Program Director, Harris Social Impact Fellowship

About the role

The Harris Social Impact Fellowship (HSIF) is a flagship initiative of the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. It aims to address today’s interconnected, global challenges by fostering innovative individuals who use rigorous inquiry and evidence to improve public policy.

Responsibilities

• Supports the design and delivery of the fellowship curriculum and experience with the Faculty Director, coordinating annual design cycles, faculty engagement, and integration of research centers across UChicago to ensure academic rigor and institutional alignment.
• Translates the growth strategy and program priorities set by the Executive Director into detailed program plans and execution, and supports expansion work such as placement diversification and applicant-pool engagement.
• Manages the day-to-day operational relationships across Harris and the University that keep the Fellowship running, including project-level coordination with faculty and research center staff, career services, admissions, finance, and OLC.
• Executes the national recruitment plan set by the Executive Director, including operational outreach, pipeline management with priority feeder institutions, and applicant engagement, and reports pipeline performance against the yield targets set by the Executive Director.
• Runs the full selection process end-to-end against the assessment framework, interview design, and evaluation rubrics set by the Executive Director, and surfaces cohort recommendations for final decision by the Executive Director and Faculty Director.
• Maintains reliable program delivery as HSIF grows to multiple cohorts, flagging operational, reputational, and partnership risks to the Executive Director and supporting mitigation.
• Supervises student workers and external consultants, setting performance standards and overseeing workload distribution. Coordinates day-to-day work with the Assistant Director, who reports to the Executive Director.
• Participates in hiring within the program team, recommending candidates in alignment with Harris HR processes and Executive Director approval.
• Manages the program budget within approved parameters, including spend tracking, cost-per-fellow analysis, proposing resource allocation across placement partnerships, recruitment, alumni programming, and operations, and escalating material changes to the Executive Director.
• Executes the impact measurement framework set by the Executive Director and Faculty Director, including instrument administration, data collection, alumni career tracking, and performance dashboard maintenance, and surfaces findings to the Executive Director for synthesis.
• Organizes flagship internal events, including capstone presentations, the annual alumni retreat, cohort convenings, and guest speaker sessions. External representation at academic and policy venues sits with the Executive Director.
• Develops and communicates program priorities and performance standards and assesses operations using these criteria. Plans and conducts quality assurance reviews and recommends changes as appropriate.

Qualifications

• Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.
• Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 5-7 years of work experience in a related job discipline.
• Experience 8-10 years of professional experience in program management, higher education administration, public policy, or related fields.
• Track record in program development, student-facing program management, and scaling complex initiatives across institutional boundaries.
• Experience coordinating with senior faculty, academic leaders, and research principals, and with external partners across think tanks, government, and non-profit organizations focused on research, evaluation, or policy.
• Experience supervising staff and managing consultant relationships, with demonstrated ability to build operational capacity as programs scale.