Program Coordinator | McGrath Institute for Church Life

The Program Coordinator serves as a key operational staff member within the McGrath Institute for Church Life, leading the end-to-end management of conferences and events for both the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy and the Notre Dame Office of Life and Human Dignity. The McGrath Institute partners with Catholic leaders, parishes, and schools to address pastoral challenges through research, education, and formation.
Working as an integral partner alongside program directors, this role takes ownership of event operations, financial management, and program delivery for grant initiatives—including Contours of Wonder and Compelling Preaching, as well as other Institute programming.
The ideal candidate is a collaborative problem-solver who is comfortable taking ownership, independently managing multiple projects and priorities, and helping programs run smoothly from planning through completion.
What You’ll Do
Financial & Operational Coordination
Lead financial and administrative operations for assigned program areas, including contract negotiation, BuyND procurement, invoice management, expense tracking, and budget allocation reporting.
Oversee program logistics and vendor relationships while maintaining clear, professional communication with cohort members and partners.
Provide recommendations for event management, coordinate timelines, and identify opportunities to improve operational processes.
Support the use of technology, project management platforms, and organizational best practices across the team.
Conference & Event Management
Own the end-to-end planning, logistics, and execution of conferences, events, and cohort gatherings.
Partner with campus departments, venue directors, and external partners to coordinate contracts, menus, venues, and other event needs.
Coordinate speaker travel, participant engagement, and digital and print communications and mailings.
Serve as the on-site liaison for hosted conferences, overseeing registration, event logistics, and coordination throughout the event.
Manage post-event evaluations, financial reconciliation, and follow-up activities.
Program & Membership Support
Support the successful delivery of grant-funded initiatives and other programming in partnership with program directors.
Manage the Liturgy Network annual renewal process, including sending renewal forms, updating member information in the database, processing and depositing payments, and creating the annual membership directory.
What Will Help You Succeed
Ability to independently manage multiple complex projects while exercising sound judgment and making proactive decisions.
Strong forward-planning skills with the ability to anticipate upcoming program, event, and operational needs.
Professional judgment to recognize when to move work forward independently and when to seek direction from program directors.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills and the ability to professionally represent the Institute with scholars, speakers, cohort members, campus partners, vendors, and other external partners.
Strong attention to detail, including analytical, proofreading, organizational, and financial stewardship skills.
A collaborative approach and willingness to problem-solve, adapt, and contribute as part of a team.
Education Qualifications:
Associates degree or up to 5-7 years relevant experience​
Skill Qualifications:
Ability to work independently and as a team.
Strong verbal and written communication style that reflects accuracy, precision, and professionalism.
Ability to rely on experience to exercise judgment for independent problem-solving.
Ability to interpret procedures and policies and communicate those policies to colleagues.
Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously, pivoting between them to answer questions, and thinking independently to address needs as they arise in the planning and execution stages.
Ability to look ahead to identify needs for programs months or more than a year away while ensuring current needs are being met.
Ability to discern what topics need to be brought to the team for input and what can be addressed independently.
Strong proofreading and editing skills.
Attention to detail

Employment type
Full-time

Work arrangement
No