Academic Portfolio Manager

Salary Range: $55,000.00 To $65,000.00 Annually POSITION SUMMARY : The Academic Portfolio Manager provides the research, analysis, tracking, and coordination needed to support evidence-informed academic portfolio decisions at Post University. Reporting to the Director of Academic Pathways & Credential Strategy, this role maintains a consolidated view of existing academic offerings and emerging opportunities; conducts and coordinates market, competitor, learner, workforce, and institutional research; supports feasibility and portfolio analyses; and monitors approved initiatives from evaluation through implementation and ongoing review. The Academic Portfolio Manager translates multiple sources of information into clear portfolio insights, decision-ready materials, and reliable leadership reporting. The role supports the intentional management and optimization of the University’s portfolio of degrees, certificates, concentrations, pathways, micro credentials, and other academic offerings. This is an individual contributor role with cross-functional coordination responsibilities. The Academic Portfolio Manager does not independently set academic strategy, approve or discontinue academic offerings, make curriculum or faculty decisions, or interpret accreditation or regulatory requirements on behalf of the University. Strategic direction, academic decision-making, accreditation and compliance determinations, and governance remain the responsibility of established institutional leaders and offices. This position is remote-friendly, but the individual is expected to be on campus regularly and available for on-campus events and special occasions as needed. ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS 1. Academic Portfolio Analysis and Optimization Maintain a consolidated view of Post University’s academic portfolio across degrees, certificates, concentrations, pathways, microcredentials, and other academic offerings. Analyze portfolio mix, alignment, duplication, gaps, performance, strategic fit, and opportunities for growth, revision, consolidation, or discontinuation. Organize and synthesize institutional, market, learner, workforce, financial, and performance information to support portfolio reviews and recommendations. Partner with Academic Quality and Assessment (AQA), Enrollment, Finance, Career Development, and other functional owners to bring relevant academic quality, program-performance, market, learner, workforce, financial, and operational information into portfolio analysis. Partner with Deans and academic leadership to identify, clarify, and develop emerging academic opportunities, including new programs, credentials, pathways, partnerships, and modifications to existing offerings. Translate academic concepts and school-level priorities into structured opportunity records, research plans, feasibility analyses, and decision-ready materials for institutional consideration. Apply approved portfolio criteria to help compare opportunities and inform decisions about what to pursue, sequence, scale, revise, pause, or sunset. 2. Opportunity Research and Feasibility Support Conduct and coordinate research for new and existing academic opportunities, including market demand, competitor offerings, learner needs, workforce trends, pricing, modality, internal performance, and institutional capacity. Identify potential accreditation, regulatory, state authorization, professional licensure, financial aid, and other compliance considerations that require review by the appropriate institutional experts. Coordinate contributions from academic and functional partners needed to evaluate proposed academic products, pathways, partnerships, and portfolio changes. Develop concise feasibility findings, opportunity comparisons, executive summaries, and decision-ready materials for leadership. Maintain supporting research, assumptions, sources, findings, and decision records associated with portfolio opportunities. Surface incomplete information, conflicting assumptions, unresolved risks, or additional research needs to the Director. 3. Opportunity Pipeline and Portfolio Tracking Manage the academic opportunity pipeline and portfolio tracker from initial concept through evaluation, decision, governance, development, launch, and review. Track opportunity status, priority, milestones, decision points, accountable owners, dependencies, risks, required actions, and outcomes. Maintain consistent portfolio definitions, classifications, lifecycle stages, status indicators, and documentation practices. Document approved decisions, conditions, and required follow-up actions and monitor progress through completion. Identify and escalate stalled work, unresolved dependencies, missed actions, or emerging risks that may affect portfolio priorities or implementation timelines. Close, archive, or update opportunity records when initiatives are completed, paused, revised, declined, or discontinued. 4. Portfolio Reporting and Decision Support Prepare portfolio dashboards, leadership summaries, opportunity comparisons, pipeline reports, and recurring portfolio review materials. Provide leadership with a current, reliable view of portfolio status, priorities, risks, dependencies, decisions, costs, capacity considerations, and outcomes. Partner with AQA, Enrollment, Finance, Career Development, academic leadership, and other functional owners to identify and monitor appropriate portfolio measures. Support reporting related to enrollment, persistence, completion, financial contribution, market demand, learner outcomes, workforce relevance, and other approved indicators. Analyze workflow and portfolio information to identify patterns, delays, recurring issues, and potential areas for improvement. Present complex research and portfolio information for executive, academic, and cross-functional audiences. 5. Accreditation, Regulatory, and Governance Coordination Partner with Accreditation, Compliance, Financial Aid, the Registrar, academic leadership, and other institutional experts to identify potential approval and compliance requirements associated with new or changing academic offerings. Track accreditation, regulatory, state authorization, professional licensure, financial-aid, governance, and institutional approval dependencies as part of portfolio planning and implementation. Document identified requirements, responsible owners, decisions, submission or approval needs, and target completion dates. Coordinate routing and follow-up to help ensure required reviews occur early enough to inform feasibility, prioritization, resource planning, and launch decisions. Maintain portfolio-level visibility into the status of applicable governance, accreditation, and regulatory requirements. Escalate unresolved requirements or risks to the Director and appropriate institutional owners. 