Senior Director, Technical and Program Operations

At Learning Commons, we pair technology with grantmaking to scale proven teaching and learning practices to benefit every learner. We aim to translate what learning science tells us about how students learn best into classroom practice. With the advent of generative AI, that translation work can be accelerated and scaled to have a greater impact. 

Our mission is to bring learning science into the tools used every day by teachers and students, ensuring that technology reflects the realities of classrooms and strengthens teaching and learning.

In today’s fragmented edtech landscape, school districts are often left piecing together products that don’t always align with curricula or instructional needs. While AI holds enormous potential to support educators, it can only deliver on that promise when grounded in research, high-quality educational data, and expert evaluation. That’s why we’re building open, public-purpose infrastructure — datasets, rubrics, and resources — that help raise the standard for educational tools and create more consistent, impactful learning experiences for all students and teachers.

At our core, we are builders, and our unique builder philanthropy approach is what sets us apart from other education funders. Take a closer look at the highlights and significant milestones of CZI’s first eight years of education work.

Shape the future of learning! We're seeking an experienced Technology & Program Operations Senior Director to lead our team and drive impactful initiatives at the intersection of technology and education.  You will report directly to the President of Learning Commons and partner with the rest of the Learning Commons leadership team on operational strategy and operational execution to help us work well cross-functionally and deliver excellent products and partnerships.

This is a great opportunity to build and lead the Learning Commons operations team which will include functions like Technical Program Management to drive product and engineering processes; Program, Marketing and Partnership Operations which organize our partnership support, grant-making and go-to-market efforts; and Business Operations which oversees planning and resourcing. You will also be a key advocate and collaborator across central CZI functions like Finance, People, Recruiting, Central Technology Infrastructure and more.  

Overall, you will work with Learning Commons leadership to set the operational cadence of our teams to help us execute swiftly and work collaboratively internally and with partners to help us maximize our investment towards greater impact on educators and students. You'll collaborate closely with leadership, product, engineering, and partnerships teams to ensure alignment, drive efficient decision-making, and accelerate the delivery of transformative solutions.

• Drive Impact: Partner with other Learning Commons leaders to set an operational strategy for our resources - time, people, funds - that enables us to do unique cross-sector work across philanthropic, education, and technology sector values and strengths
• Optimize Process: Lead and support overall organizational execution and team culture by designing and directing program management practices and processes that enable our strategic goals, tactical work, and the culture and values we need and desire.  We see process as a manifestation of culture and believe it can facilitate the inclusivity we desire and the execution speed and quality we need.
• Foster Collaboration: Work with product, engineering, marketing and partnership leaders to lead and manage the significant processes that support team alignment, execution, and accountability. Build strong relationships with central CZI leadership to represent Learning Commons priorities and resourcing needs productively.
• Champion Innovation: Develop and own processes that enable efficient decision-making, communication, delegation, and accountability; monitor organizational health and plan ahead around corners to support continuous improvement. Enable strategic guidance processes including from our founders/CEOs, our advisory board and other key collaborators.
• Cultivate Team Excellence: Manage a small but mighty team of technical and business program managers who operate critical projects and processes, including major planning processes (strategic, financial, technical); internal communications mechanisms (helping the organization feel inspired, informed, connected across a hybrid team); product, engineering, design, and data team delivery processes (roadmapping, Jira tracking); central CZI collaborations; executive administrative collaboration and norms; build and oversee developer relations and support team, internal and external stakeholder support, and more.
• Be Flexible: Demonstrate adaptability and proactive problem solving by anticipating challenges and opportunities and adjusting strategies and your scope as needed to drive change, continuous improvement and innovation.

• Proven leadership: Minimum 15 years of experience managing in complex sectors like education, enterprise, or government, along with 5 or more years of leadership experience leading and managing technology teams. Must have experience with leading fast moving and scaling organizations.
• Collaboration and Influence: Exceptional at communication, relationship-building and influencing others to move towards bigger goals. You are low-ego about enabling others but you are not shy about holding the line when needed and getting buy-in on clear priorities to help the team execute well.
• Strategic Mindset: Deep organizational and managerial intelligence and experience that helps you innovate on approaches to supporting teams with professional backgrounds spanning sectors towards unified strategy, goals and roadmaps
• Technology Management Expertise: Prior experience working closely with software teams as a technical program manager, product manager or engineering manager is a plus
• First Principles and Analytical Decision Making: Comfortable with the ambiguity of exploration and innovation. You bring a strong understanding of first principles and data driven decision making.
• Process Design: You can see around corners organizationally and operationally to identify where issues stem from and structural gaps in process and/or leadership. You know how to build the right sized process to get the job done and grow the capacity of the organization.
• Creativity and Humility: People want to work with you because you are excellent at what you do, always trying to innovate, create, and improve, yet you bring a humility that lifts others up
• Passion for Education: Strong intrinsic drive to help deliver impact at the opportunities at the intersection of technology and education

The Redwood City, CA base pay range for a new hire in this role is $270,000 - $371,800. New hires are typically hired into the lower portion of the range, enabling employee growth in the range over time. Actual placement in range is based on job-related skills and experience, as evaluated throughout the interview process. 

We’re thankful to have an incredible team behind our work. To honor their commitment, we offer a wide range of benefits to support the people who make all we do possible. 

• Provides a generous employer match on employee 401(k) contributions to support planning for the future.
• Annual benefit for employees that can be used most meaningfully for them and their families, such as housing, student loan repayment, childcare, commuter costs, or other life needs.
• Life of Service Gifts are awarded to employees to “live the mission” and support the causes closest to them.
• Paid time off to volunteer at an organization of your choice. 
• Funding for select family-forming benefits. 
• Relocation support for employees who need assistance moving to the Bay Area

If you’re interested in a role but your previous experience doesn’t perfectly align with each qualification in the job description, we still encourage you to apply as you may be the perfect fit for this or another role.

 #LI-Hybrid #CZE