Director of Strategic Programs

Job Overview

DEPARTMENT: Administration
JOB STATUS: Full-time
FLSA: Exempt
DATE:  February 2025
REPORTS TO:  President & CEO

BENEFITS: Health Insurance, Dental Insurance, Vision Insurance, Life Insurance, 403b Plan, Paid Vacation, Paid Sick Time, Parking

JOB PURPOSE AND CULTURE

The Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque is looking for a Strategic Program Director reporting to the Chief Executive Officer and working alongside the Operations and Leadership team.  The Strategic Program Director will provide internal strategy and leadership and work closely with various areas to ensure high-quality outputs for the various stakeholder groups CFGD serves.

The Strategic Program Director will create processes and structure new offerings from concept to launch. This will include managing project timelines, budgets, and cross-functional collaboration. This role requires a blend of innovation, strategic thinking, and strong project management skills to ensure successful product innovation and execution.

As a mission-driven organization, Community Foundation staff are primarily motivated by the work we do and the culture we offer. Our work culture inspires positive community-wide change, idea sharing, and a collaborative work environment. Our team is highly inspired, and everyone shares in the success of the organization. Each staff member is an effective ambassador for the organization.  ]

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES 

Strategy and Execution

• Leads high-level strategic projects that shape the direction of the Community Foundation's initiatives.
• Takes ownership of the organization’s most important projects, ensuring they are executed, monitored, and shared broadly.
• Serves on the leadership team, directly involved in high-level decision-making while ensuring alignment of the team.
• Focuses both on the foundation's strategic plan and partnering with the leadership team in support of operations execution.
• Works closely with the President to understand her vision and shares the vision throughout the organization to ensure alignment.
• Develop and revise policies and ensure they are correctly reflected in publications.

Collaboration

• Leads efforts around Impact Investment, including working with community partners to conduct due diligence on potential impact investments, prepare closing documents, and complete an annual review of loan activity and performance for the Impact Investment Committee.
• Serves as a solutions resource, for unique needs of the community which may be too big for the public sector or the private sector to take on by themselves.
• Skillfully builds relationships and leverages external partners and funding streams.
• Work to influence and gain buy-in from community partners.
• Identify community partners and help to develop the structure to hand off processes, if possible.
• Conduct market research and competitive analysis to identify new opportunities to improve the communities we serve in our seven-county region.

Project Management

• Proactively dives into potential initiatives, identifies problems, and crafts solutions.
• Lead the development of new products, from ideation to implementation.
• Manage project timelines, budgets, and resource allocation. Develop and oversee product roadmaps and launch strategies.
• Ensure product compliance with industry regulations and quality standards.
• Identify risks and implement mitigation strategies to ensure project success.
• Monitor product performance and iterate based on market feedback.
• Manages special project launches (Impact investing, Press Forward, housing trust), works with other departments to transition programmatic work

POSITION QUALIFICATIONS

• A minimum of a Bachelors degree or equivalent lived experience is required. An MBA or similar advanced degree would be a great asset.
• A minimum of 7 years of project management or similar relevant experience
• An ideal candidate would have experience leading multifaceted operations in philanthropy, nonprofit, corporate, or public-sector organizations
• Results-driven leader with a proven track record of exceeding goals
• An individual with prior experience leading successful change management
• An individual with the following character; flexible, ethical, honest, trustworthy, and a positive team player.
• Computer proficiency in the Microsoft Office Suite. Must be proficient in learning financial management software and CRM databases.
• Must be able to work in a fast-paced environment and therefore possess time management skills. In addition, the ability to prioritize and organize workloads to meet multiple duties and deadlines is required.
• Expected work hours for this position may include nights, weekends, and occasional travel.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS 

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit and talk, and hear. The employee is frequently required to use hand to finger, handle or feel. The employee is occasionally required to stand and walk. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 20 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision with daily use of a computer.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer.  This job description is intended to convey information essential to understanding the scope of the job and the general nature and level of work performed by the job holder. However, this job description is not intended to be an exhaustive list of qualifications, skills, efforts, duties, responsibilities, or working conditions associated with the position.  This job description is general and may evolve over time.  The description is subject to periodic updating.  At management’s discretion, the employee may be assigned different and/or additional duties or responsibilities.

TO APPLY: 

Apply through Access Dubuque Jobs or send your resume to office@dbqfoundation.org.