ABOUT US

The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization committed to realizing a free, just, and equitable society. Since its founding in 1949, the Institute has been driving change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve the most critical challenges facing communities in the United States and around the world. Headquartered in Washington, DC, the Institute has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, and an international network of partners.

Commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

To achieve our mission of a more free, just, and equitable society, we commit to working proactively to advance the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion across our myriad endeavors such as the recruitment, compensation, training, and advancement of staff. The best people-serving institutions make this commitment, and we seek to be a leader in the ways that we do so and learn from others. Visit our website to learn more about our commitment and recent actions taken toward building and nurturing a diverse and inclusive environment.

PHILOSOPHY & SOCIETY INITIATIVE

The Philosophy & Society Initiative is dedicated to reigniting a national tradition of public philosophy. Through publications, events, and original research we seek to stimulate the appetite for reflection about our largest and most haunting issues of societal purpose—What is justice? What is a good life? What is society for?

ABOUT THIS ROLE

The Managing Director will play a critical role in helping Philosophy & Society achieve its primary mission of stimulating a public intellectual tradition in which primary “first principle” questions can be addressed directly in public. This role focuses on day-to-day program management, delivery, and strategy execution, while the Executive Director focuses on strategic vision and long-term sustainability. The Managing Director will ensure that program execution aligns with P&S’s broader strategic goals.

This role reports directly to the Executive Director. The salary range for this position is $110,000-130,000 and is a Washington, D.C., based position. Employees are expected to work in person at the office at least three days a week dependent on program needs.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

Operational Oversight & Strategy

• Develop and execute programmatic strategies that align with P&S’s mission and organizational goals.
• Assess, refine, and enhance program goals and operations to address evolving strategic opportunities in public discourse, and maximize impact.
• Collaborate with the Executive Director and leadership team to develop strong mission based culture.
• Ensure that program executes on primary funder deliverables to the highest degree of quality in a fashion that aligns with both funder goals and P&S’s mission.
• Develop operational structures and staff culture that are at once aligned with program goals strategically, and highly proficient at consistently producing the highest quality of work at the detailed level.
• Manage an existing junior and senior level team effectively to meet program deliverables.
• Help Executive Director make decisions for expanding or contracting staff structure as necessary for core goals.
• Support the Executive Director in fundraising outreach, identifying and cultivating sources of revenue, and maintaining relationships with donors.
• Complete grant application writing and reporting, tracking outputs and outcomes throughout the lifecycle of grants.
• Support the Executive Director in managing the annual budget.
• Represent P&S with high integrity and ethical standards internally and externally at conferences and events.

Project Management & Implementation

• Play significant leadership role in the Philosophy R&D Lab—managing scholars’ contributions to the public discourse and resulting pitches and publications in both owned and external media.
• Facilitate the Emerging Writers Workshop—identifying new writing talent focused on virtue and first principle inquiry into public conversation, starting up a writing workshop helping mentor these younger writers in the skills of public argument.
• Develop communications materials to benefit and expand the Philosopher’s Salon, including videos, a guide, and a Discord to assist others in leading conversations across the country.
• Be willing to alter portfolio of work (both adding or subtracting items) in line with shifting program goals and funder priorities.

Partnership and Stakeholder Engagement

• Build and maintain relationships with donors, foundations, corporate partners, and other key stakeholders.
• Support the Executive Director in securing and managing financial resources through proposal development, concept papers, and funding reports.
• Collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to innovate and enhance programs.
• Establish and nurture partnerships with advisory councils, funders, research and media partners, policymakers, and leaders across sectors.

Writing & External Relations

• Play a major leadership and editorial role in our in-house media and publication partnerships. This will involve helping to strategize about the purposes of these media endeavors, developing new formats and publication venues to take advantage of strategic opportunities in public discourse, cultivating a stable of top-notch essayists, engaging contributors and the broader community of readers, creating multimedia to support the written content, and other work to help these media outputs to flourish.
• Create content for and maintain the program’s social media channels (Instagram, YouTube).
• Regularly contribute to the program’s publications.
• Assist in pitching emerging writers’ and scholars’ pieces to external media.
• Support the execution of program events, attending and actively participating in person.
• Travel on behalf of the program and the aforementioned initiatives and fundraising efforts, acting as a representative of the initiative.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO THRIVE

• Advanced degree (Master’s or PhD preferred) in Philosophy, Public Policy, Humanities, or related field.
• Minimum of 7–10 years of progressive leadership experience in nonprofit management, public philosophy, public engagement, media, or related areas.
• Demonstrated success in program or project management, ideally in intellectual or cultural initiatives.
• Proven ability to execute and refine program strategy aligned with broader organizational goals.
• Budget management and fundraising experience, with understanding of nonprofit financial practices.
• Experience in managing staff, systems, and workflows, and fostering mission-aligned team culture.
• Ability to mentor and lead contributors, especially emerging thinkers and writers.
• Strong editorial judgment and writing skills; experience with publications, communications or media initiatives.
• Familiarity with social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram, X.
• Comfort with high levels of responsibility, autonomy, and collaboration.
• Understanding of and deep intellectual engagement with themes of public philosophy: virtue, justice, the good life, first principles.
• Able to travel and represent the program in high-level external contexts.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The Aspen Institute offers a generous benefits package including health, dental, vision, and prescription benefits, retirement benefits, and paid leave.

The Aspen Institute is an Equal Opportunity Employer and complies with all District and federal laws. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or protected veteran or disabled status and will not be discriminated against.

The Aspen Institute welcomes individuals with disabilities to participate in its programs, including the interview process. If you would like to request accommodations or have questions about accessibility, please email hrsupport@aspeninstitute.org or call 202-736-2127 in advance of your visit. Requests for ASL or CART services should be made at least two weeks in advance when possible. We will make every effort to fulfill requests, subject to availability.