Program Manager

Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI); United States; Hybrid; USD 104,000 - 129,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work arrangement

Job summary

HHMI seeks a Program Manager to lead the Community College Pilot, building and maintaining tracking systems, collaborating with partner institutions, and turning data into actionable insights for student success.

This role requires a bachelor's degree (graduate degree preferred) and 3–5 years in higher education, student success, or related fields; experience with community colleges is a plus. Hybrid work at HHMI with domestic travel is available.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required; a graduate degree is preferred.
• 3–5 years of professional experience in higher education, student success, institutional research, program evaluation, or a related field.
• Experience with community college populations is a plus.

Responsibilities

• 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 across institutions.
• Gathers program data from partner institutions and ensures reporting requirements are met.
• Turns data into usable information and identifies trends.
• Prepares summaries, dashboards, and reports for internal and external audiences.
• Supports evaluation and contributes to framework development.

Skills

Data discipline

Community college fluency

Data storytelling

Organization

Communication

Mission alignment

Education

Bachelor's degree

Graduate degree preferred

Tools

Student information systems

Survey tools

Data visualization platforms

Job description

Primary Work Address: 4000 Jones Bridge Road, Chevy Chase, MD, 20815

HHMI is focused on supporting and moving science forward in a variety of different ways ranging from conducting basic biomedical research, empowering educators, inspiring students, developing the next generation of scientists - even stretching into film and media production. Our Headquarters is in the greater Washington, DC metro area and is home to over 300 employees with expertise in investments, communications, digital production, biomedical sciences, and everything in between. The work housed here supports and augments the groundbreaking research conducted in HHMI labs across the nation. As HHMI scientists continue to push boundaries in laboratories and classrooms, you can be sure that your contributions while working here are making a difference. 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. We encourage qualified candidates who are eligible to work in the United States to apply. Please note that we are not able to sponsor a visa for this position at this time.

Physical Requirements

Remaining in a normal seated or standing position for extended periods of time; reaching and grasping by extending hand(s) or arm(s); dexterity to manipulate objects with fingers, for example using a keyboard; communication skills using the spoken word; ability to see and hear within normal parameters; ability to move about workspace. The position requires mobility, including the ability to move materials weighing up to several pounds (such as a laptop computer or tablet). Persons with disabilities may be able to perform the essential duties of this position with reasonable accommodation. Requests for reasonable accommodation will be evaluated on an individual basis. Please Note: This job description sets forth the job’s principal duties, responsibilities, and requirements; it should not be construed as an exhaustive statement, however. Unless they begin with the word 'may', the Essential Duties and Responsibilities described above are 'essential functions' of the job, as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

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.

Hiring Pay Range $103,508.00 - $129,385.00 Pay Type: Annual The posted range reflects HHMI’s good faith estimate of the 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.

HHMI is an Equal Opportunity Employer We use E-Verify to confirm the identity and employment eligibility of all new hires. Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is an independent, ever-evolving philanthropy that supports basic biomedical scientists and educators with the potential for transformative impact. We make long-term investments in people, not just projects, because we believe in the power of individuals to make breakthroughs over time.

Why HHMI

To move science forward we need a diverse collection of talents, expertise, and backgrounds in scientific research and science education, as well as communications, finance, human resources, information technology, investments, law, and operations. ...

Contact us at [e-mail] if you require an accommodation related to completing the job application. All information you provide will be kept confidential and will be used only to the extent required to provide needed reasonable accommodations. Applicants have rights under federal employment laws. For more information about your rights as an applicant, please review these posters: Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Know Your Rights, and Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA).