Senior Program Officer, Organizational Culture

Healy World; Kalamazoo (MI); On-site; USD 131,000 - 178,000; Full time

Job summary

Fetzer Institute in Kalamazoo, MI, seeks a Senior Program Officer for Organizational Culture to shape external strategy and cultivate partnerships that advance spiritually grounded leadership and transformative practice.

Reporting to the VP, Organizational Culture, the SPO will translate learnings into strategic initiatives, coordinate with consultants, and support partners through organizational development and culture change.

Qualifications

• 10–15 years of professional experience in organizational development or related fields.
• Experience guiding organizational transformation and culture change.
• Deep familiarity with spiritually grounded, contemplative approaches.
• Excellent facilitation and partnership development skills.
• Strong written and verbal communication; ability to operate in ambiguity.

Responsibilities

• Refine and advance Fetzer’s external Organizational Culture strategy.
• Translate learning into strategic refinements and emerging initiatives.
• Develop frameworks, learning agendas, and field-building efforts.
• Identify opportunities for partnerships and collaborations.
• Plan retreats, workshops, and communities of practice.

Skills

Strategic thinking

Implementation & project stewardship

Facilitation

Relationship building

Written communication

Verbal communication

Synthesis of complex ideas

Adaptability in ambiguity

Spiritual development mindset

Education

Graduate degree or equivalent experience

Job description

Position Summary: The Senior Program Officer (SPO), Organizational Culture functions as a Senior Program Officer with specialized expertise in organizational development, organizational transformation, and sacred-centered organizational culture. Partnering closely with the Vice President, Organizational Culture, this role helps shape, implement, and continuously refine the department’s external strategy while cultivating projects, partnerships, and learning that advance spiritually grounded organizational culture.

The position serves as a strategic thought partner and implementation leader, supporting Fetzer’s partners and strategic initiatives as they strengthen organizational culture and transformational practices. This work includes direct engagement with partners as well as coordinating and leveraging external consultants, facilitators, and subject matter experts as needed.

This role sits at the intersection of organizational development, systems change, leadership, spirituality, and philanthropy. We are looking for someone who is equally comfortable helping organizations navigate strategy, leadership, and systems change while engaging questions of spirituality, meaning, and human flourishing. The successful candidate will be energized by helping shape an emerging field rather than applying established practices, while contributing to Fetzer’s broader mission of helping build the spiritual foundation for a loving world.

Immediate Priorities

Build the first living expression of a sacred-centered field through relationships, a pilot cohort, and a funding model that reflects practice.

• Bridge internal culture to external expression, an active case study (Org-to-World Translation)
• Create deep, sustained relationships with cross-field partners
• Build and initiate relationships with 10-15 aligned practitioners/orgs
• Design and recruit the pilot mutual learning cohort (3-5 orgs)
• Develop the spiritual development funding model (with clear parameters)

Primary Responsibilities

Strategy, Learning, & Field Building

Partner with the Vice President, Organizational Culture to refine and advance Fetzer’s external Organizational Culture strategy through strategic thinking, learning, field-building, and partnership development. Specific responsibilities include:

• Help refine, implement, and continuously strengthen the department’s external strategy related to sacred-centered organizational culture, organizational transformation, belonging, and spiritually grounded leadership.
• Translate learning from projects, partners, programmatic colleagues, research, and the broader field into strategic refinements, recommendations and emerging initiatives.
• Contribute to the development of frameworks, resources, learning agendas, and field-building efforts.
• Identify opportunities for new partnerships, collaborations, and strategic investments that advance the Organizational Culture strategy.
• Synthesize learning across projects and partnerships to inform future strategy, investments, and the continued development of Fetzer’s Organizational Culture work.

Partner Support & Organizational Accompaniment

Support Fetzer’s strategic organizational partners as they strengthen organizational culture and transformational practice. Specific responsibilities include:

• Build trusted relationships with partners, practitioners, and field leaders.
• Design and support learning experiences, retreats, convenings, and communities of practice.
• Accompany organizations through organizational learning and culture development using relational, developmental, spiritual, and systems-informed approaches.
• Coordinate and partner with external consultants, facilitators, coaches, and subject matter experts to support partner organizations.
• Help partners adapt and apply Organizational Culture frameworks within their own organizational contexts.

