The Senior Program Officer (SPO), Youth Initiatives, is a strategic leader and portfolio manager responsible for advancing the Foundation’s integrated Youth strategy. The strategy seeks to improve economic mobility for young people ages 15–24 who have experienced adversity, with an emphasis on education-to-career pathways, employment, stable housing, and mental health supports.
Reporting to the Director, Youth Initiatives, the SPO informs strategy development and leads implementation across assigned geographies and portfolios; manages a multi-year, multimillion-dollar grantmaking portfolio; supervises and develops Program Officers and Program Associates; and collaborates closely with peer SPOs, the Strategy, Learning and Evaluation Department (SLED), and other cross-functional teams. Externally, the SPO works with grantees, public- and private-sector partners, and other funders to achieve leverage goals and scale impact.
As the Youth Initiatives subject-matter expert in workforce development and private-sector engagement, the SPO provides content leadership in employer engagement, workforce development, and career pathways. The role helps identify, assess, and support models that connect young people facing adversity to skills, employment, retention, and wage progression. The ideal candidate also brings experience in at least one additional core area: youth development, education-to-career pathways, housing stability, or mental health supports.
The SPO serves as an internal and external champion for integrated work across Youth geographies and systems, ensuring grantmaking advances a cohesive strategy focused on economic mobility, stable housing, and well-being. Success in the role requires operational discipline, data-informed learning, transparent collaboration, a solutions-oriented mindset, curiosity, candid and constructive communication, strengths-based leadership, and shared ownership of outcomes.
Responsibilities
Strategic Initiative Planning and Implementation
- Lead implementation of the Board-approved integrated Youth strategy in Atlanta and New Orleans, aligned with economic mobility goals and supporting housing and mental health priorities.
- In close coordination with SLED, translate the Youth theory of change into portfolio priorities, grantmaking plans, implementation milestones, and learning questions.
- Partner with the Youth Director, peer Youth Initiatives SPO, Program Officers, SLED, and external evaluators to track milestones such as enrollment, completion, employment, retention, wage progression, housing stability, and mental health-related learning indicators, where applicable.
- Use data, grantee learning, field trends, and portfolio performance to refine strategy, recommend course corrections, and identify opportunities for grantmaking, partnerships, targeted advocacy, convening, leverage, and systems strengthening.
- Present strategy, progress, risks, and learning to the Board of Directors in coordination with the Youth Director.
- Support cross-geography learning and collaborate with colleagues in other initiatives that share strategic objectives, translating insights into consistent grantmaking and leverage activities across the portfolio.
Grantmaking and Grantee Relations
- Manage a multi-year, multimillion-dollar grantmaking portfolio for Atlanta, New Orleans, and national partners .
- Identify ecosystem gaps and source potential grantees and partners that can advance career pathways, employment, housing stability, and/or mental health supports for young people; assess the quality and feasibility of employer partnerships, career-pathway models, job placement, retention, and wage-progression strategies.
- Conduct due diligence on proposals, organizational capacity, financial models, leadership, implementation feasibility, and potential risks.
- Prepare and present grant recommendations for internal and Board approval.
- Monitor grantee performance through regular communication, site visits, reporting, data review, and learning conversations, and support grantees in strengthening implementation, partnerships, sustainability, and impact.
- Foster partnerships among grantees, employers, public agencies, funders, youth-serving organizations, and other stakeholders.
Thought Leadership and Trend Analysis
- Stay current on research, policy, practice, and funding trends related to youth economic mobility, workforce and career pathways, transition-age youth, housing stability, mental health supports, and education-to-career transitions.
- Build and maintain relationships with government, philanthropic, nonprofit, employer, and field partners.
- Represent the Foundation in meetings, convenings, conferences, funder collaboratives, and other external forums.
- Convene partners to share learning, identify barriers, coordinate action, and mobilize aligned resources.
- Bring field intelligence to the Youth team to strengthen strategy, grantmaking, and learning.
- Collaborate with colleagues across departments—including the Office of General Counsel, Communications, Grants Management, and Finance—and engage and manage consultants and external advisors when complementary expertise is needed.
Management and Program Team Relations
- Build, lead, and professionally develop a high-performing team of Program Officers and Program Associates responsible for executing assigned components of the Youth Initiatives strategy, establishing clear expectations, priorities, and measures of success.
- Foster a high-trust, collaborative team culture that balances accountability with empowerment, equipping staff with the guidance, tools, and autonomy needed to perform at their highest level.
- Establish transparent team routines, decision-making processes, documentation practices, and knowledge-management norms that support strong execution and shared ownership.
- Create and manage the grantmaking and operational budget for the assigned portfolio, ensuring resources are aligned with strategy, outcomes, and implementation priorities; identify consultant needs, define scopes of work, and manage performance as needed.
- Work closely with the peer Youth SPO and SPOs across initiatives to support cross-geography and cross-issue collaboration, shared learning, and consistent execution; partner with SLED to strengthen monitoring, evaluation, and learning.
- Collaborate with the Youth Director and Program Department colleagues to align the initiative with departmental and organizational priorities and to clarify and advance relevant advocacy goals.
Key Qualifications
- At least 10 years of relevant professional experience, with demonstrated leadership in workforce development, career pathways, employer engagement, youth development, philanthropy, public systems, or a related field.
- Graduate degree in a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and work experience.
- Demonstrated experience designing, building, managing, or advising initiatives that connect young people or populations facing employment barriers to measurable outcomes, including skill attainment, credential completion, job placement, retention, and wage progression.
- Direct experience engaging employers and other labor-market partners, such as industry associations, chambers of commerce, workforce intermediaries, or training providers.
- Solid knowledge of relevant program and policy issues and the funding landscape.
- Proven ability to develop and adapt strategy, manage a multi-year, multimillion-dollar portfolio or initiative, and use data, KPIs, evaluation, and learning to improve results.
- Strong people management and relationship-building skills, with the ability to collaborate across internal teams and represent the Foundation with grantees, funders, public-sector partners, employers, and the Board.
- Strong operational skills, including project management, documentation, knowledge management, and transparent decision-making.
- Demonstrated ability to navigate ambiguity and lead through change.
- Exceptional organizational, analytical, written and oral communication, presentation, and public-speaking skills.
- Ability to work independently and collaboratively, demonstrating initiative, flexibility, cultural sensitivity, and respect for lived experience.
- Strategic, conceptual, and critical-thinking abilities, with strong attention to detail and priorities.
- Willingness to perform a portion of administrative work, such as calendaring, expense reports, and travel arrangements.
- Excellent computer skills, including Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and database, CRM, or grant-management systems.
Preferred
- Experience working across multiple labor-market stakeholders—such as employers, industry associations, workforce intermediaries, training providers, community-based organizations, or corporate social responsibility teams—to create or scale pathways to quality jobs.
- Experience in at least one priority geography: Atlanta or New Orleans.
- Grantmaking, fundraising, or philanthropic-sector experience.
- Candidates with lived experience related to the Youth Initiative are encouraged to apply.
Physical Requirements
- Prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
- Must be able to lift up to 15 pounds at times.
