Executive Director, Academic Design Science

Job Overview

Overview

Build the Future
At McGraw Hill, we are dedicated to delivering digital learning experiences that transform education for learners and educators. Our focus is on creating seamless, impactful products that truly benefit our users while supporting growth and collaboration across teams. We foster a culture that values innovation, teamwork, and a balance between career growth and personal well-being.

How can you make an impact?

McGraw Hill, the leading provider of digital and print educational solutions, is looking for Executive Director, Academic Design within our K-12 division who will be responsible for creating market-leading science instructional materials that are embraced by teachers and enjoyed by students. This role will report directly to the Chief Academic Officer and will manage and inspire a team of academic designers to create efficient and effective materials for educators that optimize student learning. The Executive will collaborate across product management, product marketing, product design, user experience, and technology to develop and deliver engaging teaching and learning experiences in both print and digital formats. As part of this role, you will:

• Apply your expertise in science, pedagogy, content standards, and instructional design to understand and create products that meet the needs of our customers and provide competitive differentiators.
• Collaborate with other departments in researching, designing, and developing product concepts. Analyze, summarize, and synthesize multiple inputs and viewpoints into a cohesive, cost-effective, accessible, and engaging solution.
• Develop deep cross-functional and stakeholder partnerships to set portfolio-level strategy, priorities, and resourcing.
• Effectively prioritize work and assign resources across internal staff and external vendors, including clear goal setting and performance management, to deliver accurate, error-free, high-quality work in a fast-paced and fluid environment.
• Participate in industry events, customer research and advisory boards, and educational product reviews. Stay up to date on emerging educational, pedagogical, curricular, and technological advances relevant to science and adjacent fields.
• Develop metrics related to quality, efficiency, and impact to drive continuous improvements across the school business.

The Executive Director is part of the Science Product Development leadership team and is accountable for delivering programs on time and on budget. This role will drive product innovation and process improvements that can be replicated across the school business. You will operate in an environment that requires excellent problem-solving skills and exceptional team collaboration, facilitation, and communication skills. The executive director has the proven ability to reconcile the interests and views of multiple departmental leaders to drive business results.

This position can work remotely within the continental United States but can also be based in one of our McGraw Hill offices.  

What you bring to the position:

• Content and Pedagogical Expertise: You can develop and communicate a vision and rationale for science product design including the instructional model, included components, use of digital and print resources, and educator and student experience. You translate first-hand knowledge of customers into product strategy, goals, and direction.

• Communication: You are a thought leader within and outside the organization. You represent McGraw Hill to key groups within the industry, maintain a strong network within the science community, and build relationships with current and prospective program authors and thought leaders in the field. Internally, you translate both the McGraw Hill School and learning design strategies, as well as the science portfolio goals, to effectively impact the team’s activities, behaviors, and mindsets. You have excellent written and oral communication, inspiring others to understand why our solutions are best positioned to help solve market needs.

• Leadership and Organization: You envision the long-term strategic capabilities and talent mix needed within the department, and you architect your organizational design to best align with business needs, structure, and people. You model and actively build a climate of trust, appreciation, and openness to different thoughts, styles, and backgrounds. You build commitment, foster confidence, and develop people to achieve our goals. You champion change initiatives in ways that help employees understand, appreciate, and support them. You create a culture of innovation and learning that drives individual and team development.

• Business and Financial Acumen: You understand how business value is created through our products, and you help develop compelling business cases to fund new development. You build industry best practices into the work to gain efficiency and productivity. You take a strategic view of resource planning and budgeting, balancing short-term and long-term needs, and you build a team that can execute multiple projects simultaneously.

We are looking for someone with: 

• Bachelor's Degree required, advanced degree (Masters or Doctorate) is preferred
• 12+ years of K-12 science educational product development experience
• 6+ years of increasing managerial experience
• Experience managing large teams, including vendors, independent contractors, and other third-party relationships
• Proven ability to build and lead strong teams; to inspire, influence, and negotiate at all levels of an organization
• Experience with core instructional adoption process preferred
• Experience working in agile environments preferred

How we Work: We are a company focused on continuous learning and growth. These five pillars are critical to our hyper-learning culture at McGraw Hill School.

• Big We: We respect one another and genuinely care about our teammates. We work best as one team, not in silos.
• Listening to Learn: We listen to one another and collaborate for success. We realize the capabilities of and trust our team members.
• Ask Learning Questions: We value differences of approach as opportunities for learning and growth. We seek to truly understand others.
• An Idea Meritocracy: We foster an inclusive environment where everyone feels comfortable speaking openly and having challenging conversations. The best idea should always win, regardless of origin.
• Creative, Innovative, & Emergent Thinking: We tackle challenging problems and make decisions in favor of the business. We are willing to innovate and not do things as they have always been done.

Why work for us?

The work you do at McGraw Hill will be work that matters. We are collectively designing content that will build the future of education. Play your part and experience a sense of fulfilment that will inspire you to even greater heights.

The pay range for this position is between $108,175-$160,000 annually, however, base pay offered may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and location. Click here to learn more about our benefit offerings.

McGraw Hill recruiters always use a “@mheducation.com” email address and/or from our Applicant Tracking System, iCIMS. Any variation of this email domain should be considered suspicious. Additionally, McGraw Hill recruiters and authorized representatives will never request sensitive information in email.

48842