OpenDP Director of Operations and Community Engagement

About the Role

Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and Institute for Quantitative Social Science (IQSS) seek a Director of Operations and Engagement to join the Faculty Directors Gary King and Salil Vadhan in leading the OpenDP Project. OpenDP is an international community effort to build trustworthy, open-source software tools for performing statistical analysis and training AI models on sensitive private data. These tools offer the rigorous protections of “differential privacy” for individuals represented in confidential data. Founded in 2019, OpenDP has a highly respected suite of software used by industry, government, and academia, with a large and thriving community of practitioners and scholars. A major goal is to expand OpenDP’s industry connections for long-term sustainability.

This is a one-year term position with the possibility of extension.

Responsibilities

Internal

• Manage the OpenDP Core Team of developers, researchers, and administrative staff, including hiring, training, workflow, and performance management to foster an inclusive and innovative work environment.
• Assign responsibilities, identify resources, and develop schedules to ensure project milestones are completed on time, within budget, and to design specifications.
• Oversee current and future financial resources, including grant reporting and proactive fundraising.
• Collaborate with Harvard administrative offices and projects to leverage resources for successful project completion.

External

• Design and execute an outreach strategy to engage stakeholders—users, contributors, and funders from industry, government, and academia—and serve as the business point of contact for partners and collaborators.
• Develop a long-term sustainability and governance model for OpenDP with robust industry support.
• Create and oversee programming for in-person and virtual events, including community meetings, workshops, hackathons, and webinars.
• Identify, assign, and support leaders of community working groups.
• Develop a matrix communication plan based on content, audience, and channels.
• Maintain an effective online presence across websites, social media, public calendars, mailing lists, Slack, and other platforms.
• Curate a repository of key project activities and accomplishments for communications and mandatory reporting.
• Partner with collaborating organizations to amplify messaging.

Working Conditions

The work is performed in an office environment. This position requires working on campus at least 3 days a week.

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.
• Minimum of 7 years of related experience, with at least 3 years leading complex technical or research programs, including experience in business development, external partnerships, research administration, or open-source community leadership.
• Two years of supervisory experience.

Additional Qualifications and Skills

• Advanced degree in a related field.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong interpersonal skills and empathy, fostering diversity and inclusiveness.
• Experience and interest in advancing open-source projects and communities.
• Exposure to and interest in learning more about differential privacy.

Schedule

35 standard hours per week. Hybrid schedule with on-campus work required at least 3 days a week.

Benefits

• Generous paid time off, including parental leave.
• Medical, dental, and vision health insurance coverage starting on day one.
• Retirement plans with university contributions.
• Wellbeing and mental health resources.
• Support for families and caregivers.
• Professional development opportunities, including tuition assistance and reimbursement.
• Commuter benefits, discounts, and campus perks.