The Director of Programs & Evaluation will build and maintain systems and programs to assess and increase the impact of FUSE Executive Fellows and alumni in their work throughout the country.

LOCATION

FUSE is a fully virtual organization and this position can be based remotely from anywhere in the United States.

ABOUT FUSE

FUSE is a national nonprofit working to expand social and economic opportunities, particularly for communities that have been limited by a history of systemic and institutionalized racism. FUSE partners with local governments and communities to more effectively address pressing challenges by placing experienced professionals within city and county agencies. These FUSE Executive Fellows lead strategic projects designed to advance racial equity and accelerate systems change. Since 2012, FUSE has led over 250 projects in 40 governments across 20 states, impacting the lives of 25 million people. 

When designing each fellowship project, FUSE works closely with government partners and local stakeholders to define a scope of work that will achieve substantive progress toward regional priorities. FUSE then conducts an individualized search for each project to ensure that the selected candidate has at least 15 years of professional experience, the required competencies for the role, and deep connections to the communities being served. They are data-driven and results-oriented and able to effectively manage complex projects by developing actionable roadmaps and monitoring progress to completion.

Executive Fellows are hired as FUSE employees and embedded in government agencies for at least one year of full-time work. Throughout their fellowships, they receive training, coaching, and professional support from FUSE to help achieve their project goals. FUSE Executive Fellows bring diverse perspectives and new approaches to their projects. They build strong relationships with diverse arrays of stakeholders, foster alignment within and across various layers of government, and build partnerships between governments and communities. 

For more information: https://www.fusecorps.org

POSITION OVERVIEW

FUSE’s Program team provides support to Executive Fellows and their government hosts throughout the fellowship year to help maximize the impact of their work in advancing racial equity and systems change. The Program team also continues to provide resources to FUSE alumni as they continue in their careers after the fellowship. This work includes among other things regular project check-ins with current fellows and government hosts to assess progress and offer tools for support; organizing and facilitating a wide variety of training and learning opportunities for fellows and alums (e.g., fellow orientation, regular webinars, executive coaching); and convening fellows, alums and government hosts for knowledge exchange opportunities. Additionally, the Program team is responsible for evaluating the effectiveness of the fellowship program overall as well as the impact of each project in order to better leverage the learnings and successes of fellows’ work across projects and cities. Each year FUSE launches about 60 new projects spread over three cohorts (spring, summer, fall).

To accomplish this work, the Program team is managed by a Vice President and includes the Director of Fellowships, who oversees the training and support of Executive Fellows in doing their project work during their fellowship year; and the Director of Programs & Evaluation, whose primary responsibility will be the assessment of the fellowship program’s effectiveness and the impact resulting from each project, and who will also manage alumni services and select program collaborations to further elevate FUSE’s impact. The Program team also includes four Alumni-in-Residence, who support Executive Fellows through regular one-on-one interactions and also contribute to overall Program services; and a Program Manager, a Senior Associate and an Associate who provide vital support to all these efforts.

Reporting directly to the Vice President, the Director of Programs & Evaluation will oversee the continued enhancement, additional design and ongoing maintenance of evaluation tools and strategies that collect, track and analyze timely and relevant data about the fellowship program and its projects. This evaluation is currently done primarily through surveys, one-on-one interviews and focus groups. The Director will further be responsible for translating the complex data and evaluation outcomes into actionable metrics and sharing findings with both internal and external audiences. The information collected in the evaluation process will help inform project and program design and continuous improvement, and will also inform the Director as they undertake collaborations with other organizations to support and lift up the work of Executive Fellows and alums.

The Director will be expected to model FUSE’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in every aspect of this work and, as is the expectation of all FUSE staff, to directly engage in the organization’s internal diversity, equity and inclusion work.

