Vice President, Learner Experience Design

University of Maryland Global Campus • Adelphi, MD

9h • $265,000 - $280,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) seeks an experienced and mission-driven servant leader as Vice President of Learner Experience Design (VP). Reporting to the Chief Learner Experience & Success Officer (CLESO), this VP is responsible for shaping and stewarding UMGC’s enterprise learner experience and academic product strategy. This role helps ensure that learner-facing experiences and academic products are coherent, purposeful, and aligned to learner needs, workforce expectations, and the University’s Strategic Plan. This VP will play a defining role in shaping the next generation of online and global public higher education. This VP leads the integrated Product and Experience organization, including Digital Student Experience, Learning Resources & Access Services, Global Student Support Services, and Learning Product Development. Through collaboration, clear priorities, and shared measures of success, this role helps align strategy, execution, and continuous improvement across a complex learner ecosystem. The Learner Experience Design team brings together academic leadership, experience strategy, learning product development, and technology delivery in service of learner success. Within this model, the VP works in close partnership with the CAO, Deans, Portfolio Vice Presidents, and Portfolio Directors to translate academic intent and portfolio priorities into cohesive learner experiences. Additionally, the VP partners with the Global Workforce Solutions team to bring noncredit learning opportunities to the market with alignment to degree programs in order to create stackable learning experiences. In parallel, this role provides strategic direction to Learning Product Development to ensure execution aligns with shared experience principles, academic standards, and Product Health priorities. This model allows us to pair the credibility of a mature academic institution with the agility, speed, and continuous improvement of a modern, student-centered, product-led organization. The VP will be a collaborative, high-EQ leader who is comfortable leading through complexity and change with a bias toward action and measurable impact. This VP will lead the Learner Experience Design organization that sees itself creating the next generation of online and global education serving learners through various modalities to meet the individual needs of a diverse student population—one that continuously adapts to learner needs, workforce demands, technological change, and societal expectations. This leader will ensure learner experiences support various types of learner needs, are intuitive, high quality, and create learner success in true partnership with other learner-facing functions. The VP will lead the creation for learning design as a globally scaled, learner-centric, data-driven, skills-based, and AI-powered organization. They are also responsible for deliberately moving the institution beyond legacy instructional design and workflows that no longer serve modern learners ensuring that our degrees, credentials, and learning experiences are coherent, credible, relevant, and outcomes-driven across a global, adult-serving learner population. This leader will collaborate with others to reimagine academic models adapting to the continuously changing landscape in post-secondary education with the ability to see experiences through the eyes of the learner. In partnership with the Chief Academic Officer (CAO), the VP will ensure training prepares faculty to support next generation learning experiences. Faculty are positioned as essential academic partners bringing disciplinary expertise, teaching excellence, and academic judgment within an operating model that shares matrixed accountability for the learning experience. This role calls for a leader who brings bold thinking, deep curiosity, and humility -- someone who listens carefully, leads through partnership, and believes deeply in our mission to expand access and transform lives through education. This role operates in close partnership with peer leaders across Global Academic Learning Enterprise (GALE) -- typically known as Academic Affairs, Global Workforce Solutions, Learner Lifecycle Success (typically known as Student Affairs), and the CLESO Chief of Staff to ensure learner experience and academic product strategy are aligned with organizational priorities, operational realities, and external growth opportunities. The successful VP will bring incessant passion and experience in challenging the status quo, leading change in education, and embracing new technologies to improve learner experiences. Relocation to the MD/DC/Northern Virginia metro area is required. Upon relocation, the position is hybrid in the office 3-4 days per week.

Requirements

• A demonstrated track record of achieving results and getting things done
• an earned Master’s degree from a regionally accredited institution of higher learning
• at least seven (7) years of experience in student-centered, product-led organizations including at least five (5) years of supervisory experience
• success working in ambiguity, particularly relating to higher education regulations and compliance
• proven ability to think big picture and implement with that in mind
• proven ability to collaboratively lead the implementation of complex projects from vision to successful execution
• ability to interact and communicate with all levels of an organization, including senior executive leadership
• as well as success having analytical and results-driven approaches, including the ability to establish and continuously improve metrics and related performance behaviors

Nice To Haves

• Enthusiasm for and success with AI in a higher education environment
• at least 10 years of executive leadership in product strategy, digital experience, learning design, academic innovation, or related disciplines
• demonstrated success leading multi-disciplinary organizations and delivering enterprise-wide transformation in complex, matrixed environments
• expertise in product management, experience design, learning science, modular curriculum design, AI-enabled learning, and digital ecosystem strategy
• successful user or customer service experience
• as well as exceptional executive communication, influence, and strategic leadership capability

Responsibilities

• Enterprise Product & Experience Strategy Help define and steward UMGC’s end-to-end learner experience strategy, spanning discovery, enrollment, learning, support, and post-completion engagement
• Establish shared experience principles, standards, and success measures that inform academic products, digital experiences, and learner services across the institution
• Contribute learner experience insights, product strategy perspectives, and Product Health signals to inform enrollment strategy, learner services priorities, and partnership development, in collaboration with functional ownership within those peer organizations
• Partner with the Center for Institutional Effectiveness (CIE), Analytics, GALE, and others to integrate data, insights, and evaluation into product design and continuous improvement
• Leadership of Learning Product Design, Learning Product Development, and Portfolio Architecture Lead the design and development of our multi-product learning ecosystem, including degrees, certificates, stackable credentials, micro-credentials, skills-based learning pathways, continuing education, and employer-facing (B2B) offerings
• Oversee our modular, reusable, and scalable learning architecture that enables flexible delivery across asynchronous, synchronous, hybrid, experiential, CBE, and emerging modalities
• Partner with GALE on program innovation, learning science-aligned instructional models, curricular structures, and long-term academic portfolio planning
• Oversee product design, learning and assessment design, course development, production, and maintenance, integrating generative AI, rapid-cycle methodologies, and future-ready design systems
• Digital Student Experience & Platform Strategy & Design Lead the Digital Student Experience/Experience Design organization responsible for voice-of-student insights, user research, journey mapping, UX/UI, business product ownership, and cross-platform experience cohesion
• Provide business leadership for learner-facing digital products - including the portal, LMS experience, Guided Registration, Sherpa Chatbot, advising technology, labs, and emerging digital services
• Establish standards and operating rhythms that ensure digital experiences are intuitive, consistent, accessible, and supportive of learner success
• Product + IT Partnership & Operating Model Support and steward the Product + IT operating model, helping clarify roles, decision rights, and handoffs across experience, academic, product, and technology teams
• Partner with Information Technology to align platforms, systems, and delivery roadmaps with learner experience and academic product strategy, while respecting IT’s accountability for architecture, security, and execution
• Contribute to enterprise prioritization and sequencing of learner-facing initiatives to improve focus, reduce friction, and support delivery at scale
• Learning Resources, Support Infrastructure, and Student Enablement Oversee Learning Resource & Access Services (Library, Archives, Accessibility Services, Learning Resource Operations), ensuring ADA compliant, equitable and high-quality academic support
• Ensure all support ecosystems integrate seamlessly with academic products and digital experiences, contributing to persistence, retention, and successful progression
• Experience Innovation, Future of Learning, Experience, and AI Lead efforts to advance next-generation learning models, AI-enabled student and faculty experiences, and the redesign of services and learning environments
• Partner with GALE on innovations in pedagogy, assessment, and curriculum, and with IT on technical innovation, automation, and emerging platform capabilities
• Oversee pilots, prototypes, proofs of concept, and research initiatives to accelerate institutional learning and evolution
• Learning Innovation – Academic Direction & Authorization Champion the responsible integration of AI across curriculum, instruction, assessment, and support.
• Establish academic guardrails, success criteria, and evaluation standards for new learning models, assessment approaches, and the responsible use of emerging technologies, including AI
• Evaluate and authorize academic innovations for scale based on evidence, outcomes, and academic integrity
• Enterprise Leadership and Collaboration Serve as a senior member of the LENS division leadership team, contributing to institutional strategy, transformation, and long-term sustainability
• Collaborate as an equal partner with student-facing leaders to co-own learner success outcomes
• Collaborate closely with Marketing, Experience Strategy, Learning Product Development, Learner Enrollment, Learner Lifecycle Success, Global Workforce Solutions, Institutional Effectiveness, and Technology leaders to support the full learner lifecycle
• Represent UMGC as a national leader in next-generation public higher education, contributing to policy, accreditation evolution, and sector-wide innovation
• Other job-related duties as assigned

Benefits

• Generous Time Off: Enjoy 22 days of paid vacation, 15 days of sick leave, 3 personal days, and 16 paid holidays (17 during general election years). For part-time employees, time off rates will be prorated based on the number of hours worked.
• Comprehensive Health Coverage: Access to health care, medical with vision, dental, and prescription plans for both individuals and families, effective from the 1st of the month following your hire date.
• Insurance Options: Term Life Insurance, Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance, and Long-Term Disability (LTD) Insurance. Part-time employees working less than 0.5 FTE are not eligible for LTD.
• Flexible Spending Accounts: Available for medical and dependent care expenses.
• Retirement Plans: Choose between the Optional Retirement Program (ORP) or the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System (MSRPS).
• Supplemental Retirement Plans: include 401(k), 403(b), 457(b), and various Roth options. The university does not provide matching funds.
• Tuition Remission: Immediate availability for Regular Exempt Staff. Spouses and dependent children are eligible for undergraduate tuition remission after two years of service. NOTE: For part-time employees (at least 50 percent of the time), tuition remission benefits are prorated.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive