PRISM & Community Engagement Manager

The Office of Postdoctoral Affairs (OPA) is a fast-moving, agile office that administers and supports the more than 2,400 postdocs on campus. OPA is a nationally leading postdoc office and seeks to provide the best service to its constituents – postdocs, faculty, and departmental administrators. Through close working relationships throughout the University, the Recruitment & Engagement Programs Manager will inform and support equitable recruitment and hiring practices, foster belonging, and better enable postdocs, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds, to thrive.

The Recruitment & Engagement Programs Manager will steward and implement OPA’s novel postdoc recruitment program, PRISM. The Postdoc Recruitment Initiative in Sciences and Medicine (PRISM) is a university-wide initiative in its 7th year that is meant to attract graduate students who might not otherwise consider postdoctoral training at Stanford. The program provides an opportunity to visit Stanford, interview interested faculty, meet current postdoctoral scholars, and receive training and coaching from OPA staff. Nearly a quarter of the underrepresented minority postdoctoral scholars currently at Stanford came through PRISM, and the program is poised for expansion. The person in this role will have the opportunity to contribute a new perspective as they work in conjunction with the Director of Postdoctoral Training to manage and iterate all aspects of this critical initiative, including but not limited to: advertising and program communications, logistical implementation, and financial management, overall process/program evaluation and improvement, working with faculty and administrators, coaching potential recruits, and building and supporting community for PRISM postdocs while they are at Stanford. Similarly, the Recruitment & Engagement Programs Manager will manage and execute other programmatic initiatives designed to support the recruitment and engagement of postdoctoral scholars, including but not limited to the PRISM Baker fellowship and the Postdoc Travel Awards, both of which provide financial support for the professional and career development of postdoctoral scholars.

The Recruitment & Engagement Programs Manager will also serve as our community engagement liaison: the administrative advisor for postdoc groups and communities, including the Stanford Black Postdoc Association, the Stanford Latinx Postdoc Association, LGBTQ+ Postdocs, the Chinese Postdoc Association, and other communities and groups, both extant and nascent. OPA is responsible for overseeing postdoc groups on behalf of the university, which entails keeping abreast of current policy and interpreting it for postdoc groups, providing education on policy and practices, and providing administrative support to enable these communities to serve their postdoc constituents. This important community organizer and advisor role is key to OPA’s goals of supporting postdocs’ thriving at Stanford and developing relationships especially with postdoc leaders to maintain OPA’s visibility and accessibility to postdocs.

Additionally, the Recruitment & Engagement Programs Manager will work closely with the rest of the programs team to co-develop and engage in cross-team collaboration on event management, program evaluation, best practices research, program communications, marketing strategy, and partnerships to support our team’s goals and values, as we work together to devise, implement, and support new approaches to postdoctoral training, recruitment, retention, and advancement. The OPA programs team is highly mission-driven and takes great pride in our competence and service-mindedness. The ideal candidate should be a highly organized self-starter, comfortable with autonomy, and able to embrace opportunities to tackle new problems and challenges as part of this dynamic team. A commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging is fundamental to the role.

This position will be based on the Stanford campus and will be considered for an option of telecommuting from the Bay Area (hybrid of working 2-3 days on-site), subject to operational need.

Core Duties

• Independently implement, administer and evaluate day-to-day activities of the unit, function or program by identifying and executing tasks and objectives, making recommendations that impact policies and programs, and assigning resources to achieve the goals of the program.
• Collect and analyze data, create reports, review and explain trends; formulate and evaluate alternative solutions and/or recommendations to achieve the goals of the program or function.
• Analyze and interpret policies; develop, revise and implement procedures for program or function
• Represent the program or function as the key contact and subject matter expert within the department, unit or school. Commit resources and provide information and/or training. May also represent the program or function to external/internal stakeholders and constituencies.
• Organize and/or participate in outreach activities that may include developing communications and training, planning/promoting events and/or conferences.
• May participate in the development of budgets, monitor, and approve expenditures. May perform limited forecasting and provide recommendations that determine the budget.
• May direct staff to perform various tasks and assignments. May also supervise staff.