Program Officer, Community Solutions (CSP) in Washington, District of Columbia at IREX

IREX is a global solutions provider that partners with communities and institutions in the United States and around the world to cultivate leaders, expand access to education, and create economic opportunity. With deep expertise, a forward-looking vision, and world-class practices in AI for Education, Future-Ready Workforce, Higher Education Solutions, Leadership Development, and Online Safety, IREX delivers innovative and proven solutions that help people, institutions, and communities thrive in a rapidly changing world.

At IREX, our culture is built on our people—and on how we work together to create meaningful impact every day. We look for colleagues who bring purpose, intellectual curiosity, collaborative problem solving, and a results driven, bias for action to help strengthen communities and advance our mission.

Successful candidates build trust across differences, move ideas into action, seek new perspectives, embrace change, and represent IREX with authenticity and professionalism. We value people who bring strong expertise and a generous team spirit to work that advances our mission.

Program Officers play a central role in ensuring IREX programs are well planned, responsive, compliant, and delivered to a high standard. In this role, you will lead assigned workstreams across the full Community Solutions Program lifecycle, including recruitment and selection, participant onboarding and support, U.S. practicums and regional engagement, curriculum and events, monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL), alumni programming, reporting, finance, procurement, and award compliance. You will manage key work products and timelines, coordinate participants and partners, resolve routine implementation challenges, and guide junior team members. This is an opportunity for an organized and solutions-oriented professional who combines strong judgment and attention to detail with a commitment to responsive participant and partner support.

• Program Operations & Administration: Lead assigned program workstreams from planning through closeout, ensuring timely, accurate, and thoughtful delivery. Manage processes related to recruitment and selection, participant onboarding, travel and visas, participant mobile phone and emergency communication support, U.S. practicums, curriculum, learning platforms, events, MEL, communications, alumni engagement, and reporting. Develop and maintain work plans, timelines, risk and issue logs, standard operating procedures, systems, records, and donor deliverables. Monitor dependencies and quality across components, resolve routine implementation issues, recommend practical adjustments, and escalate unusual, sensitive, or high-risk matters to program leadership.
• Participant, Partner & Stakeholder Engagement: Serve as a primary point of contact for assigned applicants, application reviewers, participants, alumni, U.S. host organizations, program partners, vendors, consultants, speakers, and other stakeholders. Provide clear and responsive guidance, lead routine meetings and briefings, coordinate onboarding and deliverables, and manage follow-up through accurate documentation and communication. Support participant progress and well-being throughout the program cycle and apply established escalation protocols for safety, health, safeguarding, conduct, or other sensitive concerns. Build productive relationships across U.S. and international communities and help partners connect their work to program goals and participant learning.
• Finance, Procurement & Grant Support: Develop and monitor budgets for assigned workstreams, events, participant support, travel, and procurements. Prepare and review payments, participant support funds, travel documents, vendor and consultant records, reconciliations, forecasts, and other financial transactions for accuracy, allowability, completeness, and approval. Lead assigned procurement and contracting processes, maintain audit-ready documentation, monitor vendor deliverables and payments, and address documentation gaps or discrepancies. Apply IREX and U.S. Government requirements to assigned work and promptly elevate potential financial, safeguarding, data, or compliance risks.
• Team Collaboration & Continuous Improvement: Coordinate closely with colleagues responsible for participant support, recruitment and selection, host engagement, curriculum, events, MEL, alumni programming, communications, finance, travel, operations, and program leadership. Provide day-to-day direction, coaching, quality review, and workload coordination for program coordinators, program associates, interns, temporary staff, reviewers, volunteers, or event personnel assigned to specific workstreams. Delegate tasks with clear outcomes and deadlines, strengthen handoffs across program components, and surface decisions or resource needs early. Develop and improve tools, templates, procedures, and workflows that increase consistency, efficiency, compliance, and service quality.
• Growth & New Business Support: Support program renewal and new business efforts by conducting research, contributing program design ideas, drafting proposal and past-performance content, reviewing budgets, coordinating supporting documents, and identifying prospective partners or consultants. Prepare donor briefings, responses to information requests, program updates, and meeting follow-up as assigned. Use program evidence, stakeholder feedback, and lessons learned to identify practical opportunities to strengthen current implementation and inform future IREX programming and partnerships.

• Demonstrated ability to independently manage multiple program workstreams, prioritize competing deadlines, solve routine problems, and deliver high-quality results with limited supervision.
• Strong project management, organizational, and problem-solving skills, including experience developing and monitoring work plans, timelines, budgets, risks, and deliverables; anticipating implementation challenges; recommending practical solutions; and adapting to changing program needs.
• Excellent written, oral, and relationship-management skills, including the ability to draft and edit professional materials, facilitate meetings and trainings, and build productive relationships with participants, partners, host organizations, vendors, consultants, alumni, and other stakeholders across cultural, professional, and geographic contexts.
• Demonstrated judgment, discretion, and responsiveness when supporting participants and stakeholders and handling confidential, sensitive, or time-critical information.
• Experience managing several program functions, such as recruitment and selection, participant advising, partner engagement, events and travel, curriculum delivery, monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL), alumni programming, reporting, finance, procurement, or grants administration.
• Experience implementing international exchange, leadership development, workforce or economic development, education, fellowship, youth, or other donor-funded or participant-centered programs.
• Experience with U.S. Government-funded programs and familiarity with applicable compliance, procurement, financial management, documentation, and reporting requirements preferred.
• Experience planning and implementing virtual and in-person events, trainings, workshops, orientations, and professional learning activities.
• Experience providing guidance, coaching, or work direction to junior staff, interns, consultants, volunteers, or external partners.
• Experience using Canvas to support online learning activities and Canva to develop clear, accessible program and participant-facing materials is preferred.
• Proficiency with Microsoft 365 applications, including Copilot, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, and SharePoint, and the ability to learn and manage program, survey, learning, and financial systems.
• Ability to support occasional early-morning, evening, or weekend program activities and travel domestically and internationally as required.

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree and a minimum of three (3) years of relevant professional experience supporting international exchange, leadership development, workforce or economic development, education, youth, fellowship, or other donor-funded or participant-centered programs.
• Demonstrated experience managing projects, events, partnerships, participant-facing activities, or operational functions with increasing levels of responsibility.

Salary range: $57,200 - $72,000

At IREX, you’ll work alongside committed, passionate, and collaborative colleagues who are united by a shared mission—making it a truly rewarding place to work. We offer learning, development, and growth opportunities, along with a comprehensive benefits package designed to support your overall well-being.

Disability Specifications

IREX will make reasonable accommodations in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments of 2008.

Equal Opportunity Employer

IREX seeks to attract the best-qualified candidates who support IREX’s mission and who respect and promote excellence through diversity. IREX is committed to equal opportunity and follows recruitment and selection practices that comply with all applicable employment laws. To this end, IREX recruits, hires, trains, and promotes individuals based on merit and experience.

We conduct background checks on all successful candidates. This position is not eligible for Immigration Sponsorship.

NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE