Senior Specialist Portfolio Program & Applications Support

By joining the National Student Clearinghouse, you can be sure that the work you do now will help shape the future of education and the workforce in the U.S. As the trusted source for higher education data since 1993, the Clearinghouse is the leading provider of transcript and data exchange services, automated enrollment and degree verifications, learner insights and research, and compliance solutions for schools, businesses, and learners nationwide.

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the Clearinghouse works with nearly 3,600 postsecondary institutions to meet their compliance needs and with thousands of high schools and districts to provide continuing collegiate enrollment, progression, and completion statistics about their alumni. In addition, the Research Center publications inform policymakers and business leaders about student educational pathways. Using our unique combination of data, analytics, and software to drive our mission, security and privacy is paramount.

Join us as we continue to invest in our talent and new advanced technologies to unlock the power of data on behalf of all learners.

The Senior Specialist, Portfolio Program & Applications Support serves as a senior individual contributor responsible for supporting the National Student Clearinghouse's enterprise portfolio management, strategic planning, governance processes, Lean Portfolio Management (LPM) practices, and portfolio management technologies. This role helps ensure organizational priorities, strategic initiatives, and technology investments are effectively planned, tracked, governed, and communicated across the enterprise.

The candidate partners closely with Strategy, Technology, Product, and business leaders to support portfolio planning, program coordination, governance activities, reporting, analytics, and continuous improvement efforts. Through effective stakeholder engagement and operational support, this role helps maintain visibility into portfolio performance, delivery progress, resource utilization, risks, dependencies, and strategic objectives, enabling informed decision-making and successful execution of enterprise initiatives.

In addition, this role serves as the functional administrator and subject matter expert for portfolio management applications and reporting tools. Responsibilities include application administration, user support, process enablement, training, reporting development, data management, and ongoing system optimization to improve portfolio transparency, governance, and operational effectiveness.

Success in this role requires strong analytical, technical, and organizational skills, along with the ability to translate complex information into meaningful insights, build collaborative relationships across business and technology teams, and identify opportunities to improve portfolio management processes, reporting capabilities, and application effectiveness.

Currently, this is a remote-first position, and this position may be required to periodically work on-site at our office and the frequency would depend on the department/division's requirements. Therefore, candidates must either reside within a reasonable distance to commute to our office or be willing to travel to our office in Herndon, when required.

• Demonstrate the Clearinghouse's core competencies:
  Customer Focus, Optimizes Work Processes, Collaborates, Communicates Effectively, and Be Open and Authentic.
• Support enterprise portfolio management processes, including intake, prioritization, planning, monitoring, dependency tracking, and reporting.
• Assist department leadership in translating strategic priorities into portfolio plans, portfolio metrics, reporting frameworks, and governance activities.
• Coordinate and support enterprise business and technology initiatives by tracking scope, timelines, milestones, risks, issues, dependencies, resources, and action items.
• Develop, maintain, and enhance portfolio management standards, templates, procedures, and supporting documentation.
• Assess portfolio workflows and operational processes, identify improvement opportunities, and recommend solutions that improve efficiency, transparency, and effectiveness.
• Partner with stakeholders to implement process improvements, standardization initiatives, and operational best practices.
• Manage, administer, configure, and optimize portfolio management applications such as Clarity, Power BI, or similar tools to support strategy execution, portfolio…