Senior Director, Program Innovation

ImpactAlpha Inc.; Atlanta (GA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual performance bonus

Comprehensive health insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Life insurance

Paid parental leave

Generous PTO

Monthly cell phone stipend

Retirement benefits

Job summary

Georgia Resilience and Opportunity (GRO) Fund seeks a Senior Director of Program Innovation to lead its programmatic function and drive the new strategy. This role will own day-to-day program delivery, portfolio development, and rigorous monitoring and learning systems.

The successful candidate will supervise a small program team, partner with operations, and present to donors. Strong leadership, data-driven decision making, and sector knowledge are essential.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required; graduate training preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to design and manage program monitoring systems.
• Excellent written and verbal communication for diverse audiences.
• Experience with cash and capital program modalities and evaluation.

Responsibilities

• Lead and steward GRO's program innovation pipeline with rigor.
• Build and manage monitoring, learning systems, and evaluation plans.
• Oversee program design, portfolio development, and donor-aligned reporting.
• Collaborate across functions to ensure cross-team alignment and buy-in.

Skills

Leadership experience

Program design

Monitoring & learning systems

Data analysis

Communication skills

Strategic thinking

Grant proposal writing

Donor relations

Team management

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree

Graduate-level training in a relevant field

Job description

About Georgia Resilience and Opportunity (GRO) Fund

The Georgia Resilience and Opportunity (GRO) Fund is a nonprofit organization rooted in communities and dedicated to growing bold ideas for change. The organization builds evidence-based, community-driven solutions to address racial income and wealth divides in Georgia. With a current staff of 10 and an annual operating budget of approximately $3-5 million, GRO operates with a clear mission to implement innovative cash and capital programs with rigor, share results and learning widely, and build the credibility that shifts what peers, funders, and policymakers believe is possible. GRO's programmatic work centers on two flagship initiatives. In Her Hands provides monthly, no-strings-attached income supplements to nearly 1,000 women across Georgia, offering direct financial support to vulnerable populations. Freedom Futures serves as an accelerated Baby Bonds pilot program that combines monthly income support, financial advising, and an investable sum for 50 young adults, creating pathways toward long-term wealth building and economic mobility. The organization operates across three mutually reinforcing tracks: programs, field influence, and policy change. GRO's updated 2026 strategy is grounded in a conviction that when effective solutions spread beyond the organization, more people benefit from approaches the broader field has been slow to adopt. Over the next three years, GRO anticipates expanding its program portfolio to match the ambitions of this updated strategy. The organization is committed to bringing to life solutions that meet community needs in the present while simultaneously shifting policy possibilities for the long term. This requires attracting additional funders, building strong data infrastructure to inform learning and decision-making, and ensuring operations can support a growing portfolio of program innovations.

