Director, Educational and Talent Programs

Liberty Seeds; Washington (District of Columbia); Hybrid; USD 100,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

Employer contribution to a HealthSavin

Generous vacation and sick leave

Paid parental leave

Employer-provided life and disability

401(k) with employer match

Job summary

The Cato Institute in Washington, DC, seeks an entrepreneurial Director to build and own talent pipelines, expanding reach into new communities and channels. The role blends program design, outreach, and alumni management to cultivate long-term talent for the Institute’s mission.

You will lead a team, collaborate with hiring managers, and scale flagship programs like internships and Research Associates while building new initiatives.

Qualifications

• 7–10 years of program development and management experience.
• 3+ years of experience managing teams.
• Experience building and running talent pipelines and programs.
• Strong ability to engage diverse communities and networks.

Responsibilities

• Own and strengthen core talent pipelines and evaluate programs.
• Design and build new pipelines beyond conventional channels.
• Pursue mid-career and specialist talent through visiting roles and fellowships.
• Develop alumni networks and manage high-potential relationships.
• Activate staff and networks as talent scouts.
• Collaborate with scholars and staff to run talent and educational programs.
• Lead a cross-functional team with shared responsibilities.

Skills

Program management

Team leadership

Talent program design

Talent scouting

Public speaking

External relations

Data-driven

Entrepreneurial mindset

Cross-functional collaboration

CRM awareness

Tools

CRM systems

Job description

Director, Educational and Talent Programs

Hybrid

Washington, DC

Director, Educational and Talent Programs

About the Role

The Cato Institute seeks an entrepreneurial Director to build the talent pipelines that will power the Institute’s next era of growth. Reporting to the Senior Director, Educational and Talent Programs, the Director will develop and own the vision, strategy, and execution of Cato’s efforts to identify, attract, and develop exceptional talent—both by strengthening our core educational and student programs and by building entirely new channels that reach talented people far beyond the pipelines we rely on today. This is a strategic, pipeline-building role focused on finding and cultivating people; it complements, and does not duplicate, the Institute’s human-resources function.

The successful candidate will bring the instincts of a builder and a talent scout: a track record of creating successful programs from the ground up, a gift for identifying and developing exceptional people at every career stage, and the resourcefulness to reach talent where it actually gathers—in creative, technical, entrepreneurial, and academic communities, and not only within the liberty movement. Familiarity with the liberty movement’s talent landscape is a genuine asset, but the defining requirement is the ability to expand Cato’s reach into pools it does not touch today.

Early priorities will include strengthening our flagship pipelines—the internship cohorts and the Research Associate program—into more robust, better-instrumented sources of long-term talent; mapping where the diverse talent Cato now needs actually congregates and establishing the Institute’s presence there; designing “magnet” mechanisms such as fellowships, prizes, and competitions that draw exceptional people to Cato; and activating the networks Cato already owns—alumni, supporters, and program participants—as active sources of, and scouts for, talent. The Director will lead a team and work closely with hiring managers and scholars across the Institute, and responsibilities are expected to expand quickly for the right candidate.

This is a hybrid role based out of the Cato Institute’s Washington, DC office and requires the ability to travel up to 10% of the time.

The projected salary range for this role is $100,000 to $140,000 per year, commensurate with experience and demonstrated skill.

About the Cato Institute

The Cato Institute is a public policy research organization — a think tank — dedicated to the principles of individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace. Its scholars and analysts conduct independent, nonpartisan research on a wide range of policy issues.

Founded in 1977, Cato owes its name to Cato’s Letters, a series of essays published in 18th-century England that presented a vision of a society free from excessive government power.

Those essays inspired the architects of the American Revolution. And the simple, timeless principles of that revolution — individual liberty, limited government, and free markets — turn out to be even more powerful in today’s world of global markets and unprecedented access to information than Jefferson or Madison could have imagined. Social and economic freedom is not just the best policy for a free people, it is the indispensable framework for the future.

The Cato Institute is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Responsibilities

• Own and strengthen Cato’s core talent pipelines—including the internship cohorts and the Research Associate program—working with staff to define roles, guiding selection, and leading program design, execution, and evaluation, with an explicit focus on converting participants into long-term contributors to the mission.
• Design and build new talent pipelines that reach well beyond conventional hiring and the liberty movement’s usual channels—sourcing not only policy talent but content creators, technologists, entrepreneurs, and other builders who can launch and staff new initiatives.
• Pursue mid-career and specialist talent, not only early-career candidates—through new avenues such as visiting positions, fellowships, an entrepreneur-in-residence capability, and targeted outreach to accomplished professionals and to talented people displaced from adjacent fields.
• Build a systematic program to cultivate the Institute’s alumni and program participants as long-term talent relationships—managing a portfolio of high-potential individuals and connecting them with aligned opportunities—bringing to talent the same disciplined, relationship-driven stewardship Cato brings to its supporters.
• Activate Cato staff, scholars, alumni, and the broader network as active talent scouts.
• Collaborate across the team and with staff and scholars throughout the Institute to design and execute talent and educational programs.
• Lead and grow a team with cross-functional responsibilities across the Institute’s talent and educational programs.
• Build Cato’s presence in the communities where sought-after talent actually gathers—creative, technical, entrepreneurial, and academic networks—as well as at conferences, on campuses, and at industry and movement events.
• Design “come-to-us” mechanisms—fellowships, prizes, public competitions, and visiting positions—that generate inbound interest from exceptional people Cato would never reach through job postings alone.
• Instrument the full talent funnel—building the data, tools (including a talent-relationship management system), and metrics needed to understand where talent is won and lost and to diagnose and improve results over time.
• Partner with hiring managers, who own hiring decisions for their teams, and coordinate with the human-resources function—strengthening the top of the talent funnel without duplicating HR’s responsibilities. Establish work-sample and audition-based approaches to identifying talent—evaluating people through real work product rather than interviews alone—including small, focused, expertly led project cohorts in which promising candidates can demonstrate what they can do.

Knowledge and Skills

• 7-10 years of experience in program development and management with a demonstrated track record of increasing responsibility and outcomes.
• 3+ years of experience managing teams.
• Experience designing and running programs that identify and develop talent; familiarity with adult-learning principles is a significant plus but secondary to the instincts of a talent builder.
• Demonstrated success identifying and developing exceptional talent across multiple career stages; experience building networks or relationship-management (CRM)-driven programs a strong plus.
• Genuine commitment to the principles expressed in Cato’s statement of principles—and the judgment to recognize that commitment, or its absence, in others, since this role helps shape who enters the Institute.
• Resourcefulness and creativity in reaching talent outside conventional channels, including creative, technical, entrepreneurial, and academic communities.
• Comfort with data, tools, and metrics for managing a pipeline; experience with CRM or relationship-management systems a plus.
• Proven ability to engage and build credibility with external constituencies.
• Outstanding public speaking and interpersonal skills.
• Collaborative and highly entrepreneurial team player.
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Employer contribution to a Health Savings Account (HSA)
• Generous vacation and sick leave
• Paid parental leave
• Employer-provided life and disability insurance
• 401(k) with employer match

Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis. This position does not offer visa sponsorship.