• Job Description

  Req#: 233296

  Duke University:

  Duke University was created in 1924 through an indenture of trust by James Buchanan Duke. Today, Duke is regarded as one of America’s leading research universities. Located in Durham, North Carolina, Duke is positioned in the heart of the Research Triangle, which is ranked annually as one of the best places in the country to work and live. Duke has more than 15,000 students who study and conduct research in its 10 undergraduate, graduate and professional schools. With about 40,000 employees, Duke is the third largest private employer in North Carolina, and it now has international programs in more than 150 countries.

  The Robertson Scholars Leadership Program Role –

  Director, Operations

  Job Description

  About the Robertson Scholars Leadership Program:

  The Robertson Scholars Leadership Program is a one-of-its-kind scholarship program that supports Scholars at Duke University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Our mission is to invest in young leaders who are committed to making transformational contributions to society. We do this by designing and facilitating individual and collective leadership development experiences across a Scholar’s collegiate journey. We believe leadership is developed in context; that transformation exists as a partnership between self-development and communal belonging; that developing our capacity to consciously respond instead of conditionally react is paramount to creating change at the self, group, and systems levels; and that this type of development is a deeply personal choice.

  As RSLP staff members, we take our role as guides, coaches, facilitators, and mentors seriously, by firstly obsessing about walking our talk. This means we commit to a practice of living our agreements to integrity, responsibility, and community, and that we restore breakdowns as they - inevitably - happen among us. We recognize this work is difficult, taxing, messy, and uncertain as much as it is life-changing, heart-opening, and world-shaping.

  To learn more about the history of our program and the incredible support of the Robertson family, please visit www.robertsonscholars.org .

  Occupational Summary:

  The Director, Operations (D, O) of the Robertson Scholars Leadership Program (RSLP) is charged with designing and managing systems and processes that amplify the creativity and effectiveness of our team in making progress towards critical organizational priorities and our core mission. In this position, you will work closely with the Executive Director on strategic planning and building and maintaining a human-centered operating system that ensures each member of our community has the resources and support they need to execute effectively and in a values-aligned manner. To be clear, the executive director and program team have a lot of ideas and we need someone to be jazzed about creating the systems necessary to make those ideas happen; we also change our minds sometimes and we want you to be equally excited about shifting directions as necessary. Inherent to this is that you are someone who is flexible, service oriented, that you have ideas and give them as an equal partner in the work, and that you also are just energized to build the ship as it’s in the water. Given the centrality and far reach of your position, you will thrive on building and nurturing powerful relationships and being a leader in setting the conditions needed to generate big ideas, navigate complexity and work collectively to bring them to life. You are a systems thinker, a reflective learner and adept at leading alongside others to achieve excellent, priority-aligned outcomes. You are obsessed with ensuring operational congruence between what we say and what we do and energized by prototyping, testing and re-designing new ways of being and doing.

  Work Performed:

  The Director, Operations (D, O) is charged with ensuring the Program’s ways of working are aligned with our mission and strategy, leading in three critical areas:

  1. Culture and Operations: Anytime any of us interacts with a system - be that signing up for a new course, checking in on the progress of an application, getting food at a buffet during an event, or others - we are, consciously or unconsciously asking ourselves “does this match what they’ve been saying? Can I trust this group (to take care of me, with my private information, etc.)?” We’re an organization that builds culture as a pathway to leadership development - it is the most important thing to us that people can take us as our word, that they see us take responsibility for our results & mistakes, and that we are in a practice of communal care. The operations efforts you will manage must reflect this and you must reflect this. The other reality of operations is that when everything goes well and great, hardly any participant notices. We’re going to celebrate the heck out of you when you get it right as a way to disrupt that; and, the vision of excellence here is that the processes, systems, and other operational elements you design and manage are so great that no one notices - because they’re in exact alignment with the culture we’re trying to build.

  1. New Initiatives and Special Projects: You’ve probably already picked up on this, but we have a lot of big ideas! We’re in a fun (to us) space of redesigning the program at all levels so that it matches the audacious vision we have for the leadership development and community of our scholars and alumni. For you, this means there’s going to be a lot of new projects that we’ve never tried before and that we want your help in making it happen and making it happen well; it also means we’re going to get into some ideas and realize they’re not a fit and we need to change direction. It also means while we know you’re going to be tasked with building systems and processes, we don’t have a specific list of all of those systems and processes right now. If that makes you nervous, we’re probably not a fit for you; if you read this, though, and are excited about the dynamism we’re describing and you want to be part of it, we want to get to know you.

  1. Learning and Research: We take what we’re building seriously; we believe it’s really powerful based on our lived experience and what we’re observing already in scholars. It matters to us that we have both the testimony of lived experience and rigorous data and research that speaks to our impact. We want your help to build out the sophisticated systems that would ensure we always know how we’re doing, quantitatively and qualitatively. This might mean building or finding the data and systems that already exist; it might mean recruiting a team of graduate students to do some research; it might mean working with external agencies. In addition to impact, we know we’re going to have some questions that we want thoughtful research to inform our answering of; for example: “Do selection competencies matter in predicting a scholars’ success in our program? And if so, which ones?”

  We recognize that you might read these three areas and be more excited (and experienced) about just one or two. We want you to know you’re going to manage these three areas, but that you have the flexibility to do that directly where it’s in your area of genius and to source external support (like graduate programs, external agencies, etc.) where you’re less experienced. At the end of the day, though, these three things are yours to manage and ensure success.

  Other Things to Know

  The D, O will alternate working at the Program’s Duke and UNC Chapel-Hill offices; we’re flexible about how you rotate between them, and we make agreements as a staff to ensure coverage at both offices across the week.

  The candidate is a senior-level staffer on our team.

  We cannot stress enough that initiative and enthusiasm in working in ambiguous situations is necessary given the emergent nature of the Program’s work and the shifting workloads at certain times of the year.

  Objectives and Deliverables:

  There are three categories of objectives and deliverables: (1) New Initiatives and Special Projects, (2) Learning and Research, and (3) Day-to-Day Operating Systems:

  New Initiatives and Special Projects (35% New)

  • We’ve already shared the dynamism of this role, but it is worth repeating here - there are a lot of new projects and initiatives that will arise and your duties in this realm are emergent and will be agreed upon as they arise

  Learning and Research (15% New)

  • Aid the Executive Director and staff in the research, design, and implementation of selected strategic initiatives
  • Design and administer new and more efficient and effective management processes to support the professional staff
  • Design an effective and efficient program evaluation plan
  • Develop and manage program databases

  Day-to-Day Operating Systems (40% New)

  • Work with the executive director to manage board processes: set the dates and calendar of meetings, craft agenda and all materials, organize event space & food, etc.
  • Build and maintain relationships with high-level partners and organizational stakeholders to further RSLP priorities and establish streamlined processes for strengthening Scholar, Staff and Alumni experience
  • Oversee transportation partnership for operation of Robertson Express
  • Facilitate design and execution of annual Connection Weekend
  • Collaborate with academic officers at Duke and UNC on registration, cross campus courses and programs of study

  • Oversee administrative duties in partnership with Duke and UNC departments, including:
    • Manage the human resource function, including recruiting and hiring, performance reviews, compensation administration, and training and development;
    • Securing and maintaining adequate space and equipment for Program’s needs
    • Lead annual planning process for RSLP’s $8m+ operating budget
    • Craft financial reporting and analysis for internal and external distribution
    • Manage scholarship and stipend disbursements to scholars, ensure all external partner contracting and payments are valid and timely, and create and manage internal expense controls and financial policies
    • Identify and implement innovative internal communications tools and processes

  • Other Team Member Responsibilities- (10% New)
    • Participate fully as a member of the RSLP team as it relates to supporting Scholars, facilitating and hosting events for Robertson Scholars Community, and ensuring we create a thriving community of transformational leaders. This also includes providing guidance and support to individual Scholars as well as hosting office hours.
    • Contribute to enterprise-level planning and strategic reviews.
    • Contribute to the overall operation of RSLP Program, including but not limited to logistical tasks, staffing the UNC and Duke office and other team-wide roles and responsibilities.

  Professional Skills:

  You’re adept at setting vision and direction, determining team-wide priorities and managing others in the development and implementation of critical projects. You facilitate the growth of others and are committed to your own learning. You know how to create project plans and can source your own development in this area. You have working experience with relevant technological systems

  that support you to plan, manage, and execute. You have experience working with external partners - like the wonderful people you’ll meet in the Duke Finance, Human Resources, Registrar, and other offices - to meet the needs of members of our Robertson Scholars community and maintain strong systems. You know how to manage and keep track of an organizational budget and report its movement out to relevant stakeholders, like the board.

  Education:

  We think you’ll probably be best positioned for success if you have at least five years of aligned experience as an organizational change agent, an entrepreneur, a consultant and/or have a graduate degree relevant to this work. Even if you don’t have these credentials, but you think you might be a strong fit for this role based on what we’ve outlined here, we welcome you to apply.

  Disclaimer

  This job description reflects the RSLP’s assignment of essential functions and qualifications of the role. Nothing in this herein restricts management’s right to assign, reassign or eliminate duties and responsibilities to this role at any time.

  Duke is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer committed to providing employment opportunity without regard to an individual's age, color, disability, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran status.

  Duke aspires to create a community built on collaboration, innovation, creativity, and belonging. Our collective success depends on the robust exchange of ideas—an exchange that is best when the rich diversity of our perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences flourishes. To achieve this exchange, it is essential that all members of the community feel secure and welcome, that the contributions of all individuals are respected, and that all voices are heard. All members of our community have a responsibility to uphold these values.

  Essential Physical Job Functions: Certain jobs at Duke University and Duke University Health System may include essentialjob functions that require specific physical and/or mental abilities. Additional information and provision for requests for reasonable accommodation will be provided by each hiring department.

• About the company

  Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina.

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