Senior Manager, Academic Program Production & Improvement - Raleigh, NC

Western Governors University

64d • $113,200 - $203,800

About The Position

If you’re passionate about building a better future for individuals, communities, and our country—and you’re committed to working hard to play your part in building that future—consider WGU as the next step in your career. Driven by a mission to expand access to higher education through online, competency-based degree programs, WGU is also committed to being a great place to work for a diverse workforce of student-focused professionals. The university has pioneered a new way to learn in the 21st century, one that has received praise from academic, industry, government, and media leaders. Whatever your role, working for WGU gives you a part to play in helping students graduate, creating a better tomorrow for themselves and their families. The salary range for this position takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs. At WGU, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their position, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is: Grade: Management_Executive 609 Pay Range: $113,200.00 - $203,800.00.

Requirements

• Experience in leading and developing first-level leaders.
• Expertise in instructional psychology and technology, with specialization in online program development.
• Consultative stakeholder communications.
• Leadership of digital transformation with a high degree of complexity.
• Effective change management and readiness enablement skills.
• Fluency in production, learning analytics, and reporting.
• Strong aptitude for learning new technology and implementing it.
• High degree of financial acumen and experience in managing fixed budgets.

Nice To Haves

• Doctorate in a relevant discipline, paired with demonstrable expertise in program development.
• 10 years of leadership experience in higher education program development.
• 3 years of leading other managers to achieve outcomes.
• Experience in leading AI transformation of program development and student learning experience.
• A mix of online higher education experience and corporate learning experience.

Responsibilities

• Responsible for leading the design, development, and continuous improvement of the various academic programs offered to students.
• Directs a cross-functional team of managers in new program development, program redevelopment, existing program maintenance/improvement, and portfolio project management.
• Aligns with department OKRs for quality, delivery, innovation, timeline, instructional outcomes, stakeholder relationships, and delivery-at-scale.
• Plans capacity and optimizes the use of internal and vendor resources.
• Operationalizes department strategy by leading a management team to implement existing processes and change initiatives to deliver outcomes for production and student success.
• Functions as a player-coach who understands the need for first-hand contribution and close proximity to the programs at every stage of production and improvement.
• Manages the portfolio of work across their management team in terms of high-level objectives, project plans, budgets, resource allocation, vendor engagement, instructional quality, use of technology, and more.
• Leads in solving complex issues that require significant analysis, troubleshooting, and negotiation.
• Maintains an authoritative coaching relationship with their management team and production teams.
• Builds upon their individual domain expertise to develop cross-disciplinary fluency and provide expert insight across the full range of skills essential to program production.
• Ensures that vendors and contractors deliver at the level of quality agreed upon and within the established timeframe.
• Works laterally with other leaders on process engineering, innovation, quality, team culture, and other shared objectives.
• Represents and curates the best work of their managers and their teams for advocacy and cross-departmental education.
• Shares responsibility for fostering positive relationships with program stakeholders.

Benefits

• Bonuses
• Medical, dental, vision, telehealth and mental healthcare
• Health savings account and flexible spending account
• Basic and voluntary life insurance
• Disability coverage
• Accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity supplemental coverages
• Legal and identity theft coverage
• Retirement savings plan
• Wellbeing program
• Discounted WGU tuition
• Flexible paid time off for rest and relaxation
• Flexible paid sick time
• 11 paid holidays
• Other paid leaves, including up to 12 weeks of parental leave

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager
• Education Level: Master's degree