Sr Dir, Education Technology Innovation

American Academy of Pediatrics•Itasca, IL

6d•$152,913 - $161,409•Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Director, Education Technology Innovation provides strategic leadership for the American Academy of Pediatrics’ education technology innovation, digital learning platforms, AI-enabled education strategy, learning product development, and course production operations. The role leads development of a modern, learner-centered digital education ecosystem intended to support AAP’s mission, strengthen member and customer value, improve revenue performance, and position AAP as a leader in pediatric education. As a senior member of the Education and Global Health Group leadership team, the Senior Director contributes to strategy, planning, operational decisions, revenue growth, product innovation, and cross-functional alignment. The role guides the education technology roadmap and platform ecosystem; oversees digital product delivery and course production; evaluates products and markets; and uses learner, market, customer, competitive, analytics, and revenue evidence to inform decisions. It also leads responsible adoption of AI and other emerging technologies, develops measures of educational, operational, learner-experience, and business impact, manages assigned budgets, and builds collaborative relationships with internal and external partners. The position supervises and develops assigned staff and promotes an inclusive, accessible, and equitable learning environment. It is based in a hybrid work environment, with 40% of work time in the office per month. Travel and some evening or weekend work are required, with schedule flexibility to accommodate physicians’ availability and responsiveness to urgent issues outside core business hours.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in adult education, instructional design, education technology, learning sciences, digital product management, computer science, information science, business, healthcare education, or a closely related field.
At least seven years of related experience leading the development, implementation, and evaluation of education technology programs, operations, and strategies.
Experience leading or influencing LMS, learning platform, digital education, or education technology strategy.
Experience managing instructional design, multimedia, course production, LMS build, or digital learning operations.
Experience developing or improving scalable course production workflows, QA processes, accessibility standards, and launch-readiness models.
Experience evaluating and implementing technologies and tools such as AI, simulation, adaptive learning, mobile learning, microlearning, virtual reality, and augmented reality.
Experience leading cross-functional projects involving technology, education, business, content, data, user experience, and implementation stakeholders.
Experience translating learner needs, business goals, and technical constraints into product requirements, roadmaps, pilots, or vendor evaluation criteria.
Experience supervising staff, managing budgets, and working with vendors or external partners.
Excellent leadership, verbal and written communication, collaboration, diplomacy, change management, project management, budget management, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills.
Ability to think strategically; diagnose complex problems spanning systems, workflows, teams, and audiences; translate strategy into practical requirements and project plans; lead teams through change; manage competing priorities; communicate with internal and external constituents; use data, research, and market evidence to guide decisions; and foster a cooperative, respectful team environment.
Advanced technical and digital learning acumen, including familiarity with LMS platforms, learning technology standards, digital content workflows, analytics and reporting, accessibility, user experience, AI-enabled tools, and modern education product models.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office and collaboration platforms.
Ability to travel and work some evenings and weekends, arrange work flexibly to accommodate physicians’ availability, respond quickly to urgent issues outside core business hours, and work in a hybrid environment.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in a related field.
Experience in medical education, continuing education, healthcare education, association education, pediatric education, certification/MOC/CME environments, or professional learning.
Experience with AI-enabled education, simulation-based learning, digital product management, learner analytics, market segmentation, institutional sales models, publishing/content workflows, or large-scale platform replacement initiatives.
Familiarity with Microsoft Teams, WebEx, AI productivity tools, project management systems, LMS administration tools, and analytics platforms.

Responsibilities

Lead AAP’s education technology innovation strategy, including identifying, evaluating, testing, and planning implementation of emerging tools and approaches.
Develop and guide AAP’s education AI strategy for internal efficiency and learning innovation, including practical use cases, safe adoption, repeatable workflows, guidance, and evaluation of AI-enabled learning models.
Monitor trends in medical education, pediatrics, CME, healthcare technology, AI, simulation, digital learning, learner behavior, and education product innovation; apply findings to the long-term technology roadmap and emerging opportunities.
Identify grant-funded and externally supported innovation opportunities, shape fundable concepts with internal stakeholders, connect ideas to funding sources, and align funded initiatives with scalable long-term strategy.
Provide strategic leadership for AAP’s learning platform ecosystem, including the future LMS, education platforms, publishing workflows, search and discoverability, identity and access, commerce, membership integration, learner data, reporting, and cross-platform experience.
Lead education platform identification and management, grounding requirements in learner needs, education strategy, instructional models, AI readiness, mobile access, accessibility, CME/MOC requirements, global delivery, analytics, integrations, workflows, and scalability.
Contribute to publishing and digital content ecosystem strategy involving education, publishing, authoring, review workflows, content reuse, metadata, search, licensing, and AI readiness; distinguish platform limitations from workflow, governance, metadata, authoring, and user-experience challenges.
Establish governance, requirements, evaluation criteria, decision gates, and pilot strategies for major education technology and platform initiatives; translate needs into roadmaps, vendor requirements, priorities, and success measures.
Lead digital product delivery and production operations for AAP education products from intake through instructional design, SME collaboration, multimedia development, copyediting, LMS build, QA, accessibility review, launch readiness, maintenance, and post-launch improvement.
Supervise, mentor, and develop assigned staff; foster inclusion and belonging, professional growth, clear objectives, performance evaluation, and development of skills needed for current and future goals.
Improve the efficiency and scalability of course production by addressing bottlenecks and handoffs, improving documentation, standardizing templates and workflows, reducing rework, defining QA and accessibility expectations, and supporting consistent production and maintenance.
Evaluate current and future education offerings for learner need, audience fit, user experience, instructional value, business model, revenue opportunity, engagement, retention, accessibility, scalability, and differentiation.
Apply market strategy and ideal customer profile principles to education products, identifying target learners and buyers, influencers, institutional customers, audience segments, value propositions, pricing and packaging considerations, competitive positioning, and product-market fit.
Use learner and market research, customer feedback, competitive analysis, product analytics, and revenue data to guide product strategy, platform decisions, course redesign, portfolio priorities, and commercialization opportunities.
Develop and implement metrics for educational, operational, learner-experience, and business impact; use data for continuous improvement, product decisions, revenue strategy, and leadership reporting.
Ensure technology solutions and learning products are accessible, inclusive, and aligned with AAP’s equity, diversity, and inclusion values, supporting diverse learners and audiences.
Develop and oversee assigned budgets, evaluate and report variances, ensure responsible use of resources, and support business planning for technology investments, platforms, products, and innovation pilots.
Contribute as a senior Education and Global Health Group leadership team member to strategy, planning, operational decision-making, revenue growth, innovation, and cross-functional alignment.
Help the Education and Global Health Group catalyze AAP-wide adoption of innovative education tools, learner-centered practices, scalable production models, and sustainable business approaches.
Establish and maintain collaborative relationships with internal and external partners, including staff, physician leaders, subject matter experts, vendors, consultants, funders, technology partners, and peer organizations.
Perform other duties as assigned.