Community & Insights Advisor, Future of Work & Innovation Economy

New America’s

Job Responsibilities:.

• Program Management & Community Stewardship (70%): In partnership with supervisor, help manage a national community of practice and learning network of ~22 community colleges participating in federally funded technology-based economic development and innovation ecosystems
• Community engagement: Help foster a feeling of value, learning, trust, and fun among senior workforce leaders at community colleges
• Site visits: Plan and participate in research and convening-oriented site visits to CoP participants across the country (~10 expected over 3 years).
• Web workshops: Manage monthly Zoom web workshops. Tasks may include designing compelling and useful agendas, issuing pre- and post-email communications, tracking attendance, managing a resource database, fostering chat engagement, coordinating guest speaker participation, and managing live-event logistics, including breakout rooms and recordings.
• Annual summit: Once a year, organize a fun and engaging two-day in-person summit for 60-80 people at New America’s HQ, including overseeing event logistics, supporting agenda development, communications, note-taking, and facilitation.
• Coaching: Coordinate and participate in regular coaching and consultation calls with each participating college to better understand their needs and ways to support
• Affinity groups: Manage CoP affinity groups program to promote networking and community-building among colleges or leaders with shared characteristics (e.g. rural serving, urban serving, tribal colleges, technology focus, veteran-serving, etc.)
• Database & surveys: Ensure the contacts database is current and manage regular project evaluation surveys to ensure CoP programming meets colleges’ needs.
• Grants management: Including interfacing with the New America finance office to track, monitor, and fulfill invoices for grants, events, or reimbursement for college.
• People management: Support supervisor in managing part-time & full-time interns and consultants
• Research, Writing, and Communications (30%): Distill CoP insights into crisp, compelling writing and communications targeted at presidents, vice presidents, and senior decision-makers at community colleges and universities, as well as decision-makers in economic development organizations, state/local government, federal agencies, and Congress.
• Research: Develop interview protocols and conduct interviews with CoP members, partners, and experts in the field to inform research and writing. Conduct other qualitative research (e.g., in-depth interviews, site visits, and focus groups) and some quantitative research (e.g., assembling and/or analyzing databases) to derive insights from CoP
• Blogs: In a clear, jargon-free journalistic style, author and co-author compelling and concise articles for New America’s Ed Central blog detailing effective practices, challenges, lessons learned, and impact testimonials learned from CoP and, as opportunities arise, contribute to policy debate based on insights.
• Presentations: Give compelling virtual and in-person presentations to internal and external audiences at conferences and events.
• Communications: Support CoP’s strategic communication projects, including collaborating with the Communications Team to generate collateral and content for social media (Especially X and LinkedIn), coordinating a regular newsletter, and managing website updates.

Required Skills & Qualifications

• At least five years of work experience working in think tanks, philanthropies, colleges and universities, membership associations, or non-profits focused on higher education, economic development, workforce development, emerging technology, or public policy.
• An ability to work more independently with initiative and drive.
• Candidates should have an understanding of the importance of evidence-based policies and programs.
• Inclined to think independently and challenge conventional wisdom in higher education, labor, and science and technology policy.
• A plus if you have experience working in or with higher education institutions and/or workforce development organizations, state and federal policy, technology, or R&D organizations,
• A plus if you have skills or experience in institutional design, teaching, coaching, or facilitation that lend themselves to CoP-style projects.
• Proven research, writing, editing, and verbal communication skills. Candidates should be able to communicate complex ideas clearly and concisely to public, policy, and journalistic audiences using both the written word and oral presentations.
• Ability to translate analyses into written products for both narrow and broad audiences.
• Strong presentation skills. The ability to create professional slide presentations and collaterals and communicate complex ideas to diverse audiences, particularly in a virtual environment.
• A passion for following the news and politics, listening and learning, and reading academic, policy, and media studies and articles.
• Research skills including the ability to design and execute a research plan, research analyses, and the identification and communication of key findings.
• Strong analytical skills, which could include quantitative analytical skills; qualitative analytical skills such as the ability to conduct and analyze interviews and focus groups, ability to synthesize large amounts of information from federal datasets to inform problem-solving.
• Strong technology and project management skills, including using the best-in-class tools and techniques available to support a community of practice
• Above-average skillset for using Zoom, Notion/Airtable, Google Drive/Workspace, Canva, Twitter/LinkedIn/YouTube, and Slack
• Sophisticated notetaking, task-management, and time-management skills
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail, including meeting and communicating around deadlines and milestones
• A commitment to entrepreneurialism, learning, aspiration, and a growth mindset
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to patiently manage relationships with executive-level leaders and experts at colleges, in government, and across organizations.
• A spirit of curiosity, an inclination to intellectual hubris, and a love for research and learning.
• Excellent work ethic matched by openness to feedback, being coached, mentored, and team collaboration.
• A bachelor’s degree in instructional design; learning, technology, and design; public administration; non-profit management; public policy; communications; or other relevant areas is required. Certificates, badges, industry certifications, or micro-credentials affirming specific skills and competencies related to the preferred work are also a plus (e.g., Project Management Professionals certification).

Location: 

Washington, DC, Virginia, or Maryland metro area preferred (hybrid work schedule 2 days a week in Washington, DC HQ); Remote candidates in Eastern or Central Time Zones considered.

Compensation and benefits:

Starting salary range is $70,000-100,000, commensurate with experience and expertise. New America offers a highly competitive benefits package that includes generous, affordable health (including zero premium options), dental, vision, and life insurance coverage; A no-cost Employee Assistance Program; HSA Accounts; Tax-free metro or parking benefits; flexible work arrangements; a generous retirement plan with an employer contribution of 10% total annual salary match (7% annual salary eligible after the first year of service, and dollar-for-dollar retirement match of up to 3% of the employee’s salary eligible immediately); 20 days of paid time off in your first year of employment and 30 days of paid time off in subsequent years; all 11 paid Federal holidays; an office-wide closure between Christmas and New Year; early closure on Fridays between Memorial Day and Labor Day; 12 weeks of paid parental leave; employee discounts, and other benefits.

Application Process:

Submit a resume/CV, a writing sample, and a 1-page cover letter that describes your skills, qualifications, and career aligned with the described work directed to the hiring manager – Shalin Jyotishi, Managing Director of New America’s Future of Work & Innovation Economy initiative. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, but priority will be given to applications received by August 19, 2024. No phone calls or emails, please.

Please, no phone calls and no emails

Originality and Transparency:

At New America, we value authentic voices and intellectual property rights. All application materials, including cover letters, writing samples, and any other submissions, must be solely your own original work. The use of AI text generation tools like ChatGPT, language models, or other artificial intelligence writing assistants is strictly prohibited for any part of your job application. Submissions found to contain AI-generated content will be disqualified from consideration. Applicants have a responsibility to be fully transparent about authorship and any tools or resources utilized. We celebrate human ingenuity and want to hear your genuine thoughts and experiences.