Program Manager - Joseph Ballay Center for Design Fusion

About the role

Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Design seeks a Program Manager to join their team for the Joseph Ballay Center for Design Fusion. The Program Manager plays a pivotal role in ensuring the successful implementation and impact of the Center. The Program Manager works with the Center’s Director and others to ensure the efficient execution of educational, research, and co-curricular programs. Working collaboratively with faculty and staff, and leveraging resources from CMU, the Program Manager operates at both strategic and tactical levels to steward program development from concept to execution and ensures seamless operation, integration, and progress at every step.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a key liaison between faculty, project sponsors, and internal and external stakeholders, ensuring the smooth delivery of programs and projects.
• Translate effort into new revenue through the expansion and delivery of programs, outreach to secure new contracts and relationships, and support with contributed revenue opportunities.
• Develop the next 3‑year strategic plan, calibrating the Center’s positioning, capability, and capacity.
• Establish clear pathways of engagement for faculty, staff, and students.
• Engage leadership and campus community in collaborative engagements with Design alumni, companies, and various organizations.
• Leverage existing traction and relationships in pairing design with units on campus and beyond.
• Support faculty initiatives to develop research threads and probe the landscape and limits of Design Fusion.
• Event Management: Plan and coordinate events such as seminars, workshops, conferences, etc., for both on‑ and off‑campus locations, including coordination of travel, transportation, meals, and registration.
• Plan, prepare, and distribute itineraries or meeting agendas; ensure meeting materials are produced and available.
• Administrative Support: Arrange domestic/international travel for faculty and faculty teams; provide general administrative support necessary for managing programs including ordering supplies, copying materials, ordering food, arranging parking, etc.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree; Master’s degree preferred. A combination of education and relevant experience from which comparable knowledge is demonstrated may be considered.
• 3–5 years’ experience in program management, preferably in an educational or international development context.
• Experience planning and organizing events with complex logistics, and simultaneously managing multiple workstreams effectively.
• Strong oral and written communication skills applied to stakeholder engagement, reporting, and educational content development.
• Experience managing budgets efficiently while maintaining accurate and auditable records.

Requirements

• Adaptability and openness to change as the department and organization evolves.
• Ability to work well with others and/or as part of a team.
• Ability to respond to and manage emergency situations and/or crisis.
• Ability to work with sensitive information, maintain confidentiality, and use discretion.
• Ability to pay close attention to detail; keep and maintain accurate and detailed reports and records.
• Ability to maintain composure when dealing with difficult situations and/or individuals.
• Ability to meet deadlines, work under pressure, and with frequent interruptions.
• Ability to understand and follow directions.
• Ability to prioritize work and handle multiple tasks simultaneously.
• Visual acuity to perform activities such as extended use of a computer monitor, extensive reading, transcribing, analyzing data and figures, visual inspection involving small defects, small parts and/or operation of machines, using measurement devices, and/or assembly of parts at distances close to the eye.
• Inclusion, collaboration, and cultural sensitivity are valued competencies; must effectively interact with a varied population of internal and external partners at a high level of integrity.
• Successful background check required.

Job Scope

• Decision Making: Decisions may affect a work unit or department