Program Manager, Innovation

Program Manager, Innovation

Who We are

Campus Compact is a national coalition of colleges and universities committed to the public purposes of higher education. As the largest national higher education association dedicated solely to higher education civic and community engagement, Campus Compact enables higher education institutions to develop students’ citizenship skills and forge effective community partnerships. Our resources support senior administrators, faculty, staff, and students as they pursue community-based teaching, scholarship, and action in the service of positive change.

Today, we stand at a defining moment: we are ready to scale our impact when the stakes for our work have never been higher. We know that higher education has a critical role to play in fostering democratic principles and culture by addressing polarization, strengthening civic participation, and ensuring students are prepared to navigate and shape our democracy. Thanks to the investment of philanthropic partners, Campus Compact is preparing for a period of significant growth and expansion, particularly in the areas of innovation, scaling, and coalition building. 

About the Role

The Program Manager, Innovation is a strategic partner to the Senior Director for Innovation, providing a mix of program management, execution, creative co-creation, and administrative support. This role is designed for someone who can identify and operationalize innovation opportunities in all its forms that scale our impact. The Program Manager ensures that innovation efforts are responsible, evidence-informed, and compellingly communicated to internal and external stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities:

• Program Support & Execution: Partner with the Senior Director to design and execute innovation pilots, managing the logistical workflows required for effective oversight and handoff. Manage project administration through tasks such as subgrant drafting, supporting compliance oversight, and contract review.
• Technology Integration: Assist in the identification and adoption of new technologies; translate complex technical concepts for lay audiences and draft field-facing toolkits and training resources.
• Responsible Innovation: Follow ethical standards to ensure new initiatives promote equitable access to innovation resources.
• Donor Stewardship: Contribute to drafting persuasive arguments and content for funding opportunities, donor reports, and social media.
• Coordination & Communications: Manage the day-to-day operations of the innovation pipeline and execute professional communications to key stakeholders such as prospective and current program participants, advisory board members, and field leaders. Additionally, coordinate events such as meetings and trainings to advance program and organizational objectives.
• Facilitation: Lead small facilitation opportunities, such as breakout groups or specific project workgroups, to support larger innovation cohorts. 
• Operationalize the Pipeline: Maintain the systems and workflows that move projects from ideation to scaling.
• Data & Evaluation Support: Partner with the Director of Impact and Evaluation to implement feedback loops within pilots to ensure they are evidence-informed.  
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work with the Membership, Strategy and Communications teams to ensure innovation projects are integrated into the broader member ecosystem. 

Qualifications:

• Education: Bachelor’s degree required.  
• Experience: 4-6 years of experience in program management, social innovation democratic engagement, technology and education, and/or higher education administration.  
• Project Management: A strong project manager who is highly organized and can manage competing priorities. Certifications such as PMP or similar credentials are welcome, but not required.  
• Communication: A strong, clear communicator and team player who can craft compelling language for both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Values: A deep personal and professional commitment to democracy, diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Role Expectations:

• Strategic Co-Creation & Innovation Scouting: Partners effectively with the Senior Director to ideate, design, and refine new innovation initiatives, bringing a proactive approach to identifying trends that can scale the coalition's impact. Specifically looks for ways to integrate and adopt technology responsibly. Ensures that innovation efforts are ethically grounded and accessible to a diverse range of institutional contexts.
• Programmatic Execution & Operational Discipline: Demonstrates program management and coordination skills to translate high-level ideas into actionable program steps. Manages the day-to-day logistics, timelines, and deliverables of innovation pilots and cohorts with consistent follow-through and attention to detail. Takes responsibility for the successful execution of program actions, ensuring that administrative and operational tasks are handled with precision.
• Persuasive Communication & Technical Translation: Acts as a technological translator, possessing the ability to distill technical concepts into clear language for lay audiences across the membership. Drafts persuasive content and arguments to support funding opportunities and donor engagement. Maintains a genial and professional communication style that strengthens relationships and facilitates clear understanding among diverse stakeholders.
• Collaborative Teamwork & Adaptive Facilitation: Functions as a strong, consistent team player who prioritizes shared success and clear coordination. While not expected to be the primary facilitator for all initiatives, is comfortable and capable of taking the lead on smaller facilitation opportunities, breakout sessions, or specific project workgroups as needed. Navigates the "messy middle" of innovation work with flexibility, patience, and a commitment to co-creating solutions with colleagues.
• Data Accuracy, Quality & Stewardship: Demonstrates attention to detail and a quality-control mindset when working with program data. Validates, cleans, and maintains data across systems, recognizing the impact of errors on reporting, planning, and decision-making, and taking responsibility for resolving discrepancies within their scope of work.
• Analytical Thinking & Insight Generation: Applies critical thinking skills to produce clear, accurate program management insights. Identifies patterns, trends, or gaps in the data to inform team and leadership decision-making.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration & Enablement: Collaborates effectively to convey innovation’s relationship to organizational development.
• Process Discipline, Documentation & Continuous Improvement: Supports the creation, use, and maintenance of SOPs, documentation, and playbook materials related to program management and innovation. 

We Would Welcome Additional Experience:

• Working with technology-aware tools and topics, especially those impacting education contexts, such as artificial intelligence;
• Engaging with higher education, democracy building, dialogue or negotiation design and facilitation, and/or 
• Supporting nonprofit, membership-based, coalition, or higher education organizations.

Team-Wide Expectations:

• Travel is an expectation: All Innovation roles require travel in support of implementation, oversight, oversight, coalition-building, and relationship management. While frequency and purpose vary by role, no position is fully remote in practice.
• Data-informed decision-making is foundational: Team members are expected to use data to inform decisions or demonstrate a willingness to learn and adopt data-informed approaches.
• Representation and judgment matter: Team members are routinely entrusted to represent Campus Compact and are expected to navigate ambiguity with professionalism, discretion, and accountability.

As an employee of Campus Compact you strive to represent & live Campus Compact’s Shared Values & Commitments in both how you show up for and work with your colleagues as well as Compact’s partners and communities:

• Equity: We prioritize full participation and diversity of thought, experience, and background. We center equity in our actions, processes, and practices to uplift diverse voices and perspectives.
• Growth mindset: We consistently push ourselves and each other to do and be better. We are motivated by growth, embracing new ideas, prioritizing continuous learning, and meeting challenges head-on.
• Accountability: We recognize that long-term change requires individual and shared ownership of personal and organizational actions. We acknowledge our mistakes, give each other grace, collaborate openly, and hold ourselves to high standards of integrity.
• Responsiveness: We ensure our offerings, resources, and approaches are flexible, grounded in feedback, and responsive to the challenges of our time.
• Transparency: We are direct and authentic within our team, with our members, and with our partners. We know that building trust starts with consistent, honest, and transparent communication.

Primary Internal & External Contacts Associated with this Position

• Campus Compact, Sr. Vice President for Strategy
• Campus Compact, Senior Director, Innovation
• Campus Compact, Senior Manager, Strategic Initiatives
• Campus Compact, Senior Manager, Public Discourse
• Campus Compact, Sr. Coordinator, Coalitions and Member Experience
• Campus Compact, Director, Impact and Evaluation 
• External consultants and vendors

Qualification Requirements:  To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential function in a satisfactory manner.  The requirements listed above are representative of the knowledge, skill and/or ability required.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Physical requirements:

• This is primarily a sedentary position requiring the ability to sit at a desk and use a computer and phone most of the day. 
• Minor bending and lifting periodically (mostly related to help with events and office management needs)
• The physical demands described are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Additional Information:

• Position Type: This is a remote, full-time, exempt position.
• Location: This is a remote position with semi-regular travel required for staff gatherings, coalition meetings, recruitment events/conferences, and Compact Events, most specifically our annual All Staff, in-person Retreat.
• Reporting Structure: Senior Director, Innovation
• Compensation Band: $70,000-$75,000
• Benefits: Campus Compact provides a competitive benefits package, including national healthcare coverage, generous paid time off, and an employer retirement contribution. The organization prioritizes employee well-being and professional development and lives out those values through a flexible work environment, an inclusive and caring culture, and dedication to professional development. 
• Organizational Breaks:
  • Winter Break: Dec. 24th - Jan. 1st
  • Summer Reset: Week of July 4th

We would like this position to start as soon as is reasonably possible, but ideally no later than Tuesday, August 18th, 2026.

Experience & Qualifications (Short Answer)

We recognize that applicants may use tools, including AI, to support drafting or editing their materials. We ask that your responses reflect your own experience, judgment, and voice. We are most interested in understanding how you think, how you approach the work, and what you would bring to this role, so please use the application questions as an opportunity to share your perspective authentically. 

**Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled, with priority given to applicants who apply by July 06, 2026. 

Campus Compact strives to attract and retain a diverse and talented staff who will contribute to the organization’s goals, mission, and vision. We encourage individuals of all ethnic, racial, religious, and socioeconomic backgrounds to apply. Campus Compact is committed to increasing our team’s diversity, consistent with the values of our network. Campus Compact is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to qualified individuals. It does not discriminate based on race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, height, weight, marital status, veteran status, pregnancy, parental status, genetic information or characteristics (or those of a family member), or any other basis prohibited by law. 

In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire.

Campus Compact participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S. Campus Compact will only use E-Verify once you have accepted a job offer and completed the Form I-9.