Director of Advisory and Capacity Building
United States
Full Time
Experienced
Director of Advisory and Capacity Building
How to Apply
Interested candidates should submit a resume and cover letter to [email protected]. Please include the position title in the subject line of your email.
We encourage interested applicants to apply as soon as possible, as applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
About One Million Degrees:
One Million Degrees accelerates community college students’ progress on career pathways to economic mobility.
Over 60% of students who start community college do not complete a degree or successfully transfer to a four-year institution. However, 84% of jobs in the US require skills training beyond high school. OMD’s holistic support model is designed to support community college students as they work toward degrees and careers. From tutors and coaches to financial assistance and professional development, OMD helps community college students succeed in school, work, and life, transforming their futures and the futures of those around them for generations.
The OMD student support model is rooted in evaluation and evidence: A randomized controlled trial conducted with the University of Chicago Inclusive Economy Lab shows that OMD scholars are 70% more likely to enroll, 94% more likely to persist, 73% more likely to earn a degree.
OMD is pursuing scale both through its direct service model with the City Colleges of Chicago and by launching a national expansion division: Advisory and Capacity Building (ACB), which provides consulting support and technical assistance to organizations seeking to build out OMD programming in their own unique contexts. ACB’s technical assistance is designed to advance community college completion, and the ACB team is currently supporting partnerships across ten colleges in three states: IL, TX, and OH. ACB’s most recent pilot projects aim to boost postsecondary enrollment and community college completion for underserved dually enrolled students in IL. Through this body of work, OMD seeks to promote its role as a national model for sustainable, scalable, and systemic change.
OMD Values:
OMD is deeply committed to our core values, as demonstrated in the work we do, our approach to change and growth, and our commitment to our staff.
The Director of Advisory and Capacity Building is responsible for ensuring strong execution, learning, and partner experience across ACB’s portfolio of national partnerships. This role emphasizes strategic project management, operational strategy, partnership building, and organizational capacity, while translating data, partner feedback, and on-the-ground learning into practical, equity-centered tools and supports that advance program effectiveness, scale, and sustainability.
The role reports to the Principal, Advisory & Capacity Building, who leads our national expansion projects, and requires close collaboration with internal stakeholders and college partners.
What You’ll Do:
Specific duties and responsibilities include but are not limited to:
Strategic Project Management & Advisory Tool Development for NEXT (45%)
Qualifications & Requirements:
Mission Alignment:
This role will be based in the Chicagoland area and is available immediately. ACB staff are expected to travel about 10–15% for team and client meetings. While the majority of OMD staff live and work in Chicago, where the organization is headquartered, the ACB team is national in its focus.
Compensation and Benefits
*To allow OMD to set salaries based on market data and internal equity, and to ensure fair and equal pay for every role, we offer our best offer first.
**All Chicago-based employees are expected to work a set number of Saturdays and evening hours per year due to organizational-wide events.
Equal Opportunity Employer
One Million Degrees (OMD) is committed to fostering a workplace where everyone feels welcomed, valued, and empowered to contribute. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and make employment decisions without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender identity or expression, religion, sexual orientation, age, disability, veteran status, marital status, parental status, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law. This commitment extends to all aspects of employment, including recruitment, hiring, promotion, compensation, and the use of technology or artificial intelligence tools that may support the hiring process.
We encourage candidates from all backgrounds and experiences to apply. If you are a qualified individual with a disability and need a reasonable accommodation to complete the application process or participate in an interview, please contact [email protected] so we can discuss how best to support you.
How to Apply
Interested candidates should submit a resume and cover letter to [email protected]. Please include the position title in the subject line of your email.
We encourage interested applicants to apply as soon as possible, as applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
About One Million Degrees:
One Million Degrees accelerates community college students’ progress on career pathways to economic mobility.
Over 60% of students who start community college do not complete a degree or successfully transfer to a four-year institution. However, 84% of jobs in the US require skills training beyond high school. OMD’s holistic support model is designed to support community college students as they work toward degrees and careers. From tutors and coaches to financial assistance and professional development, OMD helps community college students succeed in school, work, and life, transforming their futures and the futures of those around them for generations.
The OMD student support model is rooted in evaluation and evidence: A randomized controlled trial conducted with the University of Chicago Inclusive Economy Lab shows that OMD scholars are 70% more likely to enroll, 94% more likely to persist, 73% more likely to earn a degree.
OMD is pursuing scale both through its direct service model with the City Colleges of Chicago and by launching a national expansion division: Advisory and Capacity Building (ACB), which provides consulting support and technical assistance to organizations seeking to build out OMD programming in their own unique contexts. ACB’s technical assistance is designed to advance community college completion, and the ACB team is currently supporting partnerships across ten colleges in three states: IL, TX, and OH. ACB’s most recent pilot projects aim to boost postsecondary enrollment and community college completion for underserved dually enrolled students in IL. Through this body of work, OMD seeks to promote its role as a national model for sustainable, scalable, and systemic change.
OMD Values:
OMD is deeply committed to our core values, as demonstrated in the work we do, our approach to change and growth, and our commitment to our staff.
- Equity: We address historical and existing systemic inequities by taking a holistic approach to supporting students on their path to economic mobility.
- Excellence: We hold ourselves to a high bar and provide exceptional support so that students are empowered to achieve their ambitions.
- Community: We unite around putting students first, collaborating with partners, and celebrating our collective wins.
- Learning: We each adapt to a changing world and refine our approach to support students, community members, staff, and stakeholders along the way.
- Amplify: We advocate for our students and share what we've learned as leaders in the field.
The Director of Advisory and Capacity Building is responsible for ensuring strong execution, learning, and partner experience across ACB’s portfolio of national partnerships. This role emphasizes strategic project management, operational strategy, partnership building, and organizational capacity, while translating data, partner feedback, and on-the-ground learning into practical, equity-centered tools and supports that advance program effectiveness, scale, and sustainability.
The role reports to the Principal, Advisory & Capacity Building, who leads our national expansion projects, and requires close collaboration with internal stakeholders and college partners.
What You’ll Do:
Specific duties and responsibilities include but are not limited to:
Strategic Project Management & Advisory Tool Development for NEXT (45%)
- Lead strategic project management and advisory tool development for the One Million Degrees and Complete College America NEXT (National Expansion and Transformation) initiative, supporting four community colleges in TX and OH as they implement OMD’s evidence-based programming on their campuses.
- Design, refine, and deploy tools and operational strategies that support program implementation, scale, and sustainability.
- Partner closely with colleges and internal teams to translate learnings into practical, equity-centered resources that strengthen institutional capacity, leverage institutional and state policy contexts, and improve student outcomes.
- Work closely with the ACB Manager, who owns day-to-day project management across the ACB portfolio (agenda creation, action-item tracking, etc.).
- Support ACB’s data and evaluation activities by coordinating timelines, deliverables, partner communications, and data collection processes.
- Collaborate with internal teams and external evaluation partners to support timely execution, identify challenges, and incorporate findings into continuous improvement efforts.
- Provide thought partnership to the Executive Director and the ACB team on evaluation and data collection efforts, both internally and with external partners including the University of Chicago Inclusive Economy Lab (IEL) and Complete College America.
- Design and facilitate a community of practice for college case managers and, as needed, other stakeholders, with support from the Senior Director, Program Operations.
- Create structured opportunities for shared learning, peer exchange, and problem-solving.
- Develop agendas, curate content, and synthesize insights to strengthen cross-college collaboration and field-level learning.
- Maintain and strengthen case manager support infrastructure across all eight partner colleges.
- Support integration of partner feedback into the team’s approach and contribute to ACB’s knowledge management.
- Identify opportunities to codify learnings and improve how ACB shares and packages its work, strengthening program design and knowledge sharing within ACB, across OMD, and with the broader field.