6. Cross-Functional Coordination and Portfolio Records Coordinate portfolio-related activities with Academic Affairs, Enrollment, Marketing, Career Development, Strategic Partnerships, Finance, Accreditation, AQA, Instructional Design, the Registrar, and academic program teams. Facilitate portfolio meetings, research requests, action tracking, decision documentation, and cross-functional follow-through. Maintain reliable portfolio inventories, definitions, classifications, decision records, research files, and supporting documentation. Coordinate with functional owners to reconcile incomplete, outdated, duplicate, or inconsistent portfolio information without replacing their ownership of authoritative institutional systems and records. Maintain portfolio documentation using appropriate version-control, access, organization, and review practices. Prepare and maintain portfolio trackers, dashboards, reports, and status summaries using Excel, Smartsheet, Power BI, CRM systems, project- or portfolio-management tools, and similar platforms. QUALIFICATIONS The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skills, and abilities required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Required Bachelor’s degree in education, business, operations, research, analytics, project management, or related field. Three or more years of relevant experience in higher education administration, academic or program operations, portfolio or project management, institutional or market research, business analysis, or a comparable regulated environment. Demonstrated ability to gather, analyze, and synthesize quantitative and qualitative information into clear findings and decision-ready materials. Experience maintaining complex portfolios or opportunity pipelines and translating ambiguous work into reliable tracking, reporting, and decision-support systems. Strong analytical, project management, data-stewardship, documentation, organizational, and executive-reporting skills. Experience working with academic policies, governance processes, approval requirements, or other compliance-sensitive workflows. Experience using multiple systems, operational tools, and reporting platforms, such as Excel, Smartsheet, Power BI, CRM systems, project-management tools, or business-intelligence platforms. Demonstrated ability to coordinate work across multiple academic and administrative units without relying on direct authority. Exceptional follow-through, professional judgment, attention to detail, and ability to identify when an issue requires escalation or expert review. Preferred Master’s degree in higher education administration, business, operations, research, analytics, project management, or related field. Experience supporting accreditation, regulatory review, substantive-change analysis, new-program approval, state authorization, professional licensure review, or compliance-related implementation in higher education. Working knowledge of regional accreditation, academic governance, curriculum and program approval processes, state authorization, professional licensure considerations, Title IV implications, and other regulatory requirements affecting academic offerings. Experience conducting academic program feasibility studies, market analyses, competitive reviews, or portfolio-performance evaluations. Experience supporting academic program development, portfolio optimization, program review, or program discontinuation processes. Working knowledge of academic resource planning, curriculum and program lifecycles, and higher-education data sources. PMP, Lean, business analysis, market research, data analytics, or related professional credential. CORE COMPETENCIES Portfolio Thinking: Understands how individual programs, credentials, pathways, and opportunities contribute to the overall health, balance, differentiation, and strategic direction of an academic portfolio. Research and Analytical Judgment: Gathers, evaluates, and synthesizes quantitative and qualitative information from multiple sources; distinguishes meaningful evidence from unsupported assumptions; and communicates findings clearly. Decision Support: Translates complex research, portfolio information, risks, and tradeoffs into concise materials that support informed leadership decisions. Portfolio and Project Discipline: Maintains accurate portfolio records, tracks milestones and dependencies, follows through on decisions and action items, and ensures visibility across multiple concurrent initiatives. Accreditation and Compliance Awareness: Recognizes when academic opportunities may have accreditation, regulatory, state authorization, professional licensure, governance, or financial-aid implications and engages the appropriate institutional experts. Cross-Functional Collaboration: Works effectively with academic, administrative, analytical, financial, technology, enrollment, marketing, and compliance partners across the University. Digital Fluency and Systems Navigation: Learns and uses new systems effectively, maintains technology-enabled workflows, and works confidently across portfolio, project-management, reporting, CRM, and institutional platforms. Professional Judgment: Understands role boundaries, executes independently within established authority, protects the integrity of institutional information, and escalates issues or decisions appropriately. Oral and Written Communication: Speaks and writes clearly and informatively; adapts communication to the needs of different audiences; listens and seeks clarification; responds effectively to questions; demonstrates group-presentation skills; and presents research and data effectively. Problem Solving: Identifies and resolves problems in a timely manner; gathers and analyzes information skillfully; develops alternative solutions; works effectively in collaborative problem-solving situations; and evaluates potential consequences and tradeoffs. Quality Management: Looks for ways to improve and promote quality; demonstrates accuracy and thoroughness; and establishes reliable practices for maintaining portfolio information, research, and documentation over time. WORK ENVIRONMENT/CONDITIONS The work environment and physical demands are characteristic of those in an academic and/or office setting. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions. This position is remote-friendly, but the individual is expected to be on campus regularly and available for on-campus events and special occasions as needed. Monday through Friday, 8 - 5