Director, Professional Learning

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in United States.

📋 Description

• Formulate the long-term strategy and organizational structure for our Professional Learning Services team.

• Responsible for the complete Professional Learning P&L and its quantifiable effect on customer retention and revenue.

• Direct a team of Professional Learning Managers.

• Ensure our professional learning content and delivery models are scalable to meet the needs of every Newsela customer while establishing the industry benchmark for excellence.

• Develop and expand the Professional Learning team with an emphasis on nurturing future leaders and aligning team structure to support company growth and go-to-market strategies.

• Define and manage the metrics framework for the PL function, encompassing team performance, content effectiveness, and customer outcomes, with regular updates to senior leadership.

• Spearhead organizational change initiatives that enhance scalability, operational efficiency, and customer impact across the Professional Learning function.

• Establish and oversee the strategic framework for all Professional Learning content, grounded in validated educational research and best practices in adult learning.

• Ensure PL offerings directly contribute to measurable customer ROI, teacher engagement, and product adoption.

• Collaborate with Product and Marketing to ensure that the Professional Learning strategy and content remain aligned with evolving product capabilities, customer needs, and market positioning.

• Create a multi-year content delivery strategy that integrates Professional Learning into the broader customer journey, including scalable success models and long-term retention initiatives.

• Work alongside Customer Success and Sales to position PL as a catalyst for expansion and renewal, linking learning outcomes to commercial results.

• Assess the effectiveness of PL resources across educators, administrators, and student outcomes, and adjust content as needed.

• Manage all PL vendor relationships, contracts, and budget planning, ensuring expenditures align with quarterly targets and yield maximum return.

⛳️ Requirements

• Over 10 years of progressive experience in professional learning or educational services leadership, including more than 5 years successfully managing a strategic function or P&L at the Director level or higher.

• Proven track record in building, scaling, and leading a high-performing team of managers, focusing on talent development, organizational design, and coaching towards measurable commercial and impact goals, while balancing strategic planning with operational execution.

• Willingness and capacity to travel up to 30% of the time throughout the year.

• Executive-level knowledge of adult learning theory, literacy instruction, and the competitive K-12 landscape.

• Demonstrated capability to leverage technology and data (e.g., Salesforce, LMS) to enhance operational efficiency and inform strategic P&L decisions.

• Extensive, proven experience in presenting, negotiating, and aligning multi-year strategic proposals, budget forecasts, and commercial performance data with executive leadership (VP-level and above) and external stakeholders.

🏝️ Benefits

• Comprehensive medical benefits with employer contributions to premiums and HSA accounts.

• Additional perks such as gym reimbursement, pet insurance, free access to the Calm app, Rocket Lawyer, and more to support your overall well-being: mind, body, and soul.

• We are a fully remote organization. A monthly tech stipend is provided to support your work-from-home needs!

• Inclusive benefits to support you and your family, including parental leave, fertility assistance, adoption support, and more!

• Invest in your future with our 401(k) plan, which includes an employer match to help you achieve long-term financial security.

• Flexible PTO, paid sick leave, company holidays, plus winter break (Dec 24th - Jan 1st).

• Newsela provides an annual learning and development allowance for employees to attend external training sessions, classes, workshops, conferences, and acquire educational materials to promote professional growth in their current roles and career aspirations at Newsela.

• Regardless of your role or department, the work you perform each day contributes to shaping the future of education and enhancing the lives of students and teachers.