to offer competitive compensation, not all candidates will be eligible for the upper end of the salary range.   

This position is based at IREX headquarters in Washington, DC and requires in-person work consistent with IREX’s Flexible Work Policy, currently at least two days (16 hours) per week in-office with one of those days being Wednesday.