Executive Director, AP Portfolio and Product Readiness

Executive Director, AP Portfolio and Product Readiness

College Board – AP&I

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 Board’s Advanced Placement and Instruction division (300+ staff) develops and administers coursework taken by more than 3 million students worldwide each school year, and the related subject-matter exams utilized by more than 4,000 colleges and universities for course placement and awarding of college credit. These include credit and placement examination programs like CLEP and ACCUplacer; Advanced Placement (AP) and Pre-AP courses in 40+ disciplines; and associated teacher professional learning programs.

To support the continued growth and evolution of the program, the AP Program Enablement team is designed to oversee the end-to-end management of the AP Course Roadmap, as well as the processes and production functions that underpin all new and existing AP courses and exams. This team plays a central role in ensuring alignment, quality, and efficiency across the full lifecycle of course and assessment production.

 

About the Opportunity  

The Executive Director, AP Portfolio and Product Readiness is a senior leadership role responsible for driving the strategic planning, governance, and execution of the AP Course Roadmap across the division. This leader will establish and oversee centralized portfolio management structures that enable coordinated execution, operational transparency, and accountability across course development, content production, digital implementation, and product readiness initiatives. Working across AP and in close partnership with divisional teams, such as GPER, the Executive Director will align resources, timelines, and dependencies to ensure successful delivery of new, revised and updated AP course and assessments.

This role leads cross-functional operating rhythms, integrating oversight of Content Production and Course Product Readiness to drive coordinated execution, publication quality, and launch readiness for instructional, assessment, and curricular products. The Executive Director will drive scalable operational excellence through effective governance, production management, workflow optimization, and continuous improvement practices while ensuring high-quality deliverables. This role plays a critical leadership role in advancing innovative content management strategies, leveraging emerging technologies and AI-enabled tools, strengthening collaboration across the division to support AP’s long-term strategic initiatives.

In this role, you will:

AP Content Development & Production Management (20%)

• Oversee the AP Content Production function responsible for the design, development, and delivery of all AP curricular, assessment, and instruction publications, ensuring high-quality content that advances AP’s strategic priorities.
• Ensure the successful production and delivery of Course and Exam Descriptions (CEDs), course frameworks, exam design publications, practice exams, and teacher support assets for new, revised, and updated AP courses, ensuring alignment to assessment validity, instructional quality, and operational timelines.
• Establish and maintain rigorous production workflows, quality assurance standards, and cross-functional collaboration processes that ensure accurate, accessible, and scalable instructional and assessment materials across the AP portfolio.
• Partner closely with Curriculum & Assessment, Course Design & Development, and other AP departments to support readiness decisions for 6-8 new or redesigned courses aligned to the division’s five-year strategic growth plan.

AP Course Product Readiness & Cross-Functional Delivery (20%)

• Oversee the end-to-end readiness and delivery strategy for new and revised AP course products, ensuring alignment across New Course Design & Development, Curriculum & Assessment, Access and other operational teams within AP and GPER.
• Direct the full production lifecycle, including scoping, development, review, publication, implementation, and launch readiness, ensuring high-quality and on-time delivery of course assets and teacher support materials.
• Oversee cross-functional integration and execution, leading a team that serves as the central coordination point across Curriculum & Assessment, New Course Design & Delivery, Product, and Production teams to manage dependencies, risks, and roadmap milestones.
• Establish and drive operational processes that support disciplined execution, workflow optimization, continuous improvement, and transparent reporting across all course readiness initiatives.

Divisional Portfolio and Program Management (40%)

• Lead the strategic planning and execution of the AP Course Roadmap, ensuring alignment across new and revised course development, production, readiness, and organizational priorities.
• Design and implement divisional governance structures, including decision-rights frameworks, planning cadences, escalation protocols, and accountability measures that support effective cross-divisional execution.
• Establish and chair a program management governance body to drive transparency, accountability, quality standards, and timely decision-making across departments.
• Develop and maintain a unified, multi-year AP Course Roadmap that integrates priorities and timelines across New Course Design & Development, Curriculum & Assessment, Strategy, Access, and Delivery teams.
• Ensure end-to-end visibility into course pipelines, interdependencies, resource allocation, production schedules, and organizational capacity to support proactive planning and risk mitigation.
• Partner closely with Digital Product and Technology leadership to ensure continuous alignment between the AP Course Roadmap and the technology roadmaps, enabling integrated planning and delivery across content and digital experiences.
• Build scalable operational systems and portfolio management processes that improve execution efficiency and strengthen cross-functional collaboration.
• Serve as a senior strategic leader and advisor to the department lead, proactively identifying risks, tradeoffs, and opportunities across the AP portfolio and recommending solutions that advance organizational goals.
• Oversee a multi-million dollar AP Program Enablement budget, ensuring effective resource allocation and financial stewardship in support of divisional priorities and operational goals.

