Chief Programs & Learning Officer
About The Position
We are seeking a Chief Programs & Learning Officer to lead ISLL's full program portfolio as a coherent, high-impact system. This is a senior leadership role at the intersection of pedagogy, strategy, and operations. The ideal candidate brings a deep belief in liberatory education, strong instincts for people leadership, and the ability to translate mission into systems that actually work. The Chief Programs & Learning Officer is accountable for ensuring that every ISLL program reflects student-centered values, generates knowledge that informs the field, and is led by a team that feels clear, supported, and connected to shared goals.
Requirements
- Demonstrated senior leadership experience in a mission-driven educational or youth development organization
- Deep fluency in liberatory pedagogy and student-centered program design
- Proven experience managing directors or senior staff, not just coordinating, but genuinely developing people
- Strong systems thinking: the ability to see how programs, people, and data connect across a portfolio
- A track record of producing knowledge artifacts (reports, briefs, or publications) that move beyond internal use
- High EQ paired with clear expectations; someone who holds people accountable without losing the relationship
Nice To Haves
- Experience managing contracted consultants and researchers as part of an integrated team
- Background in evaluation, learning science, or curriculum development
- Experience building or scaling a lab or innovation-focused learning environment
- Existing relationships with researchers, policymakers, or storytellers in the education space
Responsibilities
- Directly manage the Director of Labs and additional program directors as the portfolio grows
- Lead a standing monthly Directors meeting to surface cross-team dependencies, share insights, and coordinate priorities
- Maintain a non-negotiable weekly 1:1 cadence with all direct reports
- Conduct quarterly performance reviews for all Directors with written documentation
- Coordinate an extended team of consultants and researchers, setting clear scopes, aligning deliverables, and integrating their work into the broader program system
- Own the integration architecture across Labs, Curriculum, Evaluation, and Professional Development functions
- Ensure Lab learnings feed curriculum iteration quarterly; translate curriculum innovations into PD offerings twice per year
- Share evaluation data summaries monthly with action items tracked across teams
- Ensure all programmatic narratives and data are available to the Development team 30 days before major fundraising asks
- Lead execution of the Lab Visitor Strategy: host 100+ educators, researchers, policymakers, and storytellers in ISLL learning environments by Year 3
- Oversee knowledge generation, ensuring ISLL produces at least 2 internal learning briefs per year, 1 external-facing report or white paper annually, and ongoing case studies from lab environments
- Partner weekly with the Executive Director on strategic alignment, budget and resource planning, and board-level programmatic updates
Benefits
- Medical, Dental, Vision, Chiropractic/Acupuncture, and Life Insurance (100% covered by the organization)
- Annual learning stipend
- Monthly housing and wellness stipends
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Executive
Education Level
No Education Listed
Number of Employees
1-10 employees