Qualifications & Requirements:
Mission Alignment:
- Passionate about OMD’s mission to advance economic mobility
- Leads with empathy, respect, integrity, and authenticity
- Motivated to address systemic inequities and support student success
- Bachelor’s degree required; relevant master’s degree preferred
- Five to eight years of relevant professional experience in program or project management, with a successful record of accomplishment supporting multi-partner strategic relationships and contributing to innovative projects
- Demonstrated experience with K-12 education, higher education, and/or workforce spaces through working with a wide range of stakeholders
- Some background directly engaging with and serving students is desired; a demonstrated orientation toward centering the student experience in program design is required
- Comfort making decisions within defined parameters, combined with an ability to work collaboratively with a variety of external stakeholders
- Experience developing practical tools, implementation resources, or new programs and services is a plus
- Proven ability in project management, including setting and maintaining detailed project plans to coordinate teams around complex, long-term initiatives and goals
- Familiarity with project management approaches and methodologies (such as Agile, Scrum, or traditional waterfall methods) and experience using project management tools for planning and tracking work
- Experience maintaining consistent operational systems or project management for large-scale projects or portfolios
- Comfortable translating ambiguous scopes of work, grant deliverables, and strategic priorities into detailed workplans and execution strategies, and driving those plans forward independently
- Strong analytic, writing, and facilitation skills, including the ability to synthesize information and communicate clearly with diverse stakeholders
- Well-rounded interpersonal skill set, with the presence and capacity to build relationships, work effectively in teams, engage with both junior staff and project leads, and facilitate joint problem-solving with other staff and external partners
- Excellent organizational skills and keen attention to detail, with demonstrated ability to prioritize work and manage time across multiple projects and tasks to meet deadlines
- Demonstrated ability to work both independently and collaboratively; self-motivated, comfortable in a virtual working environment, and open to feedback and collaboration
- Proficient practice with issues of diversity, specifically around race, class, gender, ability, and equity in the workplace; effective storytelling that is honest and represents diversity, equity, and inclusion in all its forms; prioritizes diversity and inclusion considerations when making strategic decisions and building relationships that advance the mission
- Familiarity with emerging technologies, including AI, and their potential applications in education, program implementation, or organizational improvement
- Knowledge of best practices in product development, operational infrastructure, and human-centered design is a plus
- A learner: Curious, eager to learn and innovate, with an orientation toward “failing forward” and experimentation
- A hustler: Proactive and adaptable, with the ability to manage competing priorities and follow through on commitments
- An entrepreneur: Transforms ambiguous ideas into coherent and successful implementation strategies
- A visionary: Brings a bold, outcome-focused approach that is informed, data-driven, and empathetic to the needs of the student population
- An ambassador: Proud to represent OMD in the national conversation about higher education and workforce
- A strategic thinker: Contributes to thinking about the future of the organization, weighs diverse inputs to inform strategies, and identifies innovative opportunities
- Cultural humility: Works effectively with diverse staff, students, and campus and community partners, building trusting relationships with a broad cross-section of audiences
- Educational equity: Relentless drive to close equity gaps in education and passion for serving students, including a total belief in the potential of all scholars to succeed and excel
This role will be based in the Chicagoland area and is available immediately. ACB staff are expected to travel about 10–15% for team and client meetings. While the majority of OMD staff live and work in Chicago, where the organization is headquartered, the ACB team is national in its focus.
Compensation and Benefits
- Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience. The salary range for this role is $84,000–$100,000.*
- Full Health Benefits –Provided for all full-time employees, including medical, dental, and vision. OMD pays 100% of individual’s basic monthly health premium and 80% dependent coverage.
- Employee assistance program, which offers confidential emotional support, work-life solutions, legal guidance, financial resources, and more.
- Retirement Benefits – For full-time employees, OMD offers a 401(k) plan and matches retirement contributions up to 4% of total salary.
- Generous Paid Time Off Policy– OMD has 12 paid holidays and offers up to 15 days PTO in year one; in addition to two weeks paid time off for winter break.
- Compensatory time for designated duties performed outside of normal work hours**
- Monthly cell phone and internet reimbursement up to $50/month.
- 12 weeks of paid parental leave for birthing and non-birthing parents.
- Professional Learning Opportunities – OMD supports employee development in areas relevant to professional and organizational goals and will pay for training such as workshops and conferences as agreed upon by the employee and supervisor.
- Hybrid Work Schedule – One in-office day required a week; other days can be remote (in-person day set by you and your manager), and additional in-office days may be needed based on organizational priorities.
*To allow OMD to set salaries based on market data and internal equity, and to ensure fair and equal pay for every role, we offer our best offer first.
**All Chicago-based employees are expected to work a set number of Saturdays and evening hours per year due to organizational-wide events.
Equal Opportunity Employer
One Million Degrees (OMD) is committed to fostering a workplace where everyone feels welcomed, valued, and empowered to contribute. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and make employment decisions without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender identity or expression, religion, sexual orientation, age, disability, veteran status, marital status, parental status, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law. This commitment extends to all aspects of employment, including recruitment, hiring, promotion, compensation, and the use of technology or artificial intelligence tools that may support the hiring process.
We encourage candidates from all backgrounds and experiences to apply. If you are a qualified individual with a disability and need a reasonable accommodation to complete the application process or participate in an interview, please contact [email protected] so we can discuss how best to support you.
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