Program Manager

About the role

Founded at the University of Maryland and headquartered at the E.A. Fernandez IDEA Factory, xFoundry transforms universities into solution engines that generate real ventures, develop entrepreneurial leaders, and advance meaningful societal outcomes. xFoundry empowers students to tackle humanity’s most pressing challenges through multidisciplinary collaboration, AI-powered tools, and rigorous venture-building programs. Our flagship Xperience program is a 15 to 18 month venture-building competition in which student teams develop investment-grade MVPs that address grand societal challenges in climate, education, food and water, health, infrastructure, and society. Winning teams compete for investments of up to $2 million. We are seeking a Program Manager who will support student and university programs at the center of our competitions, as well as the events and gatherings that bring our community together. Reporting to the Director of Programs, this role carries a defined share of the day-to-day work in each area, from keeping student teams and campus partners on schedule to the logistics behind summits, dinners, and game-day gatherings.

Responsibilities

• Student & University Programs
  • Support student teams through the competition arc: track milestones and submissions, connect teams with resources, and flag drifting teams to the Venture Development Manager
  • Be a day-to-day contact for partner-university staff and campus champions alongside the relationship leads
  • Help onboard new partner universities: prepare materials, schedule sessions, and keep checklists current
  • Keep program operations on schedule: timelines, judging logistics, communications calendars, outcome records
• Events & Gatherings
  • Coordinate event logistics, from multi-day summits and conferences to competition kickoffs, pitch days, finals, and showcases: venues, vendors, run-of-show, registration, and onsite execution with the team
  • Coordinate smaller gatherings: partner and donor dinners and outings at athletic and social events
  • Maintain speaker, guest, partner, and attendee trackers; gather bios, headshots, and materials; coordinate travel
  • Serve as day-to-day liaison among the internal team, speakers, partners, vendors, and production teams, spotting gaps early, following them to resolution, and folding what worked into checklists the team can reuse
• Communications
  • Draft clear, on-brand copy for invitations, agendas, speaker materials, program updates, and partner emails
  • Create and update presentations, flyers, one-pagers, and partner-facing assets from established templates, and make basic content updates to existing web pages, in coordination with the marketing team
  • Help capture program and event outcomes and turn them into success stories and university-facing summaries

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field and five years of experience coordinating programs, events, or projects; or Master’s degree in a related field and three years of experience coordinating programs, events, or projects
• Ability to work a hybrid schedule from College Park, MD with onsite presence for events, including some evenings and weekends
• Ability to travel to partner campuses and event sites as needed

Qualifications

• Experience supporting large, external-facing corporate events or conferences end-to-end
• Experience in partnerships, relationship management, and/or customer service, including facetime with C-suite
• Experience in an accelerator, university venture program, entrepreneurship center, or technology transfer office
• Advising, mentoring, or other student-facing experience
• Experience with CRM, event-management, or program-management tooling; graphic or web design familiarity
• Start-up or entrepreneurial experience

Skills

• Demonstrated experience supporting events or programs that involve logistics, vendors, and external guests
• Strong writing, editing, and proofreading skills