Job Title

Operations Lead, IVLP (Hybrid)

Organizational Unit

IIE Organization -> IIE US -> Intl Visitor Leader Program

Schedule

Full Time

Education

Bachelor's Degree

Location

Washington DC - Washington, DC 20005 US (Primary)

Travel

10 to 25%

Job Description

Job Summary

The International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) is the U.S. Department of State's premier professional exchange program. Through short-term visits to the United States, current and emerging foreign leaders in a variety of fields experience this country firsthand and cultivate lasting relationships with their American counterparts. Projects typically last three weeks and are designed around a specific topic, with participants beginning in Washington, DC and traveling to several communities across the United States. Each project includes participants from one or multiple countries and supports U.S. foreign policy objectives through customized professional exchanges.

The Operations Lead, IVLP, provides financial, logistical, and administrative leadership in support of IVLP project implementation while directly supervising a small. The Operations Lead oversees the development and execution of operational processes related to project logistics, travel, financial administration, participant support, vendor management, and data management in adherence with sponsor, local government, and organizational guidelines. The role serves as the primary leader for the coordination function, ensuring high-quality operational support across all projects while fostering collaboration across the IVLP team. The Operations Lead also performs day-to-day coordination responsibilities, provides guidance on complex operational issues, supports staff development, and promotes continuous process improvement across the team.

THIS POSITION IS CONTINGENT ON FUNDING

Essential Functions:

• Oversees and performs the preparation of financial and program documents using organizational and sponsor databases; ensures participant, financial, and project data are maintained accurately and in accordance with established procedures.
• Coordinates with hotels, restaurants, transportation providers, and other vendors regarding rates, reservations, event management, procurement, and invoice processing.
• Makes formal presentations to IVLP participants regarding financial, logistical, and administrative aspects of projects and ensures compliance with program requirements.
• Communicates program policies, procedures, and operational guidance to internal and external stakeholders.
• Troubleshoots and resolves logistical, financial, travel, participant support, and emergency-related issues.
• Provides direct supervision, leadership, and performance management for a small team.
• Conducts regular one-on-one meetings, performance evaluations, and professional development conversations with their team.
• Distributes workloads and monitors team capacity to ensure timely and accurate project support across all assigned projects.
• Reviews operational processes, deliverables, financial transactions, travel arrangements, and project documentation to ensure quality and compliance.
• Serves as the primary escalation point for complex logistical, financial, travel, vendor, and participant support issues. Also gives guidance to their team on managing operational systems, reporting, data integrity, and process improvement initiatives.
• Collaborates closely across the IVLP team to ensure they are working effectively together, responsibilities are appropriately aligned, workloads are balanced, and projects receive the operational support required for successful implementation.
• Provides operational updates, staffing insights, risk assessments, and recommendations to department leadership.

Job Requirements

Qualifications and Experience

Education and Work Experience:

• Requires a Bachelor's degree and at least five years of related work experience, or combination education and experience.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Managerial experience preferred.
• Experience in projects and tasks involving complex details which require well-developed organizational, time-management and administrative skills.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both oral and written. Ability to read and interpret documents such as contracts, policy and procedure manuals and write complex reports and correspondence.
• Ability to interact with all levels of staff and external contacts; sensitive to cultural differences when working with people from other cultures.
• Ability to resolve conflict/challenging situations that may arise before and during the program to ensure the most viable solution for the participants, U.S. Department of State and IIE.
• Ability to easily adapt to changing organizational, program and sponsor needs and a fast-paced work environment; work independently without close supervision and as part of a team.
• Ability to work effectively under pressure of deadlines.
• Familiarity with general office administration, information management systems, government contract compliance, including OMB super circular, budgeting and budget monitoring.
• Proficiency with MS Office applications including Word, Excel and Outlook.
• Willingness and availability to travel within the United States.
• Excellent presentation and delivery skills.

Salary and Benefits:

• Hiring Range: $90,508 - $107,319. A candidate's starting salary is determined by various factors including, but not limited to, relevant work experience, job-related knowledge, skills, abilities, internal organizational equity, and geographic region.
• IIE offers a robust suite of benefits to team members including medical, dental, and vision plans, paid time off and holidays, student loan, tuition and professional development reimbursement programs, retirement plans and family medical leave benefits. Please visit our careers page for further details.

The Institute of International Education (IIE) offers a flexible hybrid work environment which leverages both office work and telework.

Work Conditions & Physical Demands:
Essential functions are performed in a general office setting with low noise. Job demands may require long periods of sitting; telephone work and/or computer work, as well as interactions with other team members and external stakeholders. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.