[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. 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.
• 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.

Requirements

• 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: 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.
• Insurance Options: Term Life Insurance, Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance, and Long-Term Disability (LTD) Insurance.
• Retirement Stipend: Equal to 7.25 percent of base salary and eligibility to contribute to a supplemental retirement account (SRA).
• Tuition Remission: Eligible immediately for Tuition Remission at UMGC or at University of Maryland College Park.