POSITION RESPONSIBILITIES

Specific responsibilities will include, but not be limited to the following:

Evaluation

• Manage and continually improve the data collection strategy, logic model and racial equity framework to obtain the most useful data and information for assessing program and project impact in a timely and efficient manner. This will include data to evaluate the effectiveness of the fellowship program curriculum, the impact of individual fellowship projects, and the overall experience of fellows and government hosts. To do so will require coordination with the Director of Fellowships to determine when and how best to maximize communication with fellows and hosts to collect data, including identifying various means of data collection to increase responsiveness (surveys, interviews, focus groups, etc.).
• Develop tools, templates, and diagnostic frameworks to assess and evaluate the data collected in order to generate overall reports on the fellowship program and project outcomes as well as segment the data into reports by issue area, region, timeframe, etc. To do this, the Director will be expected to research and utilize best practices in evaluation for similar size and focused organizations as well as other information resources for program evaluation.
• Lead the selection and management of vendors and institutional partnerships to support the evaluation function. This will include scope development, regular assessment of progress toward deliverables and timeline, engaging to re-scope as needed, etc.
• Supervise an Associate-level position and provide oversight, goal-setting and annual evaluation of all activities related to their job duties and achievement of goals.

Programs

Alumni Services

• Develop an overall strategy for alumni services based on data and research of other fellowship program best practices.
• Manage the coordination and facilitation of alumni services including identification and distribution of professional development tools and resources; and social and professional alumni events such as workshops, communities of practice and knowledge exchanges.
• Oversee the collection and maintenance of alumni-related data including contact information, post-fellowship work, individual areas of expertise that could be utilized for current fellows, etc.
• Direct the production and distribution of the monthly Alumni Newsletter, as well as other communication tools designed to keep alumni apprised of events and opportunities.
• Supervise the Associate-level position and Alum-in-Residence whose portfolios include support for alumni services by thought partnering and providing overall direction for their work in this area.

Select Program Collaborations

• Establish the protocol, processes and procedures for identifying and managing strategic program collaborations with external organizations. These collaborations, like all Program teamwork, should support fellows and alumni in being as effective as possible in their community-impact focused work during and after the fellowship. Such collaborations may provide access to issue area expertise, best practice sharing with organizations doing similar work, the opportunity to lift up the work of FUSE and the collaborating organization, etc.
• Manage the relationship with collaborating organizations including developing agreement, regular assessment of effectiveness of work together, re-setting expectations as needed to maximize the benefit of the collaboration, etc.
• Supervise the Alum-in-Residence whose portfolio includes oversight of activities that are part of these collaborations with external organizations.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Passion for FUSE’s mission and model; a commitment to advancing racial equity; and a belief in the power of local government, civic innovation, and cross-sector collaboration.
• Minimum of 10 years of related work experience, including some experience with evaluation programs or systems. The ideal candidate would also have some experience with local government and/or public sector consulting.
• Highly-developed emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills, including the ability to establish trust and effective communications with an array of stakeholders.
• Excellent project management skills, with the ability to develop a vision, drive progress, maintain strong attention to detail, and support others under dynamic conditions.
• Strong multi-tasker with the capacity to balance competing priorities within a dynamic environment and keep an array of concurrent projects on target for hitting goals and timelines.
• Exceptional management and supervisory skills, as you will manage an associate-level position, alums-in-residence, as well as multiple vendor relationships.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to clearly convey complex topics to multiple audiences through various presentation formats.
• Ability to work collaboratively on a small team, in a fast-paced environment, and within resource constraints, while always maintaining a focus on the organization’s needs and strategic priorities.
• Ability to become an integral member of a virtual national team, contributing positively to the advancement of a strong organizational culture.
• Working knowledge of Salesforce, Tableau, Microsoft Office Tools, Google and Asana is a plus.
  

TO APPLY

Please submit an application and cover letter at www.fusecorps.org/about/fuse-jobs/ by clicking on the associated job description. The cover letter should explain your motivation to join FUSE and how you anticipate leveraging your experience in this role.

FUSE Corps is an equal opportunity employer with a core value of incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusion into our work at every level. We strongly encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply for this position.