Project Development & Partnership Stewardship

Develop, steward, and continuously adapt strategic initiatives and partnerships from concept through implementation, ensuring projects advance Fetzer’s mission while fostering learning and impact. Specific responsibilities include:

• Imagine, design, and co-create strategic initiatives with colleagues and partners that advance both Fetzer’s mission and the missions of partner organizations.
• Develop project concepts, outcomes, work plans, learning agendas, budgets, and evaluation approaches in collaboration with partners, ensuring projects are both strategically grounded and responsive to emerging opportunities.
• Steward projects and partnerships throughout their life cycles by cultivating trusted relationships, facilitating ongoing learning, monitoring progress, and adapting initiatives as new insights and circumstances emerge.
• Plan and host retreats, workshops, convenings, and other collaborative learning experiences that deepen relationships, strengthen organizational capacity, and advance project goals.
• Prepare project concepts, recommendations, and proposals for senior leadership and Board consideration.

Secondary Responsibilities (Approximately 20–30%)

Internal Collaboration & Leadership

Contribute to the leadership and effectiveness of the Organizational Culture department and the Institute through collaboration, thought leadership, project leadership, and active participation in Fetzer’s community practices. Specific responsibilities include:

• Collaborate closely with Organizational Culture colleagues and staff across the Institute.
• Contribute to departmental planning, strategic learning, and cross-functional initiatives.
• Contribute to external thought leadership through writing, presentations, facilitation, and collaborative learning.
• Supervise assigned project staff (e.g., project coordinator or associates) and coordinate the work of external consultants and contractors, as appropriate.

Learning, Inner Work and Community

Fetzer aims to “be” the change we want to see in the world. Therefore, every community member is expected to have a commitment to nurture their inner life, continual learning, and be active in the community.

• Attend the Tuesday morning Community of Freedom Gatherings from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. EDT each week.
• Optional 2:00 p.m. to 2:20 p.m. EDT meditation time, every day.
• Independently directed professional and spiritual development built into your work plan.

Professional Experience and Qualifications

The ideal candidate demonstrates an unusual integration of organizational development expertise, systems thinking, and spiritual maturity. They are equally comfortable engaging questions of organizational strategy, culture change, leadership, and systems transformation as they are engaging questions of meaning, purpose, spiritual practice, and shared flourishing. They understand that lasting organizational transformation requires both structural change and the cultivation of the personal/spiritual and relational capacities that make new ways of working possible.

Essential qualifications include:

• 10–15 years of professional experience (or equivalent graduate education and experience) in organizational development, organizational consulting, leadership development, systems change, organizational psychology, or related disciplines.
• Demonstrated experience accompanying organizations, networks, or collaboratives through organizational transformation, culture change, adaptive leadership, or developmental processes.
• Deep familiarity with spiritually grounded, contemplative, developmental, relational, or interspiritual approaches to organizational and leadership practice.
• Strong strategic thinking combined with excellent implementation and project stewardship skills.
• Exceptional facilitation, relationship-building, and partnership development experience.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to synthesize complex ideas into practical organizational strategy.
• Comfort operating in ambiguity, complexity, and emergent environments.
• Commitment to personal growth, reflective practice, and spiritual development.

To be most successful in this position, candidates should also have the following qualities and sensibilities:

• Passion for asking and seeking answers to big questions.
• Comfort exploring matters related to faith and/or spirituality.
• Deeply collaborative
• Curious and intellectually rigorous
• Reflective and committed to lifelong learning
• Spiritually mature and relationally grounded
• Comfortable navigating ambiguity and emergence
• Systems-oriented and developmentally informed
• Creative and adaptable
• A good sense of humor

Working Conditions

This position is primarily Kalamazoo-based. Work is typically performed in safe and comfortable surroundings without exposure to adverse environmental conditions.

Travel

Approximately 30-40% time for travel, both domestic and international, and an expectation of working occasional evenings or weekends.

Salary $155,000

Benefits That Support Your Flourishing

Comprehensive Health Coverage – Robust medical, dental, vision, and prescription plans with generous employer contributions.

Flexible Spending Accounts – Pre-tax Healthcare and Dependent Care FSAs to help maximize your healthcare and family care dollars.

Flexible Time Off – Paid time off for vacation, illness, personal time, and family care through our Flexible Time Off (FTO) program.

Summer Fridays – Enjoy a 36-hour workweek with Friday afternoons off from May through September.

Volunteer Time Off – Paid time to give back to the communities and causes you care about.

Family-Friendly Workplace – Benefits and flexibility designed to support employees through every stage of family life, including 16 weeks of paid parental leave, and two weeks of paid family leave.

Professional & Spiritual Development – Annual funding to support your professional growth and personal flourishing.

Life Insurance & Disability Protection – Employer-paid life and accidental death & dismemberment (AD&D) insurance, and short-term and long-term disability coverage.

401(k) & Financial Advising – Build your future with a generous 10% employer contribution to your 401(k).

Wellness & Flourishing – We support all eight dimensions of wellness through a holistic wellness program, including a monthly therapeutic bodywork allowance, on-site fitness center, spiritual practice room, fitness classes, and benefits designed to help you thrive personally and professionally.