Cohort Operations Manager

Cohort Operations Manager

Wheaton College Billy Graham Center (WCBGC)

Job Overview

The Cohort Operations Manager serves as the subject-matter expert (SME) for cohort strategy and execution across four WCBGC institutes (CEI, AACEI, RCI, and PI). This hybrid role blends operational excellence with project management leadership to deliver consistent, high-quality cohort experiences.

The Manager oversees the full cohort lifecycle—recruitment, onboarding, delivery, follow-up, retention, and alumni handoff—ensuring a seamless, service-oriented experience for pastors, churches, and coaches. By standardizing processes, defining service-level expectations (SLAs), and leveraging data and feedback for continuous improvement, this role strengthens efficiency and impact across all institutes.

The Cohort Operations Manager acts as the operational and strategic backbone of the WCBGC cohort system – ensuring that each institute delivers a cohesive, experience aligned with the WCBGC’s mission to equip and empower leaders for gospel-centered ministry.

Reporting to the Director of Operations, this full-time, salaried role pays approximately $57,000 plus benefits.

Job Responsibilities

Project Management & Leadership

• Own the cohort lifecycle across four institutes: aligning activities with annual planning, recruitment campaigns, application intake, selection & placement, onboarding, session delivery support, retention interventions, graduation, and alumni transition.
• Develop and maintain issue logs, identifying potential barriers to cohort success and implementing mitigation strategies.
• Lead cross-functional huddles (Recruiting, Finance, Tech) to ensure timely execution, clear ownership, and issue resolution.
• Coordinate with Operations Director on dashboards for KPIs: cohort fill %, attendance, payment status, satisfaction/NPS, issue resolution time, completion/retention.
• Coordinate with Finance on pledges/scholarships, dunning and collections in Stripe ; ensure clear, empathetic communication with churches and pastors.

Managerial – Cohort Leadership

• Serve as the cohort SME: build and maintain checklists, timelines, and templates, and process documentation.
• Train coaches, and contractors on cohort processes, systems ( HubSpot, Circle, Stripe ), and service standards/expectations.
• Set and enforce follow-up (e.g., reply within 1–2 business days; resolve within 5 business days) with clear escalation paths.
• Oversee participant experience: welcome/onboarding communications, payment guidance ( Stripe ), platform access ( Circle/HubSpot ), schedule reminders, and post-session follow-ups.
• Conduct pre- and post-cohort retrospectives, capture relevant data, identify lessons learned, and implement process improvements yearly.
• Act as first escalation point for participant and coach issues; document cases and resolutions in HubSpot .
• Implement proactive outreach: failed payments, etc.
• Maintain clear, pastoral tone in all communications; ensure accessibility for diverse contexts across the four institutes.
• Own the participant knowledge base/FAQ; keep how-to guides current ( Circle access, Stripe payments, surveys).
• Publish session materials in Circle and ensure pre-work and reminders are sent on time.
• Own session readiness checklists: tech checks.

Systems, Data, and Compliance

• Optimize cohort CRM and payment workflows ( HubSpot, Circle, Stripe ); ensure data integrity and role-based access.
• Create and maintain reports and dashboards tracking cohort KPIs; fill rates, retention, attendance, satisfaction (NOS), payment status, and completion.
• Provide monthly cohort metrics and variance analysis to Directors; highlight trends and recommend improvements.
• Reconcile cohort payments with Finance via Stripe reporting; maintain audit trails for key decisions.

Cross-Institute Coordination & Strategic Alignment

• Harmonize operational frameworks across institutes to minimize duplication and establish single sources in HubSpot .
• Collaborate with Institute Directors on launch planning, enrollment forecasting, and coordinate to align fill rate projections, cohort schedules, and resource allocation.
• Align cohort operations with WCBGC’s strategic goals, reporting quarterly on progress toward institutional KPIs.

Qualifications & Competencies

• 3–5 years in program, project or operations management with customer service leadership (education, nonprofit, or church contexts preferred).
• Strong understanding of project management tools (Asana, HubSpot, Circle, and Stripe).
• Data-driven decision-maker proficient with dashboards, variance reporting, and analytics: detail-oriented and adept with spreadsheets.
• Excellent written and verbal communication with pastoral sensitivity across diverse church contexts.
• Proven ability to manage complex timelines.

Preferred: Project Management experience; background in nonprofit, higher education, or ministry operations.

Physical Requirements

The employee is regularly required to sit, talk, or hear; frequently required to use repetitive hand motion, handle, or feel, and to stand, walk, reach, bend or lift up to 10 pounds.

FLSA Status

Exempt

As a Christ-centered community, Wheaton College faculty and staff must affirm the College’s Statement of Faith as expressing their own theological convictions and agree to live by the moral standards in Wheaton’s Community Covenant, modeling these commitments for the Christian formation of our students. Wheaton College faculty and staff also support the Christ-Centered Diversity Commitment which highlights our desire to treat all individuals as equal image-bearers of Jesus Christ through diversity, inclusion, justice, and unity.