Senior Program Manager, Leadership Programs

The Constructive Dialogue Institute (CDI) is a non-partisan non-profit dedicated to equipping the next generation of Americans with the skills to communicate and collaborate across lines of difference. We work with U.S. colleges and universities by providing co-curricular programming for students professional development for faculty and staff and strategic guidance to leadership. Our goal is to foster constructive dialogue at every level of the institution and to create the conditions for lasting organizational change. CDI was co-founded by psychologist Jonathan Haidt the bestselling author of The Righteous Mind and The Anxious Generation.

CDI seeks an experienced highly organized Senior Program Manager to serve as the operational backbone of the Leadership Institute (LI) CDIs program to equip senior higher education leaders with the strategy tools and peer network to advance cultures of inquiry and dialogue on their campuses. This full-time remote role works closely with the Vice President of Leadership Programs to run LIs full-year arc: the fall Summit monthly institutional coaching quarterly Peer Learning Communities and each cohorts measurement and reporting cycle.

In your first 90 days youll learn LI end-to-end by shadowing coaching calls and supporting Summit planning getting fluent in our systems and templates and planning for the year-long engagement. By month three youll independently manage scheduling and logistics for our Leadership Institute partners.

By month six youll manage the operating rhythm for the full cohort year tracking institution progress flagging risks to the VP running day-to-day partner communication and recommending process improvements.

Within your first year youll be a trusted first point of contact for campus teams on coordination and progress and a trusted operational partner with the VP.

The ideal candidate thrives at the intersection of program operations and relationship management: strong execution an instinct for spotting opportunities and process improvements and good judgment about what to flag versus solve directly. The Senior Program Manager reports to the Vice President of Leadership Programs.

Program & Portfolio Management

• Own the schedule and tracking systems for the full LI cohorts year-long arc including summit prep with the institution teams monthly coaching and quarterly Peer Learning Community sessions

• Keep the Vice President and broader team ahead of deadlines across all concurrent workstreams within and across cohort years.

• Track each institutions strategic priorities throughout the year and escalate stalled progress or risks.

• Identify and design improvements to LIs operating systems and templates (discovery process communications cadence reporting formats) in partnership with the VP.

Institution & Partner Liaison

• Serve as the primary point of contact for institutional teams on scheduling onboarding pre-work and follow-up across the full year.

• Field routine questions and troubleshoot logistics directly.

• Spot opportunities raised by campus partners and elevate them to the VP

Cross-Team Coordination & Communication

• Manage meeting cadence and information flow among the VP consulting partnerships and impact teams

• Maintain and organize program materials including discovery reports session decks PLC and coaching resources

• Model clear professional communication in every touchpoint with institutional partners

Data Tracking & Reporting

• Track Pillar-specific progress and coaching-call reflections across the cohort.

• Synthesize cohort-wide data into formats leaders can act on including progress dashboards insights reports and summaries.

• An experienced program manager. You bring 5 years of program or project management experience ideally spanning cross-functional or partner-facing work in education consulting or nonprofit settings.

• A skilled portfolio juggler. Youre comfortable managing a complex multi-institution portfolio and tracking multiple workstreams at once.

• A proactive process-improver. You have a track record of independently identifying and proposing improvements not just executing whats handed to you.

• A trusted external liaison. Youre comfortable liaising directly with external partners on defined pieces of work with good judgment about what to resolve independently versus escalate.

• Data-savvy. You can pull information from multiple sources (surveys interviews documents) into a clear decision-ready narrative.

• A strong communicator. Your written and verbal communication is excellent calibrated for both internal teams and senior higher-ed leadership.

• Mission-aligned and adaptable. Youre enthusiastic about CDIs mission and comfortable operating in an environment of continuous improvement as the LI program evolves year to year.

• Preferred: Comfort with project management systems and CRMs (e.g. Asana HubSpot).

• Compensation $85000 - $95000 annually

• A Mission-Driven Culture our work culture genuinely reflects our mission characterized by intellectual humility continuous improvement and open-mindedness

• Remote-First CDI was founded as a remote-first organization and we work hard to maintain a strong team culture across vast distances

• Unlimited PTO as well as 13 company holidays

• Remote Work Support up to $500 reimbursed for home office equipment (like desks chairs or webcams) and up to $50/month reimbursed for home internet or cell phone expenses

• Other Benefits employer-supported health vision and dental plans subsidized parental leave 3% 401k match short- and long-term disability insurance life and AD&D insurance $1000 annual professional development budget

• Reports to: Vice President of Leadership Programs

• Schedule: Full-time flexible within U.S. time zones

• Target start date: ASAP

• Location: Remote must be based in the U.S.