Job Description

Title: Program Manager – Experience Architect

Reports to: Head of Program Management

Functional Responsibilities: Program operations and partner relations

EMBARC BACKGROUND:
Embarc’s mission is to create a more just and equitable educational experience and cultivate post-secondary success by inspiring students to build their social capital, stretch the boundaries of their neighborhood, alter their worldview, and seize opportunities in school and life. Embarc is regarded as one of the most exciting nonprofits in Chicago that specializes in combining a robust curriculum with immersive, hands-on learning experiences that connect students to multiple sectors of the Chicago community to drive academic skills and close the opportunity gap.

Since its inception in 2010, Embarc has served nearly 8,000 students who have achieved an average 95% graduation rate and 90% overall postsecondary success. Embarc has grown from serving 25 students in 2010 to nearly 4,000 students in the 2023-2024 school year in 18 high schools across Chicago Public Schools (CPS).

POSITION OVERVIEW:
Embarc is looking for a dynamic and focused individual to join its highly regarded and driven team. The Program Manager assists in overseeing the experiential education aspect of Embarc to ensure quality and efficacy of the program. This includes being responsible for all operations over student experiences, including
journeys out of the school building and workshops on site at schools, partnership development, collaborating between partners and school, working closely with all Program Managers and responding to the needs of the Programming Team. To accomplish these tasks, the Program Manager works closely with partners, Embarc staff, and Embarc teachers as needed. The Program Manager reports to the Senior Program Manager.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
I. Program Operations (65%)

• Handle all logistics and communication between partners, Embarc teachers/school staff for out of school experiences and in-school workshops, ensuring all necessary elements (transportation, food, materials, venue, and activities) are accounted for 30 days prior to student experience.
• Develop and execute Embarc’s experiential learning program including designing, building, managing and refining as needed.
• Provide informed and professional experiential learning support to partners and teachers/school staff by celebrating successes or problem solving around challenges that arise.
• Ensure experiences are executed in alignment with Embarc’s core values and mission as an organization.
• Act as liaison between Embarc, the schools, and businesses / organizations / experience partners.
• Represent Embarc with poise, expertise, and concision during events and partnership development opportunities.
• Identify support structures, strategies, and resources that ensure that teachers and partners facilitate high quality and highly impactful experiences for students.
• Develop and maintain a deep understanding of research based practices that support young adult success and ability to translate that to programming.
• Analyze efficacy of programming through multiple data tools and through Embarc’s reflection process.
• Be present during student experiences as needed.
• Work with Head of Program Management, Senior Program Manager, Program Managers, and Experiential Coaches to align programming with student needs and interest.
• Provide materials to schools and partners.
• Track, document, and report all expenses within outlined timelines and reporting systems.
• Propose new ideas to streamline processes.

II. Collaborative Engagement with Embarc Team & Mission (20%)

• Participate and actively engage in team meetings, coach/Program Manager pair meetings, and other staff meetings
• Demonstrate a collaborative nature and eagerness to learn from others within Program Management team and throughout the organization
• Demonstrate a growth mindset and an eagerness to ideate, test, reflect, and learn from past performance
• Demonstrate a desire to want to continuously improve the educational experience for young people through an insistence on impactful, organized, and well-developed programming
• Demonstrate a high level and ability to creatively problem solve and lead with a solution oriented mindset in order to continuously propel the work forward
• Reciprocally work with other members across the programming team to determine experiences for students; creatively problem solve based on schools’ needs/wants and Embarc capacity to develop a scope and sequence of Embarc programming at each school.
• Contribute to the development of the programming team by sharing learnings, practices, and successes across school models.
• Cultivate a healthy working relationship with Embarc teammates across departments to utilize the assets of each team member in a way that creates the most impactful programming for students.

III. Partner Relations (varies)
Depending on level of experience and organizational needs, Program Managers may be asked to contribute to partner relations in the following ways:

• Develop partnership growth strategy and pipeline development.
• Recruit new partners to provide experiential learning opportunities for Embarc students
• Collaborate with new and existing partners to co-develop meaningful experiences for students
• Independently identify, steward and create strong partnerships to support the organization’s growth and development.
• Work with partners and Program Team to improve current experiences and seek new experiential partnerships that will drive students’ mindset development.
• Occasionally work with Development Team, Chief Programming Officer, Senior Program Manager and other leadership to ensure that experiences and partnerships support strategic organizational growth.
• Support existing and developing systems to track partnerships and new opportunities.

SKILLS, EXPERIENCES, AND COMPETENCIES:

• At least a Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited college or university or equivalent experience
• Minimum of 3 (three) years experience working with a diverse population of youth between the ages of 13-21
• Meticulous attention to detail, record keeping, and organizational skills with an ability to manage multiple work streams
• Strong and polished interpersonal skills and exceptional electronic, oral, and written communication skills
• An extremely high level of personal responsibility with exceptional goal orientation and a proven track record of success
• Experience executing projects to meet and exceed ambitious goals
• An ability to anticipate project needs, discern work priorities, and meet deadlines with little supervision
• Have a love for event management and provide excellent customer service
• Familiarity with Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Word, and PowerPoint
• The ability to work with a variety of people with different backgrounds and experiences
• A willingness to work occasional nights and weekends

Other Requirements:

• Program Manager is required to make off-site visits to Embarc’s various school and partner sites. With this in mind, it is preferred that the Program Manager has their own car, or comparable means of transportation, and a valid driver’s license. Embarc reimburses for some travel related expenses.

ANNUAL SALARY:
Starting annual salary of $65,000.00

How to Apply

• Phone interview - 30 minutes
• Work sample request with 5 business day turnaround time
• In person interview - 60 minutes
• Field experience or virtual text discussion - 60 or 90 minutes
• Reference check

Job Types: Full-Time. Job Tags: Community, Education, nonprofit, Partner, Partner Relations, program, Program Operations, and SEL. Salaries: 60,000 - 80,000.

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