Program Manager

Howard Hughes Medical Insitute; Chevy Chase (MD); Hybrid; USD 104,000 - 129,000; Full time

Job summary

Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase, MD seeks a Program Manager who thinks in systems and derives actionable insights from student data within the Community College Pilot. The role emphasizes building tracking infrastructure and coordinating data collection across Pilot sites.

It blends analysis with real program responsibilities, including supporting student success, serving as a resource on transfer pathways, and acting as a primary contact for site issues.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree is required; a graduate degree is preferred.
• 3–5 years of professional experience in higher education, student success, institutional research, or a related field.
• Experience building and coordinating data tracking across sites.

Responsibilities

• Builds and runs tracking systems for participation, persistence, transfer, and graduation outcomes.
• Coordinates data collection with institutional partners and ensures reporting requirements.
• Analyses quantitative and qualitative data to identify trends and informs dashboards and reports.
• Supports evaluation framework development and dissemination of lessons learned.
• Leads student success work with partner institutions on recruitment, engagement, and retention.
• Acts as a resource on community college student experiences and transfer pathways.
• Serves as the first contact for site issues and coordinates across Pilot sites.

Skills

Data discipline

Data storytelling

Data visualization

Cross-functional collaboration

Student success

Education

Bachelor's degree

Graduate degree preferred

Tools

Student information systems

Survey tools

Data visualization platforms

Job description

This is a role for someone who thinks in systems and finds genuine satisfaction in making data tell a useful story about how students are doing.

The Program Manager supports HHMI's Community College Pilot, tracking what is happening across Pilot sites and helping the team respond to what the numbers show, working closely with the Senior Program Manager and Program Coordinator.

The work is more analytical than most program roles at this level. The Program Manager builds and maintains the tracking infrastructure and coordinates data collection across institutions, while also carrying real programmatic responsibilities, including supporting student success work and serving as a resource on community college student experiences and transfer pathways.

Why This Role Matters

HHMI's Community College Pilot supports promising science students at community colleges through transfer and bachelor's degree completion in the life sciences. What makes the Pilot distinct is that support is built around individual students rather than routed only through institutional programs, so someone has to keep track of how individual students are actually doing, not just how a site reports it. This role carries that responsibility. Fluency with the data and genuine relationships with students and institutional staff are what keep a program with this many moving parts pointed in the same direction. When questions or issues come up across sites, this role is often the first point of contact, and how those moments are handled shapes how smoothly the rest of the team can do their work.

What You Will Actually Do

• Builds and runs the tracking systems. Develops and maintains systems for monitoring student participation, persistence, transfer, and graduation outcomes across Pilot sites. Owns data quality, consistency, and confidentiality.
• Coordinates data collection. Works with institutional partners to gather program data, reconciles inconsistencies, and ensures reporting requirements are met. Serves as the person who knows where the gaps are.
• Turns data into usable information. Analyzes quantitative and qualitative data to identify trends and challenges. Prepares summaries, dashboards, and reports for internal and external audiences.
• Supports evaluation. Assists with evaluation framework development and dissemination of lessons learned and effective practices.
• Leads student success work. Collaborates with partner institutions on student recruitment, engagement, and retention. Monitors participation in program offerings and flags students who may need additional support.
• Serves as a community college resource. Brings knowledge of community college student experiences, transfer pathways, and institutional practices to the team's program design and decision-making.
• Acts as the point of contact for site issues. Serves as the first point of contact when questions or issues arise across Pilot sites, coordinating with the broader team to resolve them rather than solving every problem independently.

What We Are Looking For

• Brings data discipline. Builds systems that hold up over time, thinks about data structure before output, and catches quality problems before they compound.
• Offers community college fluency. Brings direct professional experience in or with community colleges and understands what transfer actually asks of students, not just what the paperwork says.
• Makes data useful, not just accurate. Does not stop at correct numbers, and frames findings in ways that help a program team understand what to do next.
• Stays organized under complexity. Tracks a wide set of institutional relationships and data streams simultaneously without losing threads.
• Communicates across audiences. Writes a technical data summary for an internal team and a clear student-facing email in the same morning.
• Is mission-connected. Cares specifically about science access and transfer equity, not just program management in the abstract.
• Education and experience. A bachelor's degree is required; a graduate degree is preferred. A minimum of three to five years of professional experience in higher education, student success, institutional research, program evaluation, or a related field is required.

Nice To Have

• Background supporting transfer students or science student populations.
• Experience with student information systems, survey tools, or data visualization platforms.
• Experience with program assessment and longitudinal student tracking.

What This Role Is Not

• Not a pure data role. This role works closely with students and institutional partners, not just spreadsheets.
• Not a research or evaluation lead role. This role supports evaluation but does not design or own it independently.
• Not a supervisory role. This is an individual contributor position.
• Not a role for someone without community college experience. Direct professional experience working in or with community colleges is required, not preferred.

Practical Details

This position is based at HHMI headquarters and follows a hybrid work arrangement. Domestic travel is required for site visits, convenings, and conferences. This role reports to the Director of Undergraduate Science Pathways.

Compensation and Benefits

Our employees are compensated from a total rewards perspective in many ways for their contributions to our mission, including competitive pay, exceptional health benefits, retirement plans, time off, and a range of recognition and wellness programs. Visit our Benefits at HHMI site to learn more.

Compensation Range $103,508.00 - $129,385.00

Pay Type: Annual

The posted range reflects HHMI’s good faith estimate of anticipated hiring salary range for this role at the time of posting. Actual hiring compensation is determined by a candidate’s qualifications, experience, and internal equity.