Assistant Director, Procurement Excellence Network
Remote
Full Time
Senior Manager/Supervisor
Thank you for your interest in working at Partners for Public Good. To apply for this position, please complete and submit all information in this form. The deadline to apply is May 6. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis.
Assistant Director, Procurement Excellence Network
Location: Flexible within the U.S. but requires access to a major U.S. airport for travel.Position Type: Full-time
About Us
At Partners for Public Good, we believe that when government works, communities thrive. Launched in March 2025, we are a fast-growing nonprofit dedicated to helping state and local governments harness core operational functions – procurement, staffing, digital infrastructure, and budgeting – to drive public impact. Our journey began in 2011 at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Government Performance Lab, where we set out to transform public procurement. Since then, we’ve worked with hundreds of governments across the country to make their procurement systems more efficient, fair, results-driven, and strategic. In 2022, we launched the Procurement Excellence Network, putting our tools and strategies in the hands of over two thousand public servants.
Today, our team of doers, coaches, and advisors partners with governments to create lasting, impactful change. Our vision is simple: every resident has a government they can count on, every day.
Position Overview
The Procurement Excellence Network (PEN) is a free, online community for public sector leaders seeking to transform their jurisdiction’s procurement practices. PEN offers virtual trainings, tools, templates, and coaching, while building peer connections for leaders as they launch efforts to make procurement more strategic, fair, and innovative. PEN has over 2,500 members, representing 850+ governments across the U.S., Canada, and Latin America.Reporting to the Director of the Procurement Excellence Network, the Assistant Director of PEN will play a pivotal role in empowering and inspiring public sector leaders to implement operational reforms. This position will oversee and manage daily activities of the network, including supervising a team working on communications, member engagement, recruitment, training, and resource development, and will also spearhead identifying and launching new initiatives.
This role presents a unique opportunity to lead PPG’s flagship effort to scale and spread best practices, equipping local, state, and federal procurement changemakers with essential skills and best practice frameworks. The Assistant Director will play a key role in building on the early success of the Procurement Excellence Network, while expanding PEN’s impact.
This position is grant-funded. Employment is contingent on continuation of funds and organizational needs, at PPG’s sole discretion.
Key Responsibilities
- Project Leadership
- Lead day-to-day management of PEN, enabling PEN to produce measurable and meaningful impacts for participating governments.
- Collaborate with PPG leadership to design specific offerings for PEN members (e.g., webinars, roundtables, toolkits, publications, sprints), including leveraging project insights from other PPG program teams. Design and implement strategies to drive increased member engagement.
- Manage teams of Project Leaders and Associates as they design and deliver offerings for PEN members. Ensure projects, events, and written deliverables meet key milestones and effectively apply PPG’s best practice toolkit.
- With team, regularly track and review data to assess the impact of PEN, evaluate strategies deployed, and course correct as necessary. Capture, package, and disseminate knowledge shared within PEN.
- Oversee development of external facing tools, templates, publications, and other written and visual materials. Set a standard for quality and narrative tone in external-facing collateral and coach team to implement that standard. Serve as a final reviewer on all external deliverables.
- People Management:
- Lead, manage, and develop a team of high-performing Project Leaders, Associates, and membership coordinators, fostering a culture of excellence, collaboration, and professional growth.
- Train staff in core PPG capabilities, including analytical thinking, project management, stakeholder management, and communications. Support staff in growing their procurement expertise by designing learning opportunities.
- Stakeholder Management and Business Development:
- Cultivate and maintain strategic partnerships with senior government officials, policymakers, peer organizations, and other external stakeholders to sustain and expand PPG’s impact, including advising on procurement challenges, and delivering positive interactions with PEN.
- Scope opportunities to deepen collaboration with highly engaged governments and peer organizations. Lead and participate in proposal writing, fundraising, and stakeholder engagement efforts.
- Represent PPG externally at conferences, industry forums, and networking events.
- Support leadership in drafting PEN impact reports to funders.
- Organizational Leadership
- Collaborate closely with senior leadership to shape organizational strategy.
- Lead and support resource planning and continuous improvement initiatives.
- Positively shape organizational culture, promoting equity, transparency, and accountability across all PPG operations
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree required. Graduate degree in relevant field preferred. Equivalent years of professional experience will be considered in lieu of formal education.
- Five or more years of experience in organizing and managing virtual best-practice networks, government programs, or related projects.
- At least two years of people management experience, with previous success in coaching and mentoring direct reports.
- Ability to manage a long-range strategic vision for a portfolio, while staying engaged with day-to-day implementation.
- Strong demonstrated track record of independently structuring work, driving significant project progress, managing multiple workstreams, and engaging with clients.
- Willingness to travel approximately two to three days per month.
Additional Qualifications
- Direct knowledge of public sector procurement best practices, including RFP writing, procurement processes, strategies to expand vendor pools, and contract management techniques.
- Prior work building networks, convenings, or communities of practice that are aimed at supporting members to advance a specific goal, or designing collaborative learning opportunities (such as webinars, conference sessions, or cohorts).
- Understanding of the unique capacity needs of public sector leaders and challenges faced in project delivery and operations, which may include direct experience working in local, state, or federal government, procurement and contracting, or public policy.
- Experience conceptualizing, structuring, and delivering trainings, tools, publications, and projects that result in meaningful improvements.
- Excellent writing and editing skills, as well as strong public speaking and verbal communication of complex ideas.
- High level of competency with computer programs including word processing, Excel, PowerPoint, Zoom, and collaborative tools such as Microsoft OneDrive.
Additional Information
Compensation & Benefits: The salary for this role is $135,000 plus benefits. PPG offers a comprehensive and competitive benefits package designed to support the well-being of our team members and their families. Benefits include healthcare coverage with an employer contribution, paid time off, employer matched retirement plan, and parental leave.
Physical Demands: This position requires sitting, talking, listening, reading, and writing for up to 8 hours per day. Certain situations may require lifting items up to 20 pounds. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential job duties.
Start date: The desired start date for this role is June or July 2025. This role is funded through February 2027, with the possibility of extension.
Commitment to Equal Employment Opportunity
Partners for Public Good is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
Partners for Public Good is committed to the inclusion of all qualified individuals in the hiring process, including but not limited to those with disabilities. If you require reasonable accommodation(s) to participate in the application or interview process, please contact [email protected].
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