Director, Special Projects
College Board – College Readiness Assessments
Location: This is a fully remote role. Candidates who live near CB offices have the option of being fully remote or hybrid (Tuesday and Wednesday in office).
Type: This is a full-time position
About the Team
The College Readiness Assessments ("CRA") division is a team of mission-driven people who deliver the SAT Suite of Assessments (SAT, PSAT/NMSQT, PSAT10, and PSAT 8/9) to millions of students across the world each year to help open their paths to college, career, and life after high school. The SAT Suite connects students to a wide range of post-high school opportunities, including scholarships, careers and colleges and universities. In 2023, we retired the use of paper/pencil testing and are now a fully digital SAT Suite offering an assessment that is easier to give, easier to take, more secure, and more relevant.
About the Opportunity
The Director, Special Projects will play a critical role in ensuring the success of the College Readiness Assessments division as it serves tens of thousands of schools and millions of students each year in pursuit of expanding opportunity for all students. They will lead the division’s goal setting, performance-driving and culture-building efforts, tackle special initiatives, drive the Senior Vice President’s internal and public-facing agenda, and represent the Senior Vice President and the division in a variety of settings, including among other senior leaders at the organization. In this role, the Director will make executive, strategic and operational level decisions at a complex mission-driven organization and be a critical partner in helping the Senior Vice President manage priorities and maximize effectiveness across the division and the College Board. The Director will partner with and guide the division’s managers, serving as a communications and organization conduit between the Senior Vice President and her team.
The Director will also be a member of the Senior Vice President’s leadership team, will partner with the Senior Vice President to ensure that the work of the College Readiness Assessments division is well planned and executed and will work with the Senior Vice President to maximize her effectiveness across multiple verticals, people, and mission-critical initiatives.
In this role, you will:
SVP Support (50%)
Serve as Chief of Staff to and manage planning, execution, and support of the Senior Vice President’s work with CRA and adjacent teams
Act as proxy to support day to day management and oversight of some of the SVP’s direct reports to ensure work that does not rise to level of SVP is actioned and moved forward
Create the Senior Vice President’s daily briefings, make recommendations on how to handle incoming asks/projects, and manage her inbox
Represent the Senior Vice President in internal working groups and meetings making recommendations and decisions on behalf of SVP and our program
Draft, proofread, and edit mission critical correspondence, emails, and presentations for the Senior Vice President, representing the entire division and the College Board
Divisional Support (25%)
Develop a deep understanding of the SAT Suite’s mission, strategy, operations, and business model and serve as a member of the SAT Suite leadership team, while providing sound counsel and professional discretion
Support the Senior Vice President in identifying strategic priorities and goals including leading the annual goal setting process and subsequent progress monitoring for the entire division
Define and drive the division’s culture and employee engagement ensuring staff have what they need to be successful and thrive
Collaborate closely with our Talent Business Partner (HR) on promotion/raise processes, organizational design, headcount, and other Talent initiatives
Plan, manage, and lead our weekly divisional stand-up and monthly divisional meetings, our semi-annual in-person convenings, and semi-annual leadership retreats in addition to managing our 2x/week leadership touchpoints
Manage the Associate Director, CRA Division Management working together to make the Senior Vice President and our monthly divisional meetings, team operations and communications as effective as possible
Special Projects (25%)
Plan, lead, and execute multiple special projects by developing innovative solutions that require attention to detail, cross-organizational leadership, strong analytical and communications skills, and masterful follow-through
Foster relationships with a broad set of employees from across the College Board, including senior management, establishing mutual trust and respect that helps the team drive org-wide impact
About You
You have:
Minimum 8-10+ years professional experience including, ideally, several years of managerial experience in a strategic operations role and experience working with a senior executive
A Bachelor’s degree, though an MBA/Master’s is a plus
An outstanding record of professional achievement and leadership
A passion for supporting educational and career opportunities for millions of students
Experience managing projects, people and teams, with exceptional project management skills and experience in leading multiple projects simultaneously
An obsession with details, highly organized, and have impeccable follow through
A proactive mindset – ability and willingness to proactively solve problems, anticipate and prioritize key tasks and resolve issues
Adept problem-solving skills, including using data to inform decisions and actions
Excellent judgement and ability to engage with, influence, and make recommendations to senior leaders across the organization
Strong verbal and written communications skills, including facilitating meetings and presenting remotely and in-person to groups of 40 or more
You are excited by the opportunity to foster a strong and high-performing team culture where colleagues have what they need to be engaged and thrive
Comfort taking on new and complex projects and driving them to success in a fast-paced environment
Strong ability to work collaboratively across many teams and skill in relationship building
Comfort with ambiguity and an expert level ability to creatively solve problems for which the answers aren’t obvious
Experience leading effective meetings and driving follow-through and progress tracking
Comfort with quarterly travel, particularly to New York City and Washington, DC
You must be authorized to work in the US
About Our Process
Application review will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled
While the hiring process may vary, it generally includes: resume and application submission, recruiter phone screen, hiring manager interview, performance exercise and/or panel interview, and reference checks. This is an approximately 8-week process
About Our Benefits and Compensation
College Board offers a competitive benefits and compensation program that attracts top talent looking to make a difference in education. As a self-sustaining non-profit, we believe in compensating employees equitably in relation to each other, their qualifications, their impact, and the relevant market.
The hiring range for a new employee in this position is $76,000-$125,000. College Board differentiates salaries by location so where you live will narrow the portion of this range in which you can expect a salary.
Your salary will be carefully determined based on your location, relevant experience, the external labor market, and the pay of College Board employees in similar roles. College Board strives to provide our best offer up front based on this criteria.
Your salary is only one part of all that College Board offers, including but not limited to:
A comprehensive package designed to support the well-being of employees and their families and promote education. Our robust benefits package includes health, dental, and vision insurance, generous paid time off, paid parental leave, fertility benefits, pet insurance, tuition assistance, retirement benefits, and more
Recognition of exceptional performance through annual bonuses, salary growth over time through market increases, and opportunities for merit raises and promotions based on increased scope of responsibility
A job that matters, a team that cares, and a place to learn, innovate and thrive
You can expect to have transparent conversations about benefits and compensation with our recruiters throughout your application process.
About Our Culture
Our community matters, and we strive to practice and improve our culture daily. Here are some headlines:
We are motivated to positively impact the educational and career trajectories of millions of students a year.
We prioritize building a diverse and inclusive team where every employee can thrive, and every voice is heard.
We welcome staff to join any or all six of our affinity groups: ARISE (Alliance for Asian Retention, Inclusion, Success, and Engagement; DIASPORA (Alliance for Pan-African Success and Achievement); Pride (alliance for LGBTQ+ staff and allies); Resilience (alliance for Native staff and advocates); SALSA (Staff Alliance for Latinx Success and Achievement); and WIN (Women’s Impact Network).
We value learning and growth; we offer formal and informal ways to lead through your superpowers, sharpen your strengths, and meet your development goals.
United States
