Program Coordinator, National Programs

Job Title: Program Coordinator, National Programs

Department: Social Impact

Location: Remote/Virtual within the continental US

Reports to: Associate Director, National Programs

Classification: Exempt

Position type: Full-Time Employee

Pay Band: $45,000 - $57,000

Blue Star Families

Blue Star Families is the largest nonprofit dedicated to making military life better for families. Each year, we support over 1.5 million military- and veteran-connected family members through a national network of 300,000+ members and local chapters in communities across the country.

Our mission is simple and bold: We make military life awesome for families. We listen, share, partner, and act to deliver evidence-based, data-driven solutions that work for real people. We’re a lifestyle organization, a friend and neighbor, and a trusted partner. Our approach is collaborative, human-centered, and designed with the whole family in mind.

A Blue Star Family is one with an immediate family member — a spouse, parent, or child — actively serving in the U.S. Armed Forces, including the Guard and Reserves. These families face unique challenges, including frequent relocations, deployments, career disruptions, and isolation. We respond with research-informed programs that create connection, build resilience, and foster a true sense of belonging.

We serve with urgency but build trust over time — because change happens at the speed of trust. Whether we’re driving spouse employment, supporting caregivers, or helping communities welcome military families, we strive for upstream solutions.

Who We’re Looking For:

• Bold thinkers. Fast movers. Smart collaborators. People who want to build, lead, and drive measurable change — and who care deeply about making an impact that matters.

What You’ll Do Here:

• Solve complex challenges with data, heart, and humility
• Build cross-sector partnerships that get things done
• Help military families feel at home wherever they live

If you're ready to work in a high-performance, mission-driven environment — and to make life better for those who serve — Blue Star Families is where you belong.

As a fully remote organization, we rely on scheduled in-person gatherings to foster alignment, collaboration, and organizational culture. This role requires the ability to travel out of town overnight several times per year for staff offsites, planning retreats, and company-wide events. These gatherings are essential for connection, brainstorming, and staying strategically aligned across teams. Participation is required as a core part of the role.

General Description 

The Program Coordinator,  National Programs  is a driven, enthusiastic, and organized team member in Blue Star Families’ Program department.  This staff member reports to the Associate Director, National Programs and supports the Senior Manager, Program Operations in the day-to-day administrative coordination and operations of the Military Families Outdoors (MFO) program. This role will manage event promotion, tracking of registrations, administrative tasks, and internal/external coordination for Blue Star Connect Outdoors events as needed. Blue Star Connect Outdoors falls within the Military Families Outdoors program.

While this role is remote, periodic out-of-town, overnight travel is an essential function. In-person time is critical to how we work — enabling deep collaboration, team alignment, creative problem-solving, and a shared sense of purpose. Team members are expected to travel several times per year for offsites, planning sessions, and company-wide gatherings. These events are essential for contributing to team outcomes, building trust across the organization, and staying aligned in a distributed environment. Participation in these in-person gatherings is a required part of the role and integral to successful performance in our remote-first organization.

Key Job Functions

• Work with the BSCO Outdoor Leaders to assist with event promotion, planning and registration in the Blue Star Neighborhood 
• Work with BSF’s partner organization in the recruitment and selection of families to attend near nature and extended nature over night trips
• Support team by performing tasks related to the administrative functions of the BSCO program
• Support the team with event registration related tasks including event registration tracking, attendance metrics, and events calendar
• Assist in the communication strategy of the MFO program including: updating the social media calendar, organizing and sharing event photos, and updating the Blue Star Neighborhood MFO Community Group.
• Utilize and manage project management technologies and tools to administer projects actively and effectively (including, but not limited to, HIVE, Hive Brite, Salesforce, Google Workspace Suite, Zoom, etc).
• Establish and maintain an understanding of Blue Star Families’ strategic goals and their relationship to targets and priorities
• Develop intentional relationships within Blue Star Families and with external organizations to offer insight and opportunities for change and collaboration
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Required Experience, Skills & Background

• Bachelor's degree or comparable experience.
• 1–2 years of relevant work experience.
• Project Management system experience or ability to learn new software
• Cultural competency with the active-duty military family lifestyle.
• Extensive knowledge of program development, management, evaluation, and reporting.
• Ability to work and succeed independently while also managing and supporting team efforts in a geographically dispersed, fast-paced organization.
• Comfortable managing multiple projects.
• Experience managing volunteers.
• Strong technology skills including experience with Salesforce (CRM); Google Docs; Hive and comfortable meeting through conference and web calls.
• Experience working with non-profit partner organizations and with military families.
• May be required to work nights, weekends, and holidays as necessary to carry out key job functions. Travel may be required to attend meetings, training, events, etc.
• Organized and able to plan well, adapt to changing situations and solve problems effectively.

Desired Experience, Skills & Background

• Works and communicates effectively with people from different backgrounds, and fosters teamwork.
• Experience with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems; and familiarity with Salesforce a plus
• Experience working in the outdoor recreation space is a plus.

More About Blue Star Families

Blue Star Families empowers military and Veteran families to thrive by connecting them with their civilian neighbors — both people and organizations — to create strong communities of mutual support. We believe we're all stronger when we take care of one another.

Our groundbreaking research is raising the nation's awareness of the unique challenges of military family life. With the help of neighbors across the country, Blue Star Families is overcoming the isolation and alienation of frequent moves, deployments, and reduced support from the government. Our innovative programs are solving specific challenges for military families, including fighting economic insecurity with resources that foster spouse career development, creating family strength with rich family programming, and providing critical peer support for caregivers, whose numbers are only increasing.

Blue Star Families is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. 

EEO Policy

Blue Star Families is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, age, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.