About this Role

The GRO Fund is seeking a Senior Director of Program Innovation to serve as the organization’s most senior programmatic leader and member of the leadership team. This is a high-impact role for a rigorous, solutions-oriented practitioner who can balance two critical priorities: ensuring that GRO's existing programs run with excellence and meet participants’ needs, while building the innovation and learning infrastructure to drive the organization’s new strategy. Reporting directly to the Executive Director, this newly configured role will own GRO's full programmatic function, from day-to-day program delivery to longer-term program design and portfolio development. The Senior Director will establish and steward a program innovation pipeline, build rigorous and agile monitoring and learning systems, and bring a disciplined, evidence-informed approach to program decision-making. This leader will also serve as a thought leader capable of channeling GRO's programmatic learning, staying abreast of the field’s evidence base and gaps, and creatively identifying ways to learn from and share implementation insights widely. This is both an individual contributor and a leadership role. The Senior Director will manage a small program team (2-3 direct reports) and must be equally comfortable making decisions about implementation changes, digging into program data, collaborating with a peer operations leader to design an effective data infrastructure, supporting frontline staff, and presenting to donors and external stakeholders. GRO is a growing organization, and this leader will help shape what a mature, high-performing programmatic function looks like while also prioritizing the clients and communities GRO programs serve.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain a program innovation pipeline: a structured process for identifying, designing and raising funds to support new programs aligned with GRO's strategy
• Lead and harmonize a GRO program design process with rigor and discipline
• Assess opportunities for program expansion, replication, or partnership with a critical eye toward strategy, feasibility, and fit
• Develop and manage program-specific execution plans, ensuring all GRO staff and partners have the information they need according to agreed-upon timelines, and managing change with agility and positive intent
• Design and document GRO's programs with intentional attention to policy relevance, ensuring implementation choices, data collection, and learning questions are calibrated to inform cash and capital policy debates
• Ensure In Her Hands, Freedom Futures, and future programs are delivered with excellence, meeting client needs and honoring funder commitments
• Maintain strong, consistent client experience across program touchpoints - responsive, equitable, and rooted in GRO's values
• Identify and resolve program delivery challenges proactively, acting as a hands-on problem-solver when issues arise
• Serve as a key liaison between program operations and GRO's communications, development, and operations teams to ensure program work is well-documented and well-supported
• Stay current with the practice and evidence of effectiveness of cash and capital solutions and related approaches, and bring field lessons back into GRO’s program thinking regularly and transparently
• Develop and act as a steward for GRO's evaluation agenda, identifying the most pressing learning questions and rationale, determining when and how rigorous external evaluation is appropriate, and leading any external evaluation partnerships when they are necessary
• Develop and maintain program performance metrics and dashboards that are meaningful for staff and donors alike
• Collaborate with the Senior Director of Operations to build and manage an agile monitoring and learning system that generates real-time program data to inform decision-making and continuous improvement
• Translate data and programmatic learning into clear, accessible findings and products that can be shared regularly with key audiences
• Assess and advance the technological infrastructure supporting GRO's programs, identifying tools and platforms that improve participant experience, streamline data collection, and reduce administrative burden on frontline staff
• Lead or co-lead the selection, implementation, and ongoing optimization of GRO's case management and program data systems in close collaboration with the Senior Director of Finance & Operations
• Identify opportunities to pilot emerging program technologies - including participant-facing digital tools and automated workflows - that increase GRO's capacity to deliver benefits with greater speed, accuracy, and dignity
• Directly supervise program team staff; cultivate a culture of high expectations, learning, and accountability
• Support staff growth through regular coaching, clear performance feedback, and ongoing professional development
• Model GRO's values - community, rigor, boldness, curiosity, and equity - in day-to-day leadership
• Be an active and positive senior leader, leading relevant annual program planning, contributing to organization-wide strategy, and providing solutions to any cross-functional bottlenecks or areas for improvement
• Lead development of high-quality grant proposals with attention to donor priorities and guidelines, superb written communication, high-quality presentation, and timely completion
• Represent GRO in external forums and with donors as a credible and compelling programmatic voice
• Collaborate with peers to develop sharp, strategic written products that translate program results and learning into compelling outputs for specific audiences
• Build and maintain relationships with peer organizations, researchers, and practitioners, advancing cash and capital solutions and the organization’s learning about new approaches and innovations
• Contribute to GRO's policy and communications work as a subject matter expert on various target audiences, sector trends, program evidence, and implementation modalities

Requirements

• At least 10 years of experience in program design, delivery, and/or evaluation in the nonprofit sector, with at least 3 years in a leadership role managing direct reports
• Demonstrated experience building or managing program monitoring and learning systems, with a strong grasp of when and how to deploy rigorous evaluation
• Track record of designing and launching new program models grounded in field evidence, community input, and practice lessons
• Strong team management skills with experience in effectively delegating, developing staff, and holding a team to high standards with high support
• Exceptional communication skills — able to translate complex program concepts clearly and compellingly for diverse audiences, including clients, staff, leadership, donors, and peer organizations
• Solutions-oriented problem-solver who takes ownership and accountability for challenges, moves quickly to address issues, and does not wait to be asked
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously, capable of sustaining program quality while driving innovation and occupying a position of organizational leadership and optimism for the future
• Bachelor's degree
• Graduate-level training in a relevant field (strongly preferred)
• Experience with both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis; comfort using data to make program decisions (preferred)
• Direct experience with direct cash transfer programs, asset-building field, community wealth-building initiatives, or economic mobility programs (strongly preferred)
• Experience working in or alongside communities most impacted by racial and economic inequality (preferred)
• Demonstrated commitment to economic, racial, and/or gender justice
• Strong critical thinking skills and an orientation of intellectual curiosity, including the ability to ask sharp questions, listen and learn actively, and share ongoing learning with others
• Service orientation and personal humility
• Willingness to speak up, suggest new ideas, receive feedback, and adjust plans to ensure the successful completion of goals
• Enthusiasm for working in a fast-paced, nimble, mission-driven environment where roles evolve as the organization grows
• Must live in Georgia and be available to work in the metro-Atlanta area
• Ability to travel up to 15% of the time for key events, field convenings, and site visits

Benefits

• Annual performance bonus eligibility
• Comprehensive health insurance
• Dental insurance
• Vision insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid parental leave
• Generous paid time off (PTO)
• Monthly cell phone stipend
• Retirement benefits