Director, Programs and Impact

The hotel and lodging industry is vibrant, innovative, and full of dynamic opportunities for upward mobility while serving and supporting its most important assets: its people. The AHLA Foundation works to inspire, support, and advance the people who make this industry strong. By connecting employees, employers, and their communities, we seek to continuously nurture a culture of professional growth and belonging. The Foundation is a dynamic, entrepreneurial organization poised for growth. The Director would join a nimble, collaborative team passionate about elevating the hotel workforce.

Position Summary

The AHLA Foundation is seeking a Director of Programs and Impact. This position will report to the Vice President, Programs and Impact and will be responsible for driving strategic implementation, communications, and continuous improvement of the AHLA Foundation’s workforce initiatives. This position will focus on ensuring that the delivery of these programs matches stakeholder needs and resources with maximum impact for the industry’s workforce development efforts. Maintaining strong relationships with internal and external partners, the Director will demonstrate creativity and resourcefulness to identify and secure the necessary internal and external resources to ensure efficient and effective execution of all AHLA Foundation workforce development initiatives. This includes customized training for the hotel industry, nonprofit and government partnerships, regional workforce development programs, and professional/career training programs. This is a management position with multiple direct reports.

The hotel and lodging industry is vibrant, innovative, and full of dynamic opportunities for upward mobility while serving and supporting its most important assets: its people. The AHLA Foundation works to inspire, support, and advance the people who make this industry strong. By connecting employees, employers, and their communities, we seek to continuously nurture a culture of professional growth and belonging. The Foundation is a dynamic, entrepreneurial organization poised for growth. The Director would join a nimble, collaborative team passionate about elevating the hotel workforce.

Responsibilities:

Program & Team Management

• Oversees program management of workforce initiatives to ensure alignment with strategic objectives and available resources across multiple program areas.
• Identify, manage, and expand relationships with external program delivery partners.
• Develop and manage relationships with vendors and partners as relevant for program development and delivery.
• Manage cross-functional team members to ensure effective program delivery, to include personnel assignments, team processes, and efficient cross-functional collaboration.
• Manage program budgets, monitoring and evaluation plans, program deliverables aligned with funding, and appropriately “manage up” necessary decision points and action items for leadership.
• Drive implementation of projects designed with leadership to ensure timely and strategic delivery of programs.
• Provide programmatic content to support Foundation fundraising and development, including but not limited to grant proposals.

Strategy and Measurement

• Collaborate with the Vice President of Programs and Impact in the strategic planning and development of workforce initiatives to create and retain a pool of qualified candidates for the lodging industry.
• Collaborate across teams and departments to drive timely and accurate reporting as required by diverse funding sources.
• Help to design effective measures and processes for monitoring and evaluation focused on impact across Foundation programs.
• Ensure consistency and accuracy of communications materials related to workforce initiative programs across various distribution channels (print, social media, website, presentations, etc.). Includes continuous development of success stories and other qualitative content to demonstrate program impact.
• Serve as external liaison and representative on behalf of Foundation where relevant and appropriate.
• Serve as support to staff liaisons of the relevant Foundation and member committees, including meeting facilitation, speaker identification, and agenda setting, and logistical support as needed.

Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree or related experience, master’s degree preferred.
• 7-10 years of experience in workforce development and grantmaking experience required, hospitality industry experience a plus.
• Experience managing 2-5 employees.
• Proven project management experience - including management of multiple projects simultaneously - and familiarity with program monitoring and evaluation.

Skills and Attributes

• Computer and software literacy, including Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook), and CRMs – Salesforce preferred.
• The ability to source, analyze, and report on data, including presenting organized themes and findings to leadership team.
• Exercise daily problem solving and strategic decision-making.
• Positive attitude with customer service orientation and willingness to be flexible to adapt to changing needs and "roll up shirtsleeves" to get the work done.
• Proven communication skills, both written and verbal, with an ability to clearly articulate program impact and outcomes to connect with participants, stakeholders, and funders.
• Excellent relationship management skills.
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively across the organization, while maintaining attention to detail and “managing up” effectively.
• Ability to work under pressure, meeting key deliverable and reporting deadlines.
• Strong strategic thinking skills with an ability to identify challenges and opportunities to meet organizational, program participant, and both funder and industry needs.

Other:

• Position based in the Washington DC area.
• Travel required (10-25%).
• Rotating hybrid work schedule: In-office Tues-Thurs and Mon-Thurs every other week.
• Salary: $90,000-$110,000

AHLA is an equal opportunity employer. We encourage you to apply even if your experience is not a 100% match with the position. We are looking for someone with relevant skills and experience, not a checklist that exactly matches the job description. We want to help you grow and in return, you help us grow into a stronger, more inclusive organization. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

Interested applicants can apply here.