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Job Overview:

The Vice President of Research, Strategy, and Innovation plays a central role in advancing Achieving the Dream’s (ATD) capacity to learn from its work and apply that learning to improve results for colleges and students across the network.

ATD partners with more than 300 colleges through coaching, tools, and network engagement. Through this work, the organization develops a broad view of how institutions advance student success and how change occurs over time. This role is responsible for synthesizing that experience and ensuring it informs ATD’s programs, services, and strategy.

The Vice President leads the development and use of evidence across the organization. This includes building a clear understanding of the institutional practices that drive change, integrating applied research with insights from the field, and strengthening systems to collect, analyze, and use data across ATD’s work.

A key responsibility is ensuring that learning from grant-funded initiatives and targeted projects is integrated into ATD’s core work. Insights generated through these efforts are used to strengthen coaching, tools, and strategy across the network and to support long-term sustainability.

The role also advances ATD’s Community Vibrancy work by supporting the development of metrics, tools, and resources that connect institutional efforts to broader community impact and inform both network and organizational priorities.

The Vice President works closely with coaching, program, and executive leadership teams to support data-informed decision making and continuous improvement. The role also contributes to ATD’s external presence through engagement with partners and participation in national conversations on student success and institutional change.

Duties and Responsibilities: 

Strategic Leadership

• Lead a research, data, and innovation agenda aligned with ATD priorities
• Guide organizational learning across coaching, cohorts, and grant-funded initiatives
• Ensure insights from initiatives inform ATD’s strategy and core work
• Represent ATD through board service, partnerships, and national engagement
• Collaborate with partners to strengthen alignment across the field

Team Leadership and Development

• Lead and support a research and data team responsible for analysis and application
• Build a team culture focused on clarity, collaboration, and execution
• Develop staff to serve as both analysts and partners to program and coaching teams
• Set priorities and manage workflow to ensure timely, high-quality outputs

Applied Research, Learning, and Innovation

• Lead applied research aligned to ATD’s work with colleges, cohorts, and grant-funded initiatives
• Synthesize learning across coaching, the Institutional Capacity Assessment Tool (ICAT), Community Vibrancy work, and national initiatives
• Identify patterns in institutional capacity building, student outcomes, and community impact
• Use ATD’s Community Vibrancy Framework to connect practice, outcomes, and impact
• Ensure learning from grant-funded initiatives is integrated into ATD’s core services and long-term strategy
• Translate findings into guidance that informs program design, coaching, and organizational decision making

Tool, Framework, and Practice Integration

• Lead development and refinement of ATD tools, including ICAT, Community Vibrancy workbooks, diagnostics, and planning resources
• Oversee the continuous development and improvement of Community Vibrancy workbooks and related network tools
• Translate research into practical tools and resources for colleges and coaches
• Ensure learning from initiatives is reflected in tools, coaching approaches, and supports
• Partner with coaching and program teams to apply research and tools in practice
• Support consistency and quality across ATD’s coaching model

Data Strategy and Analytics

• Set direction for data use across the organization
• Define and advance key measures tied to student success, institutional capacity, and Community Vibrancy
• Oversee development and refinement of Community Vibrancy metrics for the network and the organization
• Improve access to data for internal teams
• Align data collection across core work and grant-funded initiatives
• Use national and network data sources to inform analysis and decision making

Primary Data Collection

• Design data collection approaches aligned to ATD engagements
• Improve diagnostic and assessment processes
• Lead evaluation work tied to external funding
• Ensure data collection across initiatives supports broader organizational learning
• Oversee ICAT data collection and ongoing refinement

Secondary Data Analysis

• Analyze national and network data to identify trends and outcomes
• Inform cohort selection and strategic planning
• Connect external data to internal learning
• Support reporting and recognition efforts

Organizational Collaboration

• Partner with leadership to align research and data with organizational priorities
• Work across program and internal teams to support implementation
• Coordinate with IT on data systems and governance
• Support Development on evaluation and outcomes for funded work

Minimum Qualifications:

• Ph.D. degree in a relevant field
• Significant experience leading research, data, or analytics work
• Experience designing and running applied research or evaluation
• Ability to translate research into practical tools, guidance, or decisions
• Experience in higher education or a related field

Desired Qualifications:

• Ability to connect research and data to both strategy and execution
• Experience developing tools, frameworks, or products used in practice
• Strong grounding in applied research methods
• Experience with program evaluation
• Knowledge of institutional research in higher education
• Familiarity with national postsecondary data sources
• Strong leadership and communication skills
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and adjust as needed

ATD Core Competencies:

• Collaboration: Demonstrates respect, humility, and willingness to collaborate when seeking to understand others and making decisions.
• Equity Mindset: Demonstrates capacity to recognize and address racialized structures, policies, and practices that produce and sustain racial inequities.
• Learning Orientation: Embraces challenges, new ideas and different perspectives as an opportunity to learn; continually seeks out and applies new learning to activate change or improvements.
• Systems Thinking: Defines the system and one’s role in the system. Sees relationships and the dynamic elements of the holistic system and executes work accordingly. Influences the system and maps connections to ATD’s external landscape.

Job Overview:

The Executive Director, Finance & Accounting (ED, Finance & Accounting) is responsible for the development of ATD’s financial management and operations strategy and contributes with other senior leadership to the development and implementation of the organization’s strategic goals. In addition to the strategic components, the ED, Finance & Accounting will be charged with developing and implementing business processes, leading and mentoring the finance team to support the organization, and building the budgets, analyses, and forecasting that support the management team, CEO, and Board in their respective financial and fiduciary responsibilities. The ED, Finance & Accounting reports to the Chief Operating Officer. The ED, Finance & Accounting supervises the Controller, Senior Accounting Manager, and Manager, Contracts and Operations.

Duties and Responsibilities: 

Financial Planning and Strategy (40%) 

• Serve as a thought partner to the President & CEO, COO, and senior leadership team, providing analysis, perspective, and financial modeling to inform organizational strategy, new initiatives, and business model decisions.
• Lead the annual budgeting process and long-term financial planning, including multi-year forecasts aligned to the strategic plan.
• Develop and maintain forward-looking, predictive models and activity-based financial analyses to provide insight into operations, pricing, and program sustainability.
• Assess the financial viability of programs, products, and revenue streams, including coaching, network fees, other fee-for-service, contracts, grants, and events and provide recommendations to leadership on resource allocation and investment tradeoffs.
• In coordination with consultants, leadership, and services management, support development of organizational pricing strategy.
• Develop and implement tools and systems to provide critical financial and operational information to make actionable recommendations on both strategy and operations.
• Build financial literacy across the organization by collaborating with unit leaders and providing timely and accessible reporting and analysis.
• Communicate and present critical financial matters, including quarterly financial statements and budgets, to the Audit & Finance Committee and Board.

Accounting (35%) 

• Steward ATD’s internal controls framework and financial procedures, ensuring policies are current, documented, and consistently followed; partner with the Controller on implementation and monitoring.
• Oversee preparation of regular financial reports, actuals vs. budget analysis, and cash flow planning and forecasts.
• Lead the annual audit and 990 submission process, serving as the primary organizational liaison to external auditors; direct the Controller in managing day-to-day audit logistics.
• Oversee cash management, banking relationships, and asset management; coordinate with the COO on investment activity and reserve fund execution.
• Ensure proper maintenance of all accounting systems and functions; hold accountability for the integrity of the general ledger, month-end close, balance sheet reconciliations, and overhead cost allocation.
• Oversee grants accounting and compliance, including program budget design, spending forecasts, and decision support to program management to ensure adherence to donor and contract requirements.
• Ensure compliance with all applicable federal, state, and local regulatory requirements, including tax filings, state charitable registrations, and unrelated business income considerations.

Systems and Technology (10%)

• Steward the finance and accounting systems roadmap, in collaboration with Executive Director, Information Technology and Digital Transformation, evaluating, selecting, and implementing software and tools (ERP, reporting, automation) that improve efficiency, data integrity, and scalability.
• Partner with IT leadership to ensure finance systems integration, data governance, and business continuity planning for financial operations.
• Identify and drive automation opportunities to reduce manual processes and strengthen controls.

