Senior Manager, Instruction & Engagement

If you’re passionate about building a better future for individuals, communities, and our country—and you’re committed to working hard to play your part in building that future—consider WGU as the next step in your career.

Driven by a mission to expand access to higher education through online, competency-based degree programs, WGU is also committed to being a great place to work for a diverse workforce of student-focused professionals. The university has pioneered a new way to learn in the 21st century, one that has received praise from academic, industry, government, and media leaders. Whatever your role, working for WGU gives you a part to play in helping students graduate, creating a better tomorrow for themselves and their families.

The Senior Manager, Instruction and Engagement is a key leadership role in WGU Academy’s organization with primary responsibility for the delivery of personalized, tech-driven, human supported educational experiences designed to enhance the learning journey and improve student outcomes in our product offerings. The Senior Manager provides leadership and supervision for a team of Managers of student-facing teams consisting of course instructors and student experience specialists. The successful candidate is an exceptional academic leader experienced in testing, innovating, and building academic support models that blend the power of technology and customized supports to drive student success.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities:

• Implement and iterate on the course service delivery model for certificate or onramp courses that prioritizes tech-first support mechanisms.

• Provide guidance and oversight on pilots, projects, and performance expectations of student-facing teams to drive improvement in student outcomes and improvements to the student experience.

• Lead a team of managers supporting the effective delivery of instructional content and student engagement strategies, fostering a culture of continuous improvement.

• Analyze data to assess student engagement, retention, and completion rates, translating findings into actionable strategies to enhance student outcomes.

• Drive the innovation of service tools and software solutions that support student learning and engagement.

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, such as Product Research & Analytics, Product Design, Product Discovery, and Coaching to align instruction and engagement strategies with organizational goals and student needs.

• Produces timely, consistent, and accurate reports for stakeholders and executives related to student outcomes and program performance.

• Advocate for students' needs and experiences, ensuring that their voices are integral to service development and delivery.

• Lead project management efforts at the department level, ensuring projects and priorities are aligned with organizational-level strategic initiatives and focus on driving student success outcomes.

• Collaborate with product discovery and design teams to understand upcoming products and determine unique service needs.

Knowledge, Skill and Abilities:

• Displays commitment to the mission of Academy and to personal growth; self-motivated and able to motivate and inspire others; asserts self appropriately to champion ideas; tells the truth in a direct and constructive manner.

• Possess the ability to keep the student at the center of what we do, and why we do it.

• Proven ability to take initiative and be both creative and flexible.

• Strong oral and written communication skills, solid organizational skills, and sound judgment.

• Self-directed with a strong bias for action and results; displays keen interest in students and organization.

• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively, build consensus and be sensitive to the needs and interests of various stakeholders, and contribute to the functioning of a diverse team across the organization.

• Demonstrated ability to use and interpret data to make decisions and communicate results effectively to various stakeholders.

• Accountable to self and others; does what it takes to get the job done; actions are consistent with words; follows through on commitments; exhibits exceptional integrity.

• Ability to develop new ideas that will enhance student success, is future-oriented and assesses what will help/hinder achieving goals; focuses on what is important.

• Manages behaviors and communication style to meet the needs of a wide range of situations; tackles obstacles appropriately; is comfortable with ambiguity.

Job Qualifications:

Minimum Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in relevant disciplines or equivalent experience.

• Proven experience leading and inspiring a team of 8+ employees for 3+ years.

• Experience with competency-based education or online education

• Generally, has advanced level knowledge and skills within a specific technical or professional discipline with understanding of the impact of work on other areas of the University.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Proven track record of driving student success initiatives and improving retention and completion rates.

• Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret complex data and translate it into actionable insights.

• Strong preference for candidates who have led cross-functional teams, effectively managing diverse functions to achieve organizational goals

• Experience supporting non-degree offerings or career certificate programs.

Disclaimer: This Job Description has been designed to indicate the general nature, essential duties, and responsibilities of work performed by employees within this classification. It does not contain a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications that are required of the employee to do this job.  Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice. This Job Description does not constitute a contract of employment and the University may exercise its employment-at-will rights at any time.

The salary range for this position takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs.

At WGU, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their position, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is:
 

How to apply: apply online

Full-time Regular Positions (FT classification, standard working hours = 40)

This is a full-time, regular position that is eligible for bonuses; medical, dental, vision, telehealth and mental healthcare; health savings account and flexible spending account; basic and voluntary life insurance; disability coverage; accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity supplemental coverages; legal and identity theft coverage; retirement savings plan; wellbeing program; discounted WGU tuition; and flexible paid time off for rest and relaxation with no need for accrual, flexible paid sick time with no need for accrual, 11 paid holidays, and other paid leaves, including up to 12 weeks of parental leave.

The University is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status.