Chief Research and Design Officer - Leading Educators

Larnell Vickers Enterprises

4d • Remote

About The Position

The Chief Research and Design Officer (CRDO) is a pivotal executive role charged with shaping the future of Leading Educators’ impact - and, more broadly, contributing to how the field defines and delivers excellent content instruction at scale. This leader will set the organization’s research and learning agenda, translate insight into innovation, and bring new services and products to market that meaningfully improve teaching and learning for students nationwide. The CRDO sits at the center of possibility: identifying what is emerging, determining what is worth scaling, and ensuring that our most promising ideas and new models - in areas like the science of reading, high quality instructional materials, and the supporting tech stack, mathematics, or AI-enabled instruction - become practical, powerful solutions for school systems and states. As a member of Leading Educators’ Leadership Team, the CRDO is both a strategic architect and a builder - shaping organizational direction while ensuring that our innovations lead to measurable, scaled impact, sustainable growth, and lasting change in schools and systems. This position oversees the following programmatic areas: 1. Designing What’s Next - and Bringing It to Scale – Sitting at the intersection amongour new models, innovative improvements to existing models, and market demands, the CRDO determines which new models or program innovations are ready to go to market; codifies them into services or products that can scale; leads market testing; and collaborates with the growth and program teams to sell and scale. In the first years of service, Leading Educators anticipates focusing on expanding the science of reading work into adolescent literacy; piloting strategies to modernize math instruction; and leveraging our highly regarded AI pilots and AI expertise into scalable services or products that directly impact student learning. 2. Defining What We Are Learning - and Why It Matters – In collaboration with our Research and Data (RAD) team, this leader will shape a research and learning agenda that not only improves our work, but contributes to field shaping thought leadership—clarifying what works, for whom, and under what conditions. 3. Turning Insight into Action Across the Organization - Determines when and how learnings from new models, innovations, the field, or research should be integrated across the organization so our services and products reflect our current best thinking. The Chief Research and Design Officer leads a team of senior executives with deep research and content area expertise, including the Managing Directors of Research and Data, Mathematics, and Science of Reading. This position reports directly to the President and collaborates closely with other members of the Leadership Team.

Requirements

• Candidates must be able to travel
• Applicants must be authorized to work for ANY employer in the United States.
• Have at least 15+ years of experience in K-12 education, education consulting, product development, research, nonprofit leadership, or strategic program management.
• Demonstrated ability to lead scale up services or products ideally in a larger organization (ideally over $30M operating budget).
• Deep knowledge of curriculum-based professional learning, instructional leadership, content area expertise, and teacher workforce sustainability.
• Experience with AI-enabled instructional models and educational technology platforms and tools.
• Exceptional strategic thinking, decision-making, and executive leadership skills.

Nice To Haves

• Advanced degree (M.Ed., Ed.D., Ph.D., or MBA) in Education, Learning Sciences, Organizational Leadership, or a related field.
• Experience leading AI integration in instructional settings.
• Knowledge of federal and philanthropic funding landscapes, with experience securing multi-year funding commitments.
• Background in organizational learning, knowledge management, and systems-thinking approaches.

Responsibilities

• Designing What’s Next and Bringing It to Scale
• Opportunity Identification & Strategy
• Translate insights from research, partners, and field trends into bold, actionable service concepts
• Prioritize a pipeline of new service ideas based on impact, feasibility, and revenue potential
• Service or Product Design, Development, Validation
• Lead end-to-end design of new services (from concept to detailed model) and/or define the conditions in which a promising new model or field innovation is ready to scale
• Define target users, value proposition, core components, and delivery model
• Build prototypes, playbooks, and initial tools/materials
• Ensure designs are grounded in evidence, user needs, and practical implementation realities
• If needed, design and oversee pilots to test services in real settings
• Establish success metrics (cost, scalability, usability, and impact)
• Rapidly iterate based on data, feedback, and outcomes
• Make decisive calls - scaling what works, refining what shows promise, and stopping what doesn’t
• Scaling and Replication of New Services or Products
• Translate successful pilots into scalable, repeatable models
• Develop implementation playbooks, training, and support structures
• Define what must be standardized vs. customized
• Partner with the Growth and Program Teams to operationalize and expand services across sites
• Build organizational learning loops (what’s working, what’s not, why)
• Coach teams on implementing new services with fidelity
• Defining What We Learn and Why It Matters
• Set Leading Educators’ Research and Learning Agenda
• Define and continuously refine a multi-year research and learning agenda aligned to the organizational strategic plan and impact goals
• Identify the most critical questions the organization must answer to improve effectiveness, scale, and influence in the field
• Balance short-term learning needs with long-term, field-building priorities
• Create a structured approach to learning (e.g., hypotheses, learning questions, evidence pathways)
• Ensure alignment across teams so learning efforts are not fragmented or duplicative
• Oversee the Managing Director of Research and Data to ensure our research and data strategy continues to be high quality; inclusive of the most effective and efficient research and data methodologies; and well-aligned to the priorities of the strategic plan and the research and learning agenda.
• Identify opportunities to contribute to broader field knowledge and policy conversations
• Build relationships with peer organizations, funders, and academic partners
• Represent the organization in external forums, publications, and convenings
• Turning Insight into Action Across the Organization
• Embed learning into organizational practice
• Build systems and routines that translate insights into action (e.g., feedback loops, learning cycles)
• Partner with program/operation teams to ensure research informs service improvement and innovation
• Ensure frontline and leadership teams have access to actionable insights
• Synthesize and communicate insights
• Translate complex findings into clear, actionable insights for internal and external audiences
• In partnership with the CEO, contributes to the organization’s thought leadership agenda aimed at helping position the organization as a credible voice in the field
• Shape narratives about what works, for whom, and under what conditions
• Leadership & Organizational Alignment
• Serve as a key member of the Leadership Team, providing strategic counsel on service and product evolution, innovation, and impact measurement.
• Collaborate with the Managing Director of Strategy to align programmatic initiatives with financial sustainability goals, ensuring good growth.
• Provide strategic insights and updates to the board of directors on new services and products, growth strategies, and innovations
• Represent Leading Educators externally as a thought leader, engaging with funders, partners, policymakers, and industry leaders to elevate the organization’s profile.
• Engage with district and state education leaders, board members, and national thought leaders to inform new services and our research agenda
• Ensure cross-functional collaboration among programmatic, growth, and operational teams to drive a culture of alignment and shared accountability.
• Team Leadership & Talent Development
• Lead, develop, and coach a high-performing team of senior leaders, fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and accountability.
• Drive organizational efforts to build capacity in AI-enabled instruction, ensuring staff are trained in the latest research and tools to enhance student learning.
• Collaborate with the People Team to implement strategic staffing models, ensuring sustainable professional learning ecosystems within school systems.

Benefits

• Leading Educators offers a very generous benefits package including 100% paid medical, dental, and vision coverage for individual employees.
• Eligible dependents receive 60% medical premium cost coverage and 100% coverage for dental, and vision plans.
• We also offer a 4% matching 401k plan, Flexible Spending Accounts for medical, childcare and commuter expenses, and an Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
• Benefits are valued at or above $9,000 for employees.
• Additionally, Leading Educators offer generous time off with pay in order to support a sustainable high performance work culture.
• During the first three years of employment, full time staff accrue 22 days a year.
• Five additional days are accrued after the third and sixth year of employment.
• Leading Educators also offer 16 additional paid days off for various holidays, including three floating holidays staff may use at their discretion.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive
• Number of Employees: 11-50 employees