Role Overview

The primary mission of the Program Manager, Inclusive Excellence (IE) is to ensure that Merit America is equitable in how we work and serve learners. This role will build the data systems that reveal gaps, deliver the learning programs that build capability, and manage the initiatives that close disparities for both learners and staff.

This role reports to the Director of Inclusive Excellence. You'll spend roughly 70-80% of your time executing IE strategy (data analysis, program management, mitigating bias across our systems) and 20-30% partnering with the Director of Learning & People Experience (LPE) on work that touches staff learning and development.

Responsibilities

The responsibilities of the Program Manager, IE will include, but are not limited to, the following:

Execute Programs and Initiatives That Close Gaps (35%)

• Manage end-to-end execution of IE initiatives, including pilots, resource mapping, and affinity group (AG) infrastructure
• Design and run experiments testing interventions to close staff and learner gaps (retention supports, hiring improvements, AG development)
• Document key learnings from our 2026 IE plan, synthesizing insights and recommending what to scale, iterate, or sunset
• Create operational tools and frameworks that embed equitable practices into workflows: toolkits, inclusive facilitation guides, and policy templates
• Expand Merit America's capacity to serve economically-disadvantaged communities through increasing staff literacy of current research, benchmarking and resources
• Track progress against quarterly goals and provide updates to the Director and key stakeholders

Design Learning Experiences (Up to 30%)

Partner directly with the Director of Learning & People Experience to:

• Design and deliver learning programs that build highest-impact skills for our remote workforce, including ongoing support content for staff who have completed internal training programs
• Create opportunities to engage staff members in cultural conversations, guided self‑reflection, and intentional practice related to the experiences of learners, coworkers, and people Merit America is looking to serve.
• Create accessible and actionable training materials such as slide decks, facilitation guides, workbooks, and follow up resources for staff at all levels
• Facilitate live learning sessions with diverse staff groups, creating inclusive spaces for skill-building and dialogue
• Equip managers with practical tools for navigating pushback, building buy‑in, and sustaining behavior change over time.
• Evaluate training effectiveness through assessments, feedback, and observable behavior change

Build Data Systems That Drive Inclusive Excellence (25%)

• Build and maintain clear IE metric reporting by creating dashboards and consolidated views that bring together learner outcomes, staff sentiment, and retention data from existing systems.
• Conduct quantitative and qualitative analyses to identify any gaps in staff and learner experiences, surface root causes, and pinpoint intervention opportunities
• Track and report on IE OKRs, partnering with POPs and Data teams to centralize metrics and surface insights needing attention.
• Assist the People Team in analyzing staff equity in People practices (e.g. performance reviews, promotions, compensation)

Partner Across Teams to Embed Inclusive Excellence (15%)

• Promote IE in hiring, people practices, and learner-facing programs, ensuring that processes reflect the experiences of Merit America learners
• Serve as the primary IE point of contact for all teams across Merit America, providing consultation and guidance on equity-related questions and initiatives
• Enable inclusive excellence audits and assessments of systems, policies, and processes with concrete recommendations
• Collaborate with Program team on learner experience improvements, and retention interventions
• Coordinate operational functions for Affinity Groups: manage stipends, coordinate overall events schedule, synthesize feedback, and ensure AGs have data and resources to advise on organizational priorities

Skills and Competencies

We recognize that some individuals from underrepresented backgrounds may hesitate to apply if they don't meet 100% of the listed qualifications. Please don't let that discourage you from applying! We value the unique skills, experiences, and perspectives that each applicant brings, and we encourage you to apply if you believe your background demonstrates the required skills and competencies.

Must-haves for all roles at Merit America:

• Committed to Merit America's mission to pave pathways to family-sustaining careers, break the poverty cycle, and create upward mobility for low-wage workers
• Demonstrated history of embodying our values, which inform our work and drive our organization's culture
• Shared sense of responsibility and ownership for our collective work in making a positive impact on the community we support, true to our value of Win & Lose Together
• Committed to continuous learning and growth in advancing inclusive excellence and closing gaps across lines of difference
• Passionate about fostering a workplace culture that embraces and values individual differences, aligned with our core value of inclusive excellence.inclusivity

Must-haves for this role:

Program & Project Management

• Experience managing individual IE projects and developing detailed project plans with clear objectives and deliverables
• Ability to coordinate IE activities across departments and facilitate collaboration between diverse teams

Inclusive Excellence Strategy & Execution

• Applied an inclusive lens to core business strategy, shaping policies, programs, or learner products
• Ability to handle confidential information with discretion
• Contributed meaningfully to psychological safety, engagement, and measurable outcomes in a business setting

Data Analysis & Impact Measurement

• Proven ability to synthesize data from multiple sources and turn quantitative and qualitative findings into clear, actionable insights
• Strong skills in Excel/Google Sheets, survey design and analysis, and data visualization
• Experience creating user-friendly dashboards that make complex information easy to understand and act on

Learning Design & Facilitation

• Passion and savvy for developing and delivering asynchronous IE learning modules
• Facilitated learning experiences that guide conversations, increase self-awareness, build community, and drive commitment to positive organizational outcomes

Nice to Haves:

• Change Management: Experience guiding managers and teams through organizational or culture change, with specific examples of how you helped people adapt to new expectations or practices
• Affinity Group/ERG Experience: Prior experience enabling employee resource groups, affinity groups, or peer communities so they feel resourced, heard, and connected to decision-making
• Technical Skills: Experience working with SQL, APIs, or databases to extract and analyze people data, uncovering patterns that shaped equity strategy
• Manager Enablement: Experience equipping leaders with practical tools for navigating pushback, building buy-in, and sustaining behavior change over time

Other Logistics

• This position is full-time: 4-day work week (Fridays are an operating day if there is a holiday closure during the week)
• Location: Remote
• Salary: $96,650.00
• Priority Deadline: Wednesday, February 18th

Our goal is to have competitive and equitable compensation. We have a market-based compensation approach, which means we benchmark each role from reputable data sources. We compare our benchmarks against similarly sized non-profit organizations with comparable annual budgets and