The Role

As Chief Program Officer, you will serve as the senior leader responsible for the strategy, implementation, and long-term impact of Unlocked Labs’ work. You will own the successful execution of our current state engagements and national field and movement building work, build and lead the team that does this work, and help shape what Unlocked Labs becomes over the next phase. You will turn early momentum into a durable, scalable program function.

You will also be close to the actual work, supporting your team through real implementation challenges, stepping in when needed, and building the systems a still-forming organization needs as it scales to meet the moment. You'll report directly to the Executive Director, sit on the Leadership team, and work closely with our Technology and Advancement teams to keep our technical roadmap, funding strategy, and field realities aligned.

Key Responsibilities

Contract & Grant Execution

• Own the successful execution of our existing multi-state, multi-year contracts and grants
• Build relationships with state partners (DOCs, foundations, other stakeholders) from contract signing through renewal
• Support project managers directly in their day-to-day work, including stepping in on active projects where support or extra capacity is needed
• Partner with the Chief Advancement Officer to set the strategy and prepare for the next stages of existing contracts and grants, informed by what your team sees on the ground
• Identify and manage outside vendors or partners when needed to support client success
• Work closely with the Chief Technology Officer to ensure the technical roadmap supports what's needed in the field
• Navigate situations where our product has limitations, maintaining partner trust while working toward solutions

Team Leadership & Development

• Manage and grow a team of project managers (currently 2 with 2 roles open, with room to grow to 6+ in 2027)
• Coach team members to build deep domain expertise in partnership management, project management, and/or corrections-specific knowledge as needed for projects or individual growth
• Support the development of scalable systems, guides, and templates the team can use, and model the work directly when needed
• Decide what roles the team needs and how it should be structured as the organization evolves, including future data/policy/customer success functions and regional vs. functional models
• Regularly assess team and systems performance against original goals and adjust course when needed, including direct reports' own growth and/or wider organizational system changes

Strategic Contributor to Expansion

• Partner with the Executive Director, Chief Technology Officer, and Chief Advancement Officer to inform Unlocked Labs' vision for national expansion, grounded in what your team is learning in the field
• Help shape the approach to potential and/or in-development work
• Bring the operational reality of implementation into strategic planning
• Translate field lessons into org-level decisions

Organizational Health & Leadership

• Serve as a full member of the Leadership team of a small, mission-driven nonprofit at a pivotal growth stage 
• Proactively identify opportunities for improvement and growth across the organization
• Weigh in on organization-wide decisions (budget, policy, hiring) that extend beyond programs
• Help shape and protect organizational culture as Unlocked Labs grows
• Represent Unlocked Labs externally with funders/the board and at field events, such as conferences and convenings
• Support the sustainability and wellbeing of a team doing hard, high-stakes work

Who You Are

Maybe you are coming from justice-impacted direct-service or systems-level work or from inside correctional agencies themselves and our approach is what's pulling you in. Maybe you've built your career in tech-for-good and you're looking for the next mission worth the jump. Or maybe you've excelled in tech or education program delivery, and this is the kind of high-stakes challenge you've been waiting for.

Whatever path brought you here, this is what we're picturing when we imagine you doing this job well:

• You care about the mission. You're committed to improving outcomes for incarcerated people, are excited by the complexity of the problem, and motivated by the size of the potential impact. 
• You’re both operator and strategist. You are part of the Leadership team deciding what Unlocked Labs becomes next—its growth, its scale, its impact on the field—and you bring the reality of the field into that conversation as a co-owner of the direction, not just the person executing it.
• You see around corners. When implementations hit roadblocks, you're already thinking several steps ahead and coaching your team to do the same. You bring that same instinct to the organization's five-year vision, not just the work directly in front of us.
• You translate between worlds. You can speak credibly with facility staff, technical teams, and executive leadership. Regardless of role, partners understand and trust you.
• You coach while you do. You're willing to jump into the work directly where needed, but you do it in a way that builds your team's capability and adjusts systems to scale. 
• You keep the team whole. You understand that this work is hard and sometimes heavy, and that helping your team stay grounded, connected, and effective is part of the job.

What We're Looking For

Expertise for this work comes from many kinds of experience. Here's what matters most:

Required

• 8+ years of program or project management experience
• 5+ years managing people and running a team
• Experience growing or re-scoping a team; figuring out what roles are needed and hiring against active, funded work
• A track record of making sound decisions with incomplete information, and communicating those decisions clearly to internal teams and external partners
• Experience tracking deliverables, milestones, and reporting requirements against grant, contract, or project-based commitments
• Comfort managing a budget to grant or contract line items (with support from operations/accounting, as this is not a primary financial function)
• Enough familiarity with business development or proposal work to help keep project scopes realistic
• A demonstrated track record of successful cross-functional partnership, bonus if with product or engineering teams
• Demonstrated capacity to contribute at a strategic, organization-wide level: weighing in on decisions beyond your own department, helping shape culture, or representing an organization externally (a prior C-suite title is not required; it can come from many kinds of roles/contexts if capacity is demonstrated)

Preferred (bonus, not required)

• Prior experience serving on an executive or senior leadership team
• Leadership experience within corrections, justice-involved systems, or another highly regulated public-sector environment
• Prior experience with government contracting or procurement processes
• Experience leading customer success or post-sales operations
• Experience operating inside a small, early-stage, or fast-evolving organization; we will look for ability to be nimble but recognize that does not have to come from size/stage

What Success Looks Like

• Customer Impact: Current contracts deliver real value to DOC partners and incarcerated individuals on time and within scope.
• Team & Organizational Development: The team is high-performing and growing in capability. The organization is delivering on current work and shaping the future.
• System Building: Replicable processes exist that let excellent work scale across 10+ states and multiple types of engagements.
• Leadership Team Strength: Conversations with the Executive Director and the rest of the Leadership team are substantive and course-changing. The executive staff and board work as a high functioning team, made stronger by your presence in the room.

• Field Momentum: Unlocked Labs has moved our partner states forward, as well as the field's sense of what's possible. What feels unlikely today is standard practice, and the conversation about what corrections technology can do has fundamentally changed, with Unlocked Labs recognized as a driver of that shift.

Compensation and Benefits

Range: $130,000 - $180,000

We offer health/dental/vision coverage and retirement benefits. 

How to Apply

Interested?

Please email hiring@unlockedlabs.org with the following:

• Subject: Application for Chief Program Officer
• Attached Resume
• Cover letter
• Answers to the application questions below

We are accepting applications and conducting interviews on a rolling basis. We're moving quickly and encourage you to apply early. We don't have a fixed deadline, but the search will close as soon as we find the right person.

Questions: 

1. How many years of project management experience do you have leading multi-stakeholder groups? How many years of managing teams? 
2. This role is on our executive Leadership team. What makes you a fit for that seat? What would you bring to decisions about where Unlocked Labs goes next, beyond running the team responsible for programs?
3. Do you have lived, professional, volunteer, research, or advocacy experience connected to carceral environments or justice-impacted communities? If yes, please provide a short description.
4. Unlocked Labs works inside correctional environments where technology must balance access, dignity, security, and operational reality. What draws you to this mission?

Equal Opportunity

Unlocked Labs is an equal opportunity employer. We strongly encourage justice-impacted individuals, women, people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, and candidates from nontraditional backgrounds to apply.