Team Management & Other (10%) 

• Lead, mentor and develop the team of direct reports, managing work allocation, professional development, performance management, and the building of an effective team with a culture of continuous improvement.
• Remain current on nonprofit accounting standards, audit best practices, and regulatory developments; proactively communicate implications and recommend policy or process adjustments as needed.
• Contribute to organization-wide leadership as a member of the organizational leadership team, bringing a financial perspective to cross-functional decisions and organizational priorities

Skills/Qualifications/Experience: 

• CPA required
• 10+ years of progressive professional experience in a senior management role ideally with both external audit and in-house financial management experience in a nonprofit organization.
• Demonstrated experience managing complex, multi-stream revenue environments including fee-for-service, contracts, grants, and events, ideally in an organization with a budget of $20M+.
• Deep knowledge of nonprofit accounting standards, fund and grant accounting, Uniform Guidance compliance, and nonprofit tax and regulatory requirements
• Commitment to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion within the finance function and the broader organization.
• Experience owning or leading finance systems evaluation and implementation; comfort with technology and data tools.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Strong people leadership skills with experience building and developing finance teams.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, including the ability to present complex financial information clearly to non-financial audiences.
• Excellent analytical, organizational, and abstract reasoning skills

Core Competencies:

Collaboration: Demonstrates respect, humility, and willingness to collaborate when seeking to understand others and making decisions.

Equity Mindset: Demonstrates capacity to recognize and address racialized structures, policies, and practices that produce and sustain racial inequities.

Learning Orientation: Embraces challenges, new ideas and different perspectives as an opportunity to learn; continually seeks out and applies new learning to activate change or improvements.

Systems Thinking: Defines the system and one’s role in the system. Sees relationships and the dynamic elements of the holistic system and executes work accordingly. Influences the system and maps connections to ATD’s external landscape.

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, use hands to finger, handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms; and talk or hear. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, color vision, and ability to adjust focus.  

Equal Opportunity Employer:

Achieving the Dream is committed to creating and maintaining a diverse work environment. Employment policies and decisions are based upon merit, qualifications, performance, and business needs. All qualified candidates will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or medical conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth), gender identity or expression, religion, physical or mental disability, medical condition, legally- protected genetic information, marital status, veteran status, or sexual orientation.

Core Competencies:

• Collaboration: Demonstrates respect, humility, and willingness to collaborate when seeking to understand others and making decisions.
• Equity Mindset: Demonstrates capacity to recognize and address racialized structures, policies, and practices that produce and sustain racial inequities.
• Learning Orientation: Embraces challenges, new ideas and different perspectives as an opportunity to learn; continually seeks out and applies new learning to activate change or improvements.
• Systems Thinking: Defines the system and one’s role in the system. Sees relationships and the dynamic elements of the holistic system and executes work accordingly. Influences the system and maps connections to ATD’s external landscape.

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, use hands to finger, handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms; and talk or hear. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, color vision, and ability to adjust focus.

Equal Opportunity Employer:

Achieving the Dream is committed to creating and maintaining a diverse work environment. Employment policies and decisions are based upon merit, qualifications, performance, and business needs.  All qualified candidates will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or medical conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth), gender identity or expression, religion, physical or mental disability, medical condition, legally- protected genetic information, marital status, veteran status, or sexual orientation.

Internship Overview: This internship will support a national research project focused on strengthening dual enrollment and advising practices that improve student transitions from high school into postsecondary education and careers. The intern will contribute to research, analysis, and tool development that informs how colleges and their K–12 partners support students moving through dual enrollment programs. This role is ideal for someone interested in advising, education policy, innovative partnerships, systems change, and applied research that directly informs institutional practice.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Skills/Qualifications:

What You’ll Gain:

Core Competencies:

Collaboration: Demonstrates respect, humility, and willingness to collaborate when seeking to understand others and making decisions.

Equity Mindset: Demonstrates capacity to recognize and address racialized structures, policies, and practices that produce and sustain racial inequities.

