[Hiring] Skills Ontology and Learning Recognition Project Lead @University of Maryland Global Campus

Role Description

The Skills Ontology and Learning Recognition Project Lead supports implementation of UMGC’s learning-recognition initiative by coordinating the day-to-day work required to operationalize the Director’s skills ontology, translation framework, and related project deliverables. Under the direction of the Skills Ontology and Learning Recognition Director, this role combines strong project-execution skills with working fluency in skills ontology and learning-recognition concepts to translate strategy into work plans, documentation, stakeholder follow-through, and coordinated delivery across academic, technical, and partner teams.

• Maintain the integrated project plan, timelines, milestones, dependency tracking, and action logs for the learning-recognition workstreams.
• Coordinate day-to-day activity across faculty reviewers, subject matter experts, data and interoperability staff, advising, institutional research, Military and Veterans Programs, and other participating units.
• Track progress against deliverables, technical dependencies, and review cycles; escalate risks, delays, or implementation issues to the Director with recommended next steps.
• Support development and maintenance of working crosswalks, evidence tables, standards mappings, and version-controlled records that operationalize the Director’s skills-to-credit strategy.
• Document taxonomy research, standards decisions, architecture and implementation decisions, and process changes so methods remain transparent, auditable, traceable, and reusable.
• Coordinate review cycles, consolidate feedback, and maintain current working materials for project teams, technical contributors, and faculty reviewers.
• Identify, schedule, onboard, and coordinate faculty reviewers and external subject matter experts needed for mapping, policy review, and methodology implementation.
• Manage work plans, meeting schedules, contracts, stipends, and workload documentation in partnership with Academic Affairs, Human Resources, and other administrative offices.
• Prepare materials, agendas, and follow-up items that keep faculty and SMEs aligned on deliverables, review expectations, and deadlines.
• Prepare governance materials, status reports, meeting notes, decision logs, and traceability documentation for internal leadership, partner discussions, and sponsored reporting needs.
• Organize content and documentation supporting reports, toolkit materials, implementation guides, and other dissemination outputs.
• Maintain centralized records of requirements, use cases, approvals, and workflow artifacts, including documentation that supports transparent review of AI-assisted recommendation processes.
• Maintain the project risk register and support mitigation tracking in coordination with the Director and project leadership.
• Monitor personnel and non-personnel expenditures, resource needs, and administrative dependencies related to project operations and faculty engagement.
• Flag emerging issues early and recommend sequencing or resourcing adjustments when timelines, dependencies, or review requirements change.
• Support coordination with partner institutions and ecosystem organizations by scheduling working sessions, documenting requirements, and tracking shared commitments.
• Coordinate logistics and follow-through for demonstrations, pilots, interoperability and standards discussions, schema or data-exchange working sessions, and other cross-institution activities.
• Collaborate with data and interoperability specialists to organize materials related to reusable data structures, standards mappings, APIs, and partner-facing implementation discussions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required; Master's degree in higher education administration, education, workforce development, project management, instructional design, information science, assessment, or a related field preferred.
• Minimum 5–7 years of progressively responsible experience in project or program coordination, academic administration, learning recognition, workforce-aligned education, skills-related initiatives, or a related area.
• Experience managing project plans, workstreams, timelines, documentation, and stakeholder communication across multiple contributors and functional areas.
• Working familiarity with skills taxonomies, ontologies, competency frameworks, prior learning assessment (PLA), credentialing, or structured crosswalks; ability to support subject-matter work without serving as the primary methodological authority.
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate faculty or subject matter expert engagement, including meeting preparation, work-plan management, follow-up, documentation, and review logistics.
• Strong organizational, analytical, and written communication skills, including experience producing status reports, meeting materials, technical documentation, implementation records, and process guides.
• Comfort working with project management tools, shared documentation environments, implementation artifacts, risk tracking, budget/resource monitoring, and transparent decision logs in a cross-functional setting.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting grant-funded initiatives, multi-institution collaborations, or externally sponsored projects.
• Familiarity with military learning evaluation, workforce learning records, digital credentials, interoperability-related initiatives, or standards-mapping work.
• Exposure to AI-assisted recommendation or evaluation workflows, documentation traceability, data governance, or quality assurance practices.
• PMP certification, CAPM, Agile/project coordination training, or comparable experience managing complex project delivery.
• Experience working in partnership with Academic Affairs, faculty governance, sponsored programs, institutional research, assessment functions, or technical/data teams in a university setting.

Benefits

• Generous Time Off: Enjoy 22 days of paid vacation, 15 days of sick leave, 3 personal days, and 16 paid holidays (17 during general election years).
• Comprehensive Health Coverage: Access to health care, medical with vision, dental, and prescription plans for both individuals and families, effective from the 1st of the month following your hire date.
• Insurance Options: Term Life Insurance, Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance, and Long-Term Disability (LTD) Insurance.
• Retirement Stipend: Contingent II employees receive a retirement stipend equal to 7.25 percent of their base salary and are eligible to contribute to a supplemental retirement account (SRA).
• Tuition Remission: CII employees are eligible immediately for Tuition Remission at UMGC or at University of Maryland College Park.

Hiring Range

$105,000.00 - $110,000.00