Virginia Management Fellows Program Manager

Job Description

The Virginia Tech (VT) Virginia Management Fellows (VMF) Program Manager is a restricted, full-time, calendar year, administrative and professional faculty position. The incumbent will report to the Virginia Tech Institute for Policy and Governance (VTIPG) Associate Director for Research and Organizational Innovation. The VT VMF Program Manager is a researcher, educator, practitioner, and mentor with a strong interest in improving leadership, management, and succession planning capabilities in Virginia state government.

The VT VMF Program Manager has primary responsibility for leadership, design, delivery, expansion, and evaluation of the Virginia Management Fellows (VMF) program, in partnership with the Department of Human Resource Management and other leaders in the Commonwealth. The VT VMF Program Manager leads development and refinement of the program’s curriculum, coordinates state agency partnerships, assures delivery of excellent programming, collaborates on recruitment and onboarding of fellows, and conducts research to evaluate program operations and outcomes. The ideal candidate brings a collaborative approach to curriculum development, cohort training, program logistics, data analysis, and reporting and will be able to work with a broad spectrum of colleagues for the success of the VMF. The VT VMF Program Manager, over time, will explore, develop, and implement new research and educational programs and scholarly endeavors independently and in collaboration with internal and external stakeholder groups, particularly those connected to public administration and management.

The VTIPG faculty and staff seek a colleague who shares our vision of a learning community that is compassionate, dedicated, and creative. We seek a leader who can be both operational and strategic: a collaborator who rolls up their sleeves and gets the job done, but who also works toward a shared vision. We seek an imaginative educator who goes the extra mile in their commitments to discovery, integration, application, and teaching in support of our students and program participants. If you are curious, innovative, solutions-oriented, and appreciate collaborative decision making, then this position is right for you.

The position is located at VTIPG’s Richmond Office in the greater Richmond, VA area and the incumbent will work alongside faculty, staff, students, and state agency partners.

For the right applicant, we are open to structuring the position as a part-time role.

Key responsibilities include:

Program Support

• Provides overall leadership for VT VMF program activities.
• Ensures effective development and delivery of all activities and programming for the Virginia Management Fellows Program.
• Collaborates with the Virginia Department of Human Resource Management to deliver on shared responsibilities under the Memorandum of Agreement.
• Maintains collegial and productive collaborations with Department of Human Resource Management (DHRM) partner staff for joint implementation of the VMF program, as well as agency leaders and community partners.
• Delivers, monitors and enhances the VMF educational curriculum.
• Maintains relationships with state agency partners to cultivate and implement experiential learning opportunities for fellows, including the development and support of agency partner mentors.
• Leads Virginia Tech’s responsibilities to recruit and select candidates for the fellowship.
• Supervises the VMF Coordinator and oversees management of the VMF program calendar.
• Facilitates coaching, training, and professional development of Fellows throughout the program stages.
• Maintains regular and meaningful contact with fellows through individual and group meetings for mentoring and support.
• Promotes the VMF program publicly and with key stakeholder groups.
• Evaluates and revises current standard operating procedures as necessary, responds to program needs, and recommends administrative strategies or changes.
• Monitors the overall program aspects of assigned research projects from conceptualization to final execution.
• Designs and oversees any research efforts associated with the Virginia Management Fellows Program, as well as for any future related programming or projects in the areas of public administration and leadership.
• Oversees and implements the ongoing comprehensive program evaluation in collaboration with the Principal Investigator**

Training, Instruction, & Mentoring

• Oversees, facilitates, and enhances credit and non-credit curricular materials and offerings.
• Identifies and oversees instructors and provides direct instruction in non-credit curricular offerings.

Research

• Stays abreast of the latest relevant research as it applies to public administration, organizational development, and leadership in state government.
• Identifies discovery, integration, and application opportunities as they apply to the VMF program.
• Produces scholarly works based on external and internal program related research.

Required Qualifications

• Education: Graduate degree in public administration, public policy, education, or a related field in the humanities or social sciences; or another advanced degree with substantial relevant experience.
• Experience: Demonstrated background in public sector talent development.
• Leadership and Collaboration: Demonstrated abilities in project management, inter-organizational collaboration, and achieving shared outcomes.
• Mentorship and Teamwork: Demonstrated experience mentoring young professionals and working effectively in team settings.
• Professionalism and Initiative: Demonstrated professionalism, initiative, and success in fast-paced, entrepreneurial, or scholarly environments.
• Professional Writing and Communications: Demonstrated skills in authoring, editing, proofing and presenting/communicating professional work.

Preferred Qualifications

• Education: Doctoral degree in public administration, public policy, education, or a related field in the humanities or social sciences.
• Experience: Demonstrated experience in Virginia state government and/or in a university research environment.
• Policy and Research Skills: Demonstrated experience as a policy practitioner with competencies in policy analysis, including writing briefs, white papers, and research reports.
• Scholarly Publication: A track record of scholarly publication.

Overtime Status

Exempt: Not eligible for overtime

Appointment Type

Restricted

Salary Information

Commensurate with experience, Range is $82,000 - $92,000

Hours per week

40

Review Date

October 28, 2025

Additional Information

 

The successful candidate will be required to have a criminal conviction check.

 

About Virginia Tech

Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech pushes the boundaries of knowledge by taking a hands-on, transdisciplinary approach to preparing scholars to be leaders and problem-solvers. A comprehensive land-grant institution that enhances the quality of life in Virginia and throughout the world, Virginia Tech is an inclusive community dedicated to knowledge, discovery, and creativity. The university offers more than 280 majors to a diverse enrollment of more than 36,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students in eight undergraduate colleges, a school of medicine, a veterinary medicine college, Graduate School, and Honors College. The university has a significant presence across Virginia, including Blacksburg, the greater Washington, D.C. area, the Health Sciences and Technology Campus in Roanoke, sites in Newport News and Richmond, and numerous Extension offices and research institutes. A leading global research institution, Virginia Tech conducts more than $650 million in research annually.

Virginia Tech endorses and encourages participation in professional development opportunities and university shared governance.  These valuable contributions to university shared governance provide important representation and perspective, along with opportunities for unique and impactful professional development.