Learning Orientation: Embraces challenges, new ideas and different perspectives as an opportunity to learn; continually seeks out and applies new learning to activate change or improvements.

Systems Thinking: Defines the system and one’s role in the system. Sees relationships and the dynamic elements of the holistic system and executes work accordingly. Influences the system and maps connections to ATD’s external landscape.

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, use hands to finger, handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms; and talk or hear. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, color vision, and ability to adjust focus.

Equal Opportunity Employer:

Achieving the Dream is committed to creating and maintaining a diverse work environment. Employment policies and decisions are based upon merit, qualifications, performance, and business needs.  All qualified candidates will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or medical conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth), gender identity or expression, religion, physical or mental disability, medical condition, legally- protected genetic information, marital status, veteran status, or sexual orientation.

Internship Overview:

The Meetings and Learning Events Intern will support the planning and execution of key events, including 2026 K-College Institute, 2026 Data & Analytics Summit, November Board Meeting, and DREAM 2027. This role provides hands-on experience in event coordination, registration management, and logistics. Responsibilities include assisting with registration processes (reporting, comp codes, refunds, and customer support), maintaining event web pages, managing inbox inquiries, and supporting logistics, hotel management and rooming lists. The intern will also help organize event materials, coordinate shipments, process payments and invoices, and support onsite event operations, including staff scheduling. This role requires strong attention to detail, organization, and collaboration. Additional responsibilities include conducting research, supporting daily team operations, and assisting with special projects as needed. Travel may be required.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Assist with planning for upcoming events, including 2026 K-College Institute, 2026 Data & Analytics Summit, November Board Meeting and DREAM 2027
• Assist with online registration process and generate reports, create comp codes, issue refunds via the system; assist registrants with processing their registrations and any issues.

• Conduct research and present findings
• Collaborate with team members on daily operations

Skills/Qualifications:

• Currently pursuing a degree in Hospitality/Tourism Management, Nonprofit Management, Business, Communications, or a related field preferred; however, students from other majors with a strong interest in this type of work are also encouraged to apply.
• Strong communication and organizational skills
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook); ability to perform data entry and learn database management systems.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team

What You’ll Gain:

• Hands-on experience supporting large-scale conferences and events

Core Competencies:

Collaboration: Demonstrates respect, humility, and willingness to collaborate when seeking to understand others and making decisions.

Equity Mindset: Demonstrates capacity to recognize and address racialized structures, policies, and practices that produce and sustain racial inequities.

Learning Orientation: Embraces challenges, new ideas and different perspectives as an opportunity to learn; continually seeks out and applies new learning to activate change or improvements.

Systems Thinking: Defines the system and one’s role in the system. Sees relationships and the dynamic elements of the holistic system and executes work accordingly. Influences the system and maps connections to ATD’s external landscape.

Internship Overview: The Workforce Alignment Intern will conduct research on national best practices in employer partnerships and work-based learning and incorporate findings into tools, resources, and curriculum materials for colleges, including supporting the development of learning outcomes for a national cohort of community colleges and contributing to workforce-focused sessions for ATD’s Summer K–College Institute. Through this experience, the intern will build skills in applied research, content development, and project coordination while gaining exposure to how workforce strategies are implemented to advance student success and economic mobility.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Skills/Qualifications:

• Currently pursuing a degree in higher education, public policy, or a related field
• Strong communication and organizational skills, with the ability to synthesize information clearly and concisely
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team

What You’ll Gain:

Core Competencies:

Collaboration: Demonstrates respect, humility, and willingness to collaborate when seeking to understand others and making decisions.

Equity Mindset: Demonstrates capacity to recognize and address racialized structures, policies, and practices that produce and sustain racial inequities.

Learning Orientation: Embraces challenges, new ideas and different perspectives as an opportunity to learn; continually seeks out and applies new learning to activate change or improvements.

Systems Thinking: Defines the system and one’s role in the system. Sees relationships and the dynamic elements of the holistic system and executes work accordingly. Influences the system and maps connections to ATD’s external landscape.