Program Director, Harris Social Impact Fellowship

Department

Harris Harris School Social Impact Fellowship Sub Group

About the Department

Policy with real impact doesn’t evolve from ideology or intuition, or even experience. At the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, developing effective public policy is a science, based on data and measurable impact .Addressing today’s interconnected, global challenges requires rigorous inquiry. It also requires innovative people who will face the facts, gather data, and understand why current policies exist to improve them. For more than 30 years, the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy has been steadfastly committed to serving society by advancing analysis- and evidence-informed policy. Guided by this exacting mission, our community of faculty, students, and alumni from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors are taking on the world’s most important problems by using the latest tools of social science. Harris Public Policy offers a full range of degree and executive education programs and is the academic home to research centers, institutes, and labs that study and engage the public on areas such as conflict, democracy and effective government, economic and political development, education, energy and environment, health, municipal finance, public safety, social policy, and urban policy.

Job Summary

The Program Director provides programmatic and operational leadership for the Harris Social Impact Fellowship (HSIF), a flagship initiative of the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. Reporting to the Executive Director and partnering closely with the Faculty Director, the Program Director manages the full lifecycle of Fellowship operations and delivery within the programmatic direction, growth strategy, and quality standards set by the Executive Director. The role executes fellow recruitment and selection against the architecture set by the Executive Director, manages confirmed partnerships and program budget execution, supervises student workers, and represents the Fellowship at the operational level to faculty and staff partners, placement institutions, and peer programs, safeguarding academic rigor, operational quality, and the Harris brand.

Responsibilities

• Supports the design and delivery of the fellowship curriculum and experience with the Faculty Director, coordinating annual design cycles, faculty engagement, and integration of research centers across UChicago to ensure academic rigor and institutional alignment.
• Translates the growth strategy and program priorities set by the Executive Director into detailed program plans and execution, and supports expansion work such as placement diversification and applicant-pool engagement.
• Manages the day-to-day operational relationships across Harris and the University that keep the Fellowship running, including project-level coordination with faculty and research center staff (Urban Labs, BIP Lab, Mansueto Institute, and others), career services, admissions, finance, and OLC.
• Manages the ongoing operational relationship with confirmed external partners (research organizations, social impact employers, government and policy institutions, and host placement sites), running regular check-ins, tracking deliverables, and flagging renewal or escalation moments to the Executive Director, who sources new partnerships and re-engages at those points.
• Executes the national recruitment plan set by the Executive Director, including operational outreach, pipeline management with priority feeder institutions, and applicant engagement, and reports pipeline performance against the yield targets set by the Executive Director.
• Runs the full selection process end-to-end against the assessment framework, interview design, and evaluation rubrics set by the Executive Director, and surfaces cohort recommendations for final decision by the Executive Director and Faculty Director.
• Manages the full fellow lifecycle from recruitment through alumni integration, implementing the professional standards, mentorship structures, crisis protocols, and alumni engagement platform designed by the Executive Director, and running day-to-day alumni communications.
• Builds and maintains the operational network of post-fellowship career opportunities, including employer and institutional contacts, opportunity mapping across the sectors set by the Executive Director, individual career-development touchpoints with fellows and alumni, placement tracking, and connecting specific fellows and alumni to specific roles.
• Runs day-to-day operations for the Fellowship, including cross-unit coordination, information flow, and operational handoffs across the Fellowship team, faculty leads, host institutions, and University units, within the governance and escalation framework set by the Executive Director.
• Maintains reliable program delivery as HSIF grows to multiple cohorts, flagging operational, reputational, and partnership risks to the Executive Director and supporting mitigation.
• Supervises student workers and external consultants, setting performance standards and overseeing workload distribution. Coordinates day-to-day work with the Assistant Director, who reports to the Executive Director. Participates in hiring within the program team, recommending candidates in alignment with Harris HR processes and Executive Director approval.
• Manages the program budget within approved parameters, including spend tracking, cost-per-fellow analysis, proposing resource allocation across placement partnerships, recruitment, alumni programming, and operations, and escalating material changes to the Executive Director.
• Executes the impact measurement framework set by the Executive Director and Faculty Director, including instrument administration, data collection, alumni career tracking, and performance dashboard maintenance, and surfaces findings to the Executive Director for synthesis.
• Organizes flagship internal events, including capstone presentations, the annual alumni retreat, cohort convenings, and guest speaker sessions. External representation at academic and policy venues sits with the Executive Director.

• Develops and communicates program priorities and performance standards and assesses operations using these criteria. Plans and conducts quality assurance reviews and recommends changes as appropriate.

• Manages program budgets and recommends or makes budgetary recommendations.

• Has a deep understanding when interacting with faculty, researchers and staff for committee work or information.

• Performs other related work as needed.

Minimum Qualifications

Education:

Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.

Work Experience:

Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 5-7 years of work experience in a related job discipline.

Certifications:

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Preferred Qualifications

Experience:

• 8-10 years of professional experience in program management, higher education administration, public policy, or related fields.
• Track record in program development, student-facing program management, and scaling complex initiatives across institutional boundaries.
• Experience coordinating with senior faculty, academic leaders, and research principals, and with external partners across think tanks, government, and non-profit organizations focused on research, evaluation, or policy.
• Experience supervising staff and managing consultant relationships, with demonstrated ability to build operational capacity as programs scale.

Preferred Competencies

• Plans and executes complex, multi-faceted programs with limited day-to-day oversight, exercising sound judgment on operational questions and knowing when to escalate.
• Navigates complex stakeholder ecosystems with competing agendas, with strong instincts for sequencing, escalation, and de-confliction.
• Strong organizational discipline and relationship-building skills across hierarchies and institutional boundaries.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, including the ability to brief senior leadership, represent the program externally, and produce program-substance materials of institutional quality.

Working Conditions

• Chicago-based role at the University of Chicago, with a hybrid work arrangement.
• Some evening and weekend work in connection with Fellowship programming and events.

Application Documents

• Resume/CV (required)

• Cover Letter (required)

• Contact information for three references (required)

The University of Chicago uses AI-assisted tools to streamline and augment some recruitment processes; however, AI is not used to make hiring decisions.

When applying, the document(s) MUST be uploaded via the My Experience page, in the section titled Application Documents of the application.

Job Family

Administration & Management

Role Impact

Individual Contributor

Scheduled Weekly Hours

37.5

Drug Test Required

No

Health Screen Required

No

Motor Vehicle Record Inquiry Required

No

Pay Rate Type

Salary

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FLSA Status

Exempt

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Pay Range

$90,000.00 - $110,000.00

The included pay rate or range represents the University’s good faith estimate of the possible compensation offer for this role at the time of posting.

Benefits Eligible

Yes

The University of Chicago offers a wide range of benefits programs and resources for eligible employees, including health, retirement, and paid time off. Information about the benefit offerings can be found in the Benefits Guidebook.

Posting Statement

The University of Chicago is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or expression, national or ethnic origin, shared ancestry, age, status as an individual with a disability, military or veteran status, genetic information, or other protected classes under the law. For additional information please see the University's Notice of Nondiscrimination.

Job seekers in need of a reasonable accommodation to complete the application process should call 773-702-5800 or submit a request via Applicant Inquiry Form.

All offers of employment are contingent upon a background check that includes a review of conviction history. A conviction does not automatically preclude University employment. Rather, the University considers conviction information on a case-by-case basis and assesses the nature of the offense, the circumstances surrounding it, the proximity in time of the conviction, and its relevance to the position.

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