Lead and Manage the Portfolio Management Team (20%)

• Lead a team of ~15 people that are responsible for AP Content Production and AP Course Product Management.
• Set vision and priorities for the team, track and manage progress to goals, and provide coaching and support to ensure team members meet and exceed goals, remain engaged, and contribute meaningfully to our mission.
• Cultivate an inclusive and high-achieving culture that enables all team members to live out College Board’s Operating Principles effectively.
• Bring proven leadership experience and consistently embody College Board’s Manager Expectations in your work.

About You 

 To qualify for this role, you must have:

• Proven executive leadership experience driving large-scale, cross-functional initiatives from strategy through execution in complex, fast-paced environments with significant operational, production, and stakeholder management demands.
• Demonstrated ability to translate enterprise strategy into actionable roadmaps, operating models, and delivery plans, while effectively managing dependencies, competing priorities, and organizational change across multiple teams and functions.
• Deep expertise in portfolio, program, and production management, including establishing governance structures, scalable workflows, accountability mechanisms, and continuous improvement practices that drive operational excellence and high-quality outcomes.
• Strong fluency with emerging technologies and AI-enabled tools, with the ability to apply them strategically to inform planning, forecasting, collaboration, and operational effectiveness while modeling responsible and innovative use across teams.
• Exceptional people leadership and talent development skills, with experience building, managing and coaching high performing teams.
• Experience leading work involving digital product delivery, assessment platforms, instructional content production, or other large scale delivery environments strongly preferred.

Exceptional candidates can effectively speak to:

• 10-15 years of experience in program management, portfolio management and/or product development
• A strategic and inclusive leadership style: you set clear priorities, build effective team structures, plan for future needs, and foster a culture of belonging.
• A proven ability to drive performance and growth: you set high expectations, deliver real-time, evidence-based feedback, and coach team members to take smart risks, stretch their skills, and achieve meaningful impact.
• The ability to travel 6-8 times a year to College Board offices or on behalf of College Board business.

All roles at College Board require:

• A passion for expanding educational and career opportunities and mission-driven work

• Authorization to work in the United States for any employer

• Curiosity and enthusiasm for emerging technologies, with a willingness to experiment with and adopt new AI-driven solutions and a comfort learning and applying new digital tools independently and proactively. 

• Clear and concise communication skills, written and verbal

• A learner's mindset and a commitment to growth: welcoming diverse perspectives, giving and receiving timely, respectful feedback, and continuously improving through iterative learning and user input.

• A drive for impact and excellence: solving complex problems, making data-informed decisions, prioritizing what matters most, and continuously improving through learning, user input, and external benchmarking.

• A collaborative and empathetic approach: working across differences, fostering trust, and contributing to a culture of shared success.

About Our Process 

• Application review will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled. This role is expected to accept applications for a minimum of 5 business days.

• While the hiring process may vary, it generally includes: resume and application submission, recruiter phone/video screen, hiring manager interview, performance exercise such as live coding, a panel interview, a conversation with leadership and reference checks.

What We Offer

At College Board, we offer more than just a paycheck—we provide a meaningful career, a supportive team, and a comprehensive package designed to help you thrive. We’re a self-sustaining nonprofit that believes in fair and competitive compensation, grounded in your qualifications, experience, impact, and the market.

A Thoughtful Approach to Compensation

• The hiring range for this role is $144,000-$200,000

• Your exact salary will depend on your location, experience, and how your background compares to others in similar roles at the College Board.

• We aim to make our best offer upfront—rooted in fairness, transparency, and market data.

• We adjust salaries by location to ensure fairness, no matter where you live.

You’ll have open, transparent conversations about compensation, benefits, and what it’s like to work at throughout your hiring process. Check out our careers page for more.

Originally posted on