Director, Fellowships

DEPARTMENT: Awards

REPORTS TO: SVP, Scientific Programs & Awards

SUMMARY:

The Director, Fellowships, will manage and expand a portfolio of the Academy’s scientific and teaching fellowship programs. This includes setting the strategy and providing oversight of the Leon Levy Scholarships in Neuroscience, Artificial Intelligence and Society Fellowships, and Marine Science and Oceanography Teaching Fellows programs currently administered by the Academy. The Academy is actively growing the Fellowships portfolio to encompass new fellows programs that support scientists, educators, and policymakers across many fields and throughout their careers, and the Director, Fellowships will play a key role in this growth.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES:

• Work closely with Academy leadership to set a strategic vision for this portfolio within the Academy’s larger scientific awards and fellowships program portfolio; clearly communicate the vision to the team and wider Academy leadership/senior staff.
• Develop, implement, and assess educational curricula for Fellows, including but not limited to independent research projects, seminar series, publications, mentorship, and field work.
• Ensure that this Fellowships portfolio is tracking to meet objectives, schedule, and budget; Thoughtfully yet promptly recommend adjustments to resources as required; Ensure program work performed meets compliance, contractual, and funder requirements.
• Continuously assess and strategize for the growth and development of the Fellowships portfolio, in terms of potential expansion opportunities, improvement of processes or representation, and contribution to the Academy’s wider efforts.
• Work in partnership with the Academy’s Advancement team and existing network to define outreach strategies to secure resources to support new Fellowship programs.
• Work closely with the Finance team to develop annual program budgets and monitor individual event budgets, Review cash/business forecasts, make timely corrections and adjustments as required, and set guidelines for approving spending above/outside programmatic budgets.
• Work with the Academy’s support departments to plan, promote, and execute Fellowship selection, orientation, and engagement activities, and other events, in the US and internationally, and ensure smooth program/event execution.

GENERAL RESPONSIBILITIES:

Strategic Vision and Leadership

• Develop an extensive understanding of the Academy, its mission, strategy and programs. Provide strategic input for the Academy’s mid- and long-term goals from a scientific standpoint.
• Establish and maintain close ties and effective partnerships with a growing and evolving network of leading scientific researchers, organizations, and institutions in academia, government, and industry.
• Maintain relationships with program sponsors and work closely with their representatives to secure sustaining support for current programs and additional funding for new and/or expanded initiatives.
• Identify budget gaps and actively engage new and existing funding partners; identify opportunities for fundraising, collaborating, and attracting new stakeholders to ensure ongoing portfolio growth and innovation.

Program Oversight & Operations

• Take all necessary actions to comply with policies, internal controls, accounting standards, and procedures of the Academy, including financial and data reporting.
• Monitor and discuss financial obligations with sponsors and partners as needed.
• Develop metrics to measure and track portfolio success; Identify and resolve challenges/bottlenecks to success.
• Keep executive leadership up to date on progress against goals, outlining potential issues and opportunities through regular and clear communication.
• Identify and analyze competitive and complementary programs and related technologies that can be utilized to develop new programs and products to fuel growth and enhance the Academy’s competitive advantage.
• Oversee the recruitment and selection processes, including the rationale applied to all stages of selection and the choice and recruitment of judges, ensuring the highest ethical standards are applied to all aspects of the application and selection process.
• Continue to research best practices and develop the policies and procedures that guide the application, evaluation, and selection process with unquestionable objectivity and fairness.
• Develop relationships with the leaders and stakeholders of prestigious national and international academic and research institutions; gain commitment for the program, resulting in a high level of fellowship applications from target geographic bases for all programs.
• Maintain relationships with program sponsors and work closely with their representatives to secure sustaining support for current programs and additional funding for new initiatives.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY:

The Director will directly manage and oversee the day-to day activities of multidisciplinary, PhD-trained scientists and measure performance and deliverables in accordance with the Academy’s performance management process.

REQUIREMENTS:

• Ph.D. in one of the following disciplinary areas is required: Medicine and Biology, Chemical Sciences, Physical Sciences or Engineering
• Minimum of 5 years of relevant scientific leadership experience in academia, industry, non-profit/NGOs, higher education, scientific publishing, or government.
• Experience in a nonprofit organization is highly desirable.
• Proficient and comfortable in dealing with complex, scientific information outside own area of expertise.
• A track record of successfully securing funding and overseeing public/private partnerships. Must be able to identify funding sources and partners; strong grant-writing experience is required.
• Outstanding project management skills, focused on delivering high-quality work on a timely and cost-effective basis. Ability to work with multiple teams across departments and to manage multiple parallel projects with tight deadlines.
• Proven project management skills; ability to work with multiple teams across departments and to manage multiple parallel projects with tight deadlines.
• Outstanding interpersonal and relationship management skills; demonstrated success at cultivating strong associations with influential leaders of science, academia, government, and business.
• Proven facilitation skills; comfortable interacting with scientists, researchers, and other Academy stakeholders; demonstrable ability to facilitate high-pressure collaborations between leading scientists.
• Financially savvy: understands budgets, goals, and the ROI of programs; able to quickly grasp financial and programmatic concepts and package them into fundable programs.
• Proven sponsor-stewardship skills; track record of building excellent working relationships with sponsors and their representatives, providing them with continuous updates, and demonstrating the value they are receiving for their investment.
• Excellent analytical and process skills; capable of synthesizing complex data and making sound recommendations based on rational thinking.
• Smart and insightful, politically astute; innovative and creative; thinks “out-of-the box.”
• Strong problem solving, management, quality management, delegation, sound judgment, and planning and organization skills.
• Unquestionable personal integrity; exudes credibility and professionalism; highly charismatic and makes a positive first impression; quickly builds confidence in others; team player who understands his/her role in relationship to others.
• Passionate and committed to the mission of the Academy.

WORK SCHEDULE:

The Academy operates during standard business hours Monday through Friday from 9am-5pm. Standard work week is 35 hours, unless otherwise noted.

The Academy offers flexible and hybrid work schedules, with in-office scheduling based on business need.

Director is also expected to attend all events as needed for all programs in the Fellowships program portfolio.

Employees must be based in New York.

The work will be performed using standard computer equipment. Employee must be comfortable using a large suite of applications and tools including calendar, email, virtual calling and video conferencing. This role is largely sedentary.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS:

Salary range: Salary commensurate with experience and qualifications with a salary range of $100,000-$120,000.

This is a Full-time, Exempt position.

In addition to salary, the Academy offers a comprehensive benefits package, which includes affordable health insurance, a retirement plan with matching employee contributions, a personal & career development stipend as well as liberal paid time off policies.

HOW TO APPLY:

Applications must include a resume and cover letter.