Principal, Advisory and Capacity Building (Remote or Illinois-based)

Principal Of Advisory And Capacity Building

One Million Degrees (OMD) is seeking a visionary, equity-driven leader to serve as Principal of Advisory and Capacity Building (ACB). Reporting to the Executive Director of ACB, the Principal will play a pivotal role in shaping and scaling OMD's national impact. This role offers a unique opportunity to lead innovative pilot projects, co-create service offerings with diverse partners, and drive systemic change particularly in the dual enrollment / dual credit context but also in community college completion, transfer and workforce transitions. The Principal will steward high-level relationships with colleges, K-12 Districts, intermediaries, and public agencies, while architecting and implementing solutions that improve outcomes for low-income, first-generation students and students of color. Ideal candidates will bring deep expertise in higher education, a track record of strategic leadership, and a passion for educational equity.

Specific duties and responsibilities of the Principal, Advisory and Capacity Building include but are not limited to :

• Partner Management and Project Execution : Lead a portfolio of OMD's Advisory and Capacity Building consulting projects :
• Oversee and run regular meetings with "client" community colleges and intermediaries, with project management support from ACB Director.
• Hold primary responsibility for stewarding partner relationships, and, as such, liaise with senior community college leaders and equivalent executives at affiliate intermediary organizations to set shared vision for projects and, when necessary, troubleshoot on challenges with support from ACB Portfolio head;
• Drives timely and effective implementation of ACB's four service offerings, described above, according to project plans : 1) community college completion; 2) transfer; 3) dual enrollment; and 4) transition from college to career.
• Serve as lead consultant on two or three multi-year projects implementing our community college completion and / or university transfer or early college programs.
• Contribute to sustainability of programming through engagement with college, system, and political leadership to facilitate expansion and continuity post-pilot.
• Ensures fidelity of implementation of OMD's evidence-based model at all project sites.
• Lead new dual enrollment service offering : Serve as ongoing architect for ACB's "minimum viable product" (or service offering) supporting dually enrolled students in matriculating to and completing community college and launch inaugural pilot projects in the dual credit / dual enrollment domain across the state of Illinois.
• Stand up the planning phase for three pairings of community colleges and K-12 districts and provide technical assistance to support the development of student programming in the '26-'27 academic year
• Facilitate ongoing collaborative design processes for adapting OMD's holistic support model within a dual enrollment context;
• Develop framework and corresponding tools to deploy technical assistance to client partners;
• Research and incorporate best practices into product related to propelling degree attainment and economic mobility among dually enrolled low-income, first generation and students of color.
• Ensure excellence in provision of dual enrollment service offering during implementation throughout the multi-year pilot.
• Consider how best practices in work-based learning could be applied in dual enrollment context.
• Contribute to community college completion service offering : Support ACB's largest expansion projects, in collaboration with Complete College America, that is engaging multiple community colleges in multiple states to boost community college completion based on OMD's core community college completion model.
• Support growing cohort of colleges in OH, LA and TX who are implementing OMD programming on their campuses;
• Develop tools and other collateral in providing technical assistance to colleges.
• Contribute to transfer service offering : Leverages expertise to provide technical assistance to partners and refine the design and accompanying collateral for ACB's "minimum viable product" (or service offering) focused on community college transfer to a four-year university.
• Create tools and refine technical assistance protocol for community colleges, universities, and intermediaries to facilitate deployment of OMD's transfer service offering;
• Identify and incorporate best practices for supporting transfer and propelling economic mobility among low-income, first generation and students of color into program model;
• Oversee ACB Manager responsible for day-to-day project management of pilots :
• Supervise and foster professional growth of director who will provide project management support on assigned portfolio of pilot projects;
• Provide guidance to project director in developing meeting agendas and prioritizing project implementation;
• Strategy, Data and Portfolio Growth : Assists ACB Executive Director in crafting strategy for ACB and contribute to vision for the future growth of the portfolio :
• Collaborate with the Executive Director to imagine and roll out strategies that facilitate growth and impact for the ACB portfolio. This includes identifying opportunities for new service offerings or enhancements to existing offerings;
• Serve as a thought partner to identify the most compelling strategies to drive equity and inclusively engage partners through pilot projects;
• Engage with program evaluators to ensure effective collection of key performance data and subsequent analysis of program impact. Utilize program evaluation data to identify program improvement opportunities and developing the approach to program improvement;
• In coordination with OMD's Advancement Team, build relationships with prospective clients and secure new partnerships;
• Participate in activities like authoring reports, white papers, blogs, or other communication efforts to highlight OMD programming and impact;
• Represent OMD at speaking or media events, partnership meetings, conference presentations, and webinars.

Qualifications and Requirements :

Qualified candidates must possess a "can-do" work ethic and mindset, strong leadership, communication, and collaboration skills, and must believe in the role of OMD's holistic program model in the success of community college students. This is a position requiring evolving responsibilities, and we are looking for someone to be agile with us as our ACB portfolio grows and is refined. The position is ideal for a highly motivated leader and team player who wants to play a pivotal role in OMD's growth and development.

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