Senior Programs Manager

The Senior Programs Manager organizes the Academy of American Poets’s live events, prizes, and work with the Board of Chancellors Poets Laureate Fellows, and Poetry Coalition.

Responsibilities:

• Organize live and online programming and events, including Chancellors Readings, Blaney lecture, and other special celebrations of poets—including curating, facilitating Q&As, handling logistics, serving as contact person for poets, venues, and other outside partners, and introduce some events
• Help lead weekly cross-departmental meetings of online programs team to prepare season
• Coordinate promotional deadlines with Marketing and Communications Manager on all event promotion
• Lead programmatic collaborations with other organizations
• Lead social media that promotes registrations, working with Marketing staff
• Lead the administration of twelve major awards: processing submissions; reviewing applications; coordinating nominating and voting; supervising readers; corresponding with entrants, judges, publishers, and donors
• Make final determinations as to prize eligibility in consultation with Executive Director as needed
• Oversee administration of University & College Poetry Prize Program: corresponding with donors and school sponsors, distributing contest materials and supervising uploading of winners materials to Poets.org
• Collect materials on all award winners and pass them on to content staff and membership
• Ensure that guidelines for all awards are up-to-date annually
• Ensure that prize winners and judges’ biographies are up-to-date on Poets.org (Academy page and the poets’ pages)
• Coordinate with Marketing and Content teams regarding social media about prize-winners
• Work with the Development Director to ensure Academy members receive prize-winning books, posting the winners’ poems online in coordination with content team
• Liaise with Chancellors and help plan and lead the annual Chancellors meeting
• Lead social media about Chancellors
• Ensure that present and past Chancellor pages on Poets.org are updated
• Coordinate with Content team to facilitate Chancellors’ participation in the Dear Poet project
• Lead planning for and facilitating Poetry Coalition meetings and programs
• Maintain Poetry Coalition pages on Poets.org Post about Poetry Coalition members on social media
• Lead the Poetry Coalition fellows pilot program and mentor fellows
• Attend Board Committee meetings as appropriate
• Respond to phone, email, and written queries about the awards and events
• Other duties as assigned

Qualifications and Competencies

• 5+ years of professional programs experience
• Demonstrated passion for poets and poetry and connection to the literary field
• Expert project management skills and ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines
• Experience with Submittable, Microsoft Office suite, Google applications, email communication platforms; Salesforce a plus
• Excellent organizational, communication, writing, and interpersonal skills
• A passion for poetry; familiarity with the arts field and poetry community, a plus

Classification: Exempt

Supervisor: Executive Director

Location: New York, NY

Compensation: $68,000–$72,000, with benefits

To apply, email your cover letter and resume as one PDF to careers@poets, with the job title and your last name in the subject line.

About the Academy of American Poets

Founded in 1934, the Academy of American Poets is the nation’s leading champion of poets and poetry with supporters in all fifty states. Its mission is to support American poets at all stages of their careers and to foster the appreciation of contemporary poetry.

The organization annually awards a total of $1.3 million to poets at various stages of their careers. The organization also produces Poets.org, the world’s largest publicly-funded website for poets and poetry; established and organizes National Poetry Month each April; publishes the popular Poem-a-Day series and American Poets magazine; provides award-winning resources to K–12 educators, including the Teach This Poem series; hosts an annual series of poetry readings, literary seminars, and special events; and coordinates a national Poetry Coalition working to promote the value poets bring to our culture. Taken together, the Academy reaches more than 18 million individuals anually.

In addition to its mission, the Academy staff is guided by the organization’s values, which include anti-racism, collaboration, diversity, equity, inclusion, innovation, and leadership.

The Academy of American Poets is based in New York, NY.

ANTI-DISCRIMINATION: The Academy of American Poets is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to building a diverse and inclusive staff. Qualified candidates of all backgrounds are welcome to apply. The Academy of American Poets does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of religion, race, creed, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender expression, or any other characteristics protected by law. Candidates of color are strongly encouraged to apply.