(Hybrid) Program Manager - Institute for Community and Rural Health

The Institute for Community and Rural Health at West Virginia University Research Corporation is currently accepting applications for a (Hybrid) Program Manager.

About the Opportunity

The WVU Institute for Community & Rural Health serves communities and students to cultivate the health and wellbeing of rural West Virginians. As part of new efforts to integrate communities, agriculture and health, the Institute is excited to launch recruitment for new team members to support food system development and community transformation in Central Appalachia. These positions are supported by the United States Department of Agriculture - Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access cooperative agreement, titled Working Lands of Central Appalachia.

We are seeking a highly skilled and strategic Program Manager to oversee a diverse portfolio of projects and programs aligned with the organization's strategic objectives. This role requires a leader with strong cross-functional coordination skills, financial acumen, and the ability to manage complex interdependencies while driving program execution, prioritization, and alignment with business goals. The Program Manager supports program and project management, stakeholder communication, marketing, and supporting the development of project deliverables.

At WVU Research Corporation, we strongly believe in work-life balance and keeping time for things we love outside our work. WVU Research Corporation offers a comprehensive benefits package with a variety of options to suit your needs:

• 13 paid holidays (staff holiday calendar)
• Paid Time off (PTO)
• 403(b) retirement savings with a fully vested 3% employee contribution match, (Employees have the option of contributing an additional 1-3% of their earnings to the plan, which is also matched by the WVURC)
• A range of health insurance and other benefits
• Dependent Education Scholarship
• WVU Perks

What You'll Do

• Portfolio Oversight: Lead the planning, execution, and tracking of a portfolio programs and projects to ensure alignment with strategic priorities.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Serve as the primary liaison between business units, project teams, and executive leadership to communicate portfolio performance, risks, and strategic alignment.
• Governance & Reporting: Establish and maintain governance frameworks, ensuring regular reporting on portfolio status, KPIs, and resource allocation.
• Risk Management: Identify, evaluate, and mitigate risks across the portfolio; develop contingency and communication plans.
• Resource Management: Coordinate with functional leads to ensure proper resourcing, capability development, and workload balancing across projects.
• Budget Management: Oversee budget planning, tracking, and financial forecasting across the portfolio.
• Continuous Improvement: Implement best practices and process improvements to enhance program delivery and value realization.

• Bachelor degree in business, communication, public health or related field.
• A minimum of three (3) years of experience in the following:
  
  
  
  • Project/program management.
  
  
  
  
• At least one (1) year of business management experience (e.g. budgeting, operations, finance, multi-project coordination) and familiarity with Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK) standards
• Any equivalent combination of related education and/or experience will be considered.
• All qualifications must be met by time of employment

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Project and budget management and grant administration from startup through close-down and reporting.
• Strong time management and organizational abilities for completing detailed administrative, communications, and other assigned tasks.
• Demonstrated writing skills (English fluency) for published content designed for a variety of audiences and mediums, proposal preparation, reporting and other assigned tasks.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills to work with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders and communities.
• Takes initiative, self-starter, self-directed, and the ability to work effectively in a team.
• Ability to meet deadlines and manage multiple concurrent tasks.
• Ability to learn new policies, procedures, and the language of contracts and compliance.
• Knowledge of or ability to learn web development software.
• Skilled using Microsoft 365 suite software, including Office, SharePoint, Teams, Excel, Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Planner or similar project management software (e.g. Asana or MONDAY).
• Ability and willingness to travel statewide, with occasional overnight or out-of-state travel.
• Strong strategic thinking and organizational agility
• Exceptional communication and stakeholder management
• Proficiency with portfolio management tools (e.g., Microsoft Project, Smartsheet, Jira, or similar)
• Financial and analytical skills to manage budgets and assess ROI
• Ability to lead cross-functional teams and influence without direct authority

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master's degree in public health, health planning, health administration, communications, psychology, or social work.
• Three (3) years in portfolio management or enterprise level program leadership
• Proficient in quantitative and qualitative research methods and data analysis.
• Proficient in data collection and analysis tools such as REDCap, Qualtrics, NVivo, Excel, R,SAS or SPSS.
• Demonstrated ability to produce dissemination products such as reports, abstracts, infographics, presentations, and/or publication

• Project Management Professional (PMP) certification or Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) certification preferred.

The WVURC was created as a not-for-profit corporation in 1985 to support research (R1) at West Virginia University. We provide evaluation, development, patenting, management, and marketing services for inventions of the faculty, staff and students of the University.

The WVURC receives and administers funds awarded by external agencies for research and other activities and is responsible for helping protect intellectual property through patents, copyrights and licensing agreements for start-up companies based on University research.

West Virginia University Research Corporation is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We invite all qualified applicants regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, or Veteran status.