Director of Strategic Initiatives & Operation

Michigan Consortium for Higher Education in Prison (MiCHEP)
Full-time | Primarily remote within Michigan | $90,000–$105,000 plus benefits

About MiCHEP

The Michigan Consortium for Higher Education in Prison works with colleges, universities, the Michigan Department of Corrections, and other partners to expand access to high-quality postsecondary education for incarcerated students. MiCHEP’s member institutions operate degree programs across Michigan correctional facilities and share a commitment to educational excellence, human dignity, successful transition and reentry, and meaningful economic opportunity.

MiCHEP has received a four-year, $2.66 million grant from Ascendium Education Group to lead a statewide systems-change initiative, Aligning Programs and Services for Justice-Impacted Students Across Michigan. The initiative will bring together higher education, corrections, workforce, reentry, government, and student partners to improve education, transition, reentry, and economic opportunity for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated learners.

The Opportunity

MiCHEP seeks a Director of Strategic Initiatives and Operations to serve as the organization’s senior operational leader, including leading implementation of its four-year Ascendium-funded statewide initiative. This position combines strategic project leadership with a chief operating function: managing workplans and organizational systems, coordinating partners and consultants, overseeing contracts and payments, supporting personnel administration, and managing MiCHEP’s day-to-day relationship with its fiscal sponsor, Michigan College Access Network.

The Director reports to the MiCHEP President. Working with the MiCHEP Steering Committee and key partners, the President sets organizational strategy, leads funder and major external relationships, represents MiCHEP publicly, and retains final executive authority. The Director will translate that strategy into implementation and will have substantial authority to manage approved projects, budgets, systems, staff, consultants, and routine operational decisions.

The successful candidate will be a proactive and highly organized leader who can move comfortably between strategy and execution. This individual will anticipate needs, identify unresolved questions, coordinate people and resources, and take responsibility for ensuring that commitments become completed work.

Responsibilities

The Director of Strategic Initiatives and Operations will:

• Lead implementation of MiCHEP’s Ascendium-funded initiative, maintaining an integrated workplan that identifies priorities, responsibilities, timelines, budgets, deliverables, and measures of progress.
• Coordinate the work of member institutions, MDOC, MCAN, consultants, evaluators, government agencies, reentry and workforce organizations, and incarcerated and formerly incarcerated students.
• Monitor progress, identify obstacles, recommend solutions, and ensure that organizational and grant commitments are completed on time.
• Integrate the Ascendium initiative with MiCHEP’s other grants and priorities so that related projects reinforce rather than duplicate one another.
• Prepare reports, briefings, agendas, decision documents, and project updates for the President, Ascendium, the MiCHEP Steering Committee, and other partners.
• Support the President in funder and major partner conversations, attend meetings as appropriate, document decisions, and manage implementation and follow-through.
• Serve as MiCHEP’s primary day-to-day administrative liaison with MCAN, which serves as MiCHEP’s fiscal sponsor and employer of record.
• Manage the full administrative lifecycle of contracts, consultants, and vendors, including scopes of work, required documentation, approvals, signatures, deliverables, renewals, and records.
• Prepare, submit, and track invoices, payment requests, reimbursements, consultant payments, and other financial transactions; reconcile internal records with MCAN reports and monitor grant budgets.
• Coordinate with MCAN on position approvals, recruitment, hiring documentation, onboarding, payroll, benefits, leave, performance documentation, and other personnel matters.
• Establish durable systems for project management, document organization, decision tracking, meeting preparation, internal communication, and organizational follow-through.
• Plan and coordinate statewide convenings, mediated dialogues, working groups, site visits, and other collaborative activities.
• Coordinate external evaluators and technical-assistance providers and connect project activities to performance measures and organizational learning.
• Supervise additional MiCHEP staff as those positions are established and coordinate the work of consultants and project teams.
• Ensure that incarcerated and formerly incarcerated students have meaningful opportunities to shape the initiative’s priorities and activities.

Qualifications

MiCHEP recognizes that strong candidates may arrive through different educational and professional pathways. An equivalent combination of education, professional experience, and lived expertise will be considered.

Competitive candidates will demonstrate:

• At least five years of progressively responsible experience in organizational operations, project leadership, grant implementation, nonprofit administration, or a related area.
• Experience managing complex initiatives involving multiple institutions or partner organizations.
• Experience with contracts, budgets, payments, vendors, personnel processes, grants, or fiscal-sponsor relationships.
• Strong judgment and a demonstrated ability to translate strategy into organized implementation.
• Excellent writing, communication, and relationship-management skills.
• The ability to anticipate needs, manage competing priorities, and advance work without continuous supervision.
• Experience handling confidential financial, contractual, personnel, or organizational information with discretion.
• The ability to navigate institutional complexity, disagreement, and competing interests constructively.
• A demonstrated commitment to educational access, equity, human dignity, and the success of justice-impacted learners.
• The ability to travel regularly within Michigan, including visits to correctional facilities.

Experience in higher education, corrections, workforce development, reentry, collective-impact initiatives, or systems-change work is preferred but not required. Familiarity with Michigan’s higher-education or criminal-justice landscape would be valuable. Lived experience with incarceration or the criminal legal system is welcomed and valued.

Compensation and Work Arrangements

The salary range is $80,000–$105,000, commensurate with experience, plus benefits administered through MCAN. MiCHEP anticipates hiring near the middle of the range but may consider compensation elsewhere within the range based on the successful candidate’s qualifications.

The position is primarily remote and requires regular travel throughout Michigan. It is funded through July 31, 2030. Continued employment beyond the grant period will depend on organizational needs and available funding.

Application

Please submit a résumé and cover letter through MCAN’s application system. Applications will be accepted for approximately 30 days. Review of applications will begin as they are received.