IMC Financial Consulting builds the financial literacy infrastructure the country is missing — closing the knowledge gap that shapes household stability, student outcomes, athlete protection, and municipal fiscal health. What began as a single-city initiative in Birmingham has grown into a national platform spanning K-12 education, collegiate athletics, and public- and private-sector consulting, with a body of outcome data increasingly recognized by financial institutions, government leaders, and philanthropic partners as evidence that financial literacy is economic infrastructure. That work runs across several connected lines. The IMC Financial Freedom Project (IMCFFP) is a K-12-focused financial literacy program delivered through one-on-one consultations and workshops for the adults around each student — faculty, staff, and parents — across the country, with its largest programming based in Birmingham City Schools and the surrounding community; its classroom curriculum is mapped to state academic standards in every state where IMCFFP operates. Assets & Athletes (F.L.E.E.) works with college and university athletes navigating Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) opportunities — along with their parents and institutions — to build financial literacy around NIL income and deals. Alongside these programs, IMC provides financial literacy and financial empowerment consulting directly to corporations, organizations, municipalities, and school systems across the country. Across all of it, IMC's premise is the same: financial outcomes for households, athletes, schools, and municipalities improve when people are given direct, sustained access to financial expertise — not just curriculum. IMC's founder authored Birmingham's 2019 citywide financial empowerment blueprint, and IMC's model has continued to build on that foundation — including the development of the Equathy Financial Empowerment Center concept, a public-private center informed by the Community Reinvestment Fund (CFE Fund) framework. IMC is looking for a seasoned research and development professional to take ownership of IMC's data — leading the interpretation of it, not just the collection of it — and to use that interpretation to open doors: funding, investment, partnership, and government relationships at every level. This is the single biggest mandate of the role. IMC already generates substantial data across its programs; what it needs is someone who can read that data with the rigor of a Brookings Institution or Aspen Institute fellow and turn it into the evidence base that gets a foundation to fund IMC, an investor to back it, a bank or corporation to partner with it, or a city, county, state, or federal government to support and fund it. This role sits at the intersection of four things: the data generated across IMC's programs — IMCFFP's national one-on-one consultations and workshops for faculty, staff, and parents, and Assets & Athletes' NIL-focused work with college athletes; the economic case for financial literacy at the household, community, and municipal level; the business case for financial institutions and corporations that benefit — through deposit growth, investment accounts, credit products, and mortgage pipelines — when the people they serve know more about money; and the public-sector case for government partners at the city, county, state, and federal level who fund or shape financial literacy policy. You will turn what IMC already does into the rigorous, well-evidenced case that drives its impact and development pipeline, and that also supports IMC's growing national consulting practice with corporations, organizations, municipalities, and school systems.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
Own the interpretation of IMC's data. Go beyond collecting and organizing data — analyze what it actually shows about IMC's impact, and be the person who can explain what it means and why it matters to a funder, investor, or partner. Turn that interpretation into funding, investment, and partnership opportunities. This is the single biggest part of the role: build the research-backed case that wins grants, attracts investment, and closes partnerships with banks, foundations, corporations, and municipalities — then keep refining that case as new data comes in. Lead government relations across every level. Serve as IMC's research-backed voice with city, county, state, and federal government stakeholders — building the data-driven case for public funding, legislative support, and policy partnerships tied to financial literacy and economic mobility. Build and evolve the data foundation. Design and oversee the data architecture behind IMC's programs — IMCFFP's national one-on-one consultations and workshops for faculty, staff, and parents, and Assets & Athletes' NIL work with college athletes — establishing what is measured, how it's collected, and how it scales nationally. Research economic impact. Develop rigorous analysis connecting financial literacy interventions to economic outcomes — tracing the line from household and individual financial behavior to community-level indicators to municipal fiscal health. Study the financial realities of NIL. Research the financial risks and opportunities college athletes face under Name, Image, and Likeness rules, and translate that research into tools and talking points Assets & Athletes can put in front of athletes, parents, and university compliance staff. Make the case to financial institutions. Translate IMC's outcome data into a business model argument aimed at banks and financial services corporations — showing how expanding financial knowledge grows their balance sheets: deposit and savings accounts, investment accounts, credit card adoption, and mortgage origination. Produce fellow-caliber research output. Write white papers, policy briefs, grant narratives, and research summaries suitable for funders, investors, and policy audiences — work that stands alongside output from institutions like Brookings or Aspen, in both rigor and framing. Advance IMC's frameworks. Extend and formalize the analytical models already underpinning IMC's work — including its approach to community reinvestment, the pipeline from unbanked to investable households, and its wrap-around household model — so they hold up to institutional and academic scrutiny. Support IMC's national consulting engagements. Serve as the research voice behind IMC's ongoing consulting relationships with corporations, organizations, municipalities, and school systems nationwide, arming those engagements with credible, well-sourced data.
WHO YOU ARE A
seasoned professional with an extensive career already behind you — this role is built for depth of experience, not a first job in research. Background in economics, public policy, applied research, or a related quantitative field, gained through a think tank, financial institution, government/municipal role, or comparable research-driven environment. Direct experience translating data or impact research into funding, investment, or partnership outcomes — grant writing, impact investing, corporate development, or institutional/philanthropic partnership development. Government relations experience at the city, county, state, or federal level — comfortable building the research-backed case for public funding, legislative support, or policy partnerships. Comfortable working independently across both rigorous data analysis and clear, persuasive writing for non-technical audiences — funders, investors, government stakeholders, bank executives, school administrators, and university athletics staff alike. Genuine fluency in how household finance connects to community and municipal economics, and how consumer financial behavior shows up on a bank's balance sheet and product lines. A track record of published or publicly presented research (reports, briefs, testimony, or comparable) is strongly preferred. Familiarity with the CRA, community development finance, or financial inclusion frameworks is a strong plus. Entrepreneurial enough to build infrastructure and process from a relatively early stage, without needing an established research department around you.
ENGAGEMENT & STRUCTURE IMC
is open to structuring this role as a full-time position or as a fellowship-style consulting engagement, depending on what fits the candidate's career stage and availability. Candidates are welcome to propose the arrangement that would let them do this work at the highest level, including part-time or project-based structures. The role is based in Birmingham, Alabama, with an in-person/hybrid working rhythm to stay close to IMC's largest program base while overseeing data and impact work that spans IMC's national footprint.
