Skills Ontology and Learning Recognition Project Lead

Skills Ontology and Learning Recognition Project Lead

Office of Registrar

Exempt, Contingent II, Full Time, Pay Grade 3.4

Job location: Stateside Remote

This (role) role is funded through a grant from The Gates Foundation. The grant lasts 2 years and funding for this role is tied to that grant. In addition, this role will be responsible for the execution and delivery of grant project initiatives, working collaboratively with cross-functional teams to align these projects with the university's broader strategic goals.

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.

Working closely with the Director, faculty subject matter experts, data and interoperability specialists, and participating partner institutions, the Project Lead maintains project momentum, organizes cross-functional workstreams, supports crosswalks, standards mappings, and implementation documentation, and helps ensure that UMGC’s learning-recognition approach is implemented consistently and transparently, with clear traceability and on schedule.

Project Planning & Workstream Coordination

• 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.

Skills Mapping Operations & Documentation

• 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.

Faculty & SME Engagement Logistics

• 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.

Governance, Reporting & Communications

• 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.

Risk, Budget & Resource Tracking

• 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.

Partner & Pilot Coordination

• 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.

• Other Duties as assigned

Minimum 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.

All submissions should include a cover letter and resume.

The University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) is an equal opportunity employer and complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination. UMGC is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, ancestry, political affiliation or veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions.

Workplace Accommodations:

The University of Maryland Global Campus Global Campus (UMGC) is committed to creating and maintaining a welcoming and inclusive working environment for people of all abilities. UMG