Program Director, External Training Programs

ACT Education•Iowa City, IA

1d•Remote

About The Position

The Program Director, External Training Programs leads the strategy, design, and execution of ACT's test coordinator training program to ensure external coordinators and staff are fully prepared to successfully deliver ACT assessments. This role requires expertise in synthesizing customer feedback with business requirements to ensure confidence and preparation in delivering ACT's suite of high-stakes exams. The position is remote, based in the United States, and offers an annual salary between $95,000 to $115,000, with incentive eligibility. The Program Director is responsible for designing, delivering, and managing large-scale, nationwide test administrators training programs, including defining training vision and strategy, overseeing program design and delivery, managing budgets and resources, leading training staff and vendors, partnering with stakeholders, and establishing metrics to evaluate learning effectiveness and customer impact.

Requirements

7+ years of proven experience in large-scale training delivery and strategy, program management, and team leadership.
Demonstrated experience leading the standing up an LMS platform (selection, implementation and management).
Experience using AI, modern technologies and other automated solutions to deliver trainings at scale and with efficacy.
Experience and demonstrated success leading, managing, and building teams of training professionals.
Strong self-starter with builder mindset; comfortable with ambiguity and forging new paths.
Strong analytical skills with ability to measure and report ROI.
Excellent communication, stakeholder management skills and strong customer orientation in designing learning with end-user experience in mind.
Solid knowledge of and ability to apply learning technologies and modern instructional design practices.
Ability to travel up to 25% to engage with customers on training, improvements and other feedback.
Bachelor's degree in Instructional Design, Education, Human Resources, Business or a related field of study, or an equivalent combination of education and experience from which comparable knowledge and abilities can be acquired.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree.
Experience with test administration, education assessment industries.
Experience supporting an organization in transformation.

Responsibilities

Define the organization’s training and learning vision and strategy aligned with business goals, the product roadmap and customer needs.
Prioritize training investments based on impact and ROI.
Determine the best learning solutions delivery methods based on end-user needs and scalability.
Understand and implement new technologies such as automation and AI to accelerate learning and positive outcomes.
Oversee design, delivery, and evaluation of external training programs.
Partner with Product to align training experiences with customer journey maps.
Attend customer events to seek feedback and to share training information.
Ensure learning solutions are scalable, trackable, consistent, and high-quality.
Adapt training to external stakeholders to continuously improve usability.
Manage training budgets and resources.
Oversee learning technologies (LMS, analytics tools).
Lead and develop training staff, instructional designers, facilitators, and vendors.
Set clear expectations, performance metrics, and development paths for direct reports.
Coach the team toward industry-leading learning practices.
Work with external partners, customers, product managers, and business units to diagnose performance gaps.
Act as a trusted advisor on workforce capability and readiness.
Influence leaders to support and model continuous learning.
Establish metrics and dashboards to evaluate learning effectiveness and customer impact (behavior change, performance improvement, ROI).
Use data to refine programs and justify investments.
Report on outcomes to executive leadership.
Willing to take on administrative